shooting through plexiglass

[Newmarket2]

The Sandia Peak tram line in Albuquerque (the longest tram line in the world) was an overwhelming photo op for me. I love vistas and rock formations and height and the subtle colors of the desert. But, the windows of the tram are Plexiglas.
The good news is that I was focusing close to infinity the whole time, but the bad news was that I was shooting through a very suboptimal "lens".
Now, I've been fooling around with a bunch of approaches in LR4, but was wondering if anyone has worked this problem and has specific suggestions for me about what corrections would best reduce the effect?
And, if you just have some idea, that would be good input too - just please let me know how much time/effort you personally have put into the problem.

 

[Mark Sirota]

If you're looking for post-processing approaches, in PV2010 (and PV2003) the primary approach was to crank the Blacks. I haven't had the opportunity to investigate this in PV2012, though.

I should add that it's wise to do the best you can at shooting time. The best approach I've found is to use a large collapsible rubber lens hood. Put the front of the hood directly against the window; the collapsible rubber will allow you to still aim where you want while minimizing reflections from the inside surface of the window.

 

[Newmarket2]

Mark,
Upping the blacks definitely works. Thanks.
Lens hood sounds like a good idea, but I don't have one. Is it something everyone should have or are there other special uses that might incentivate me.
Michael

 

[RikkFlohr]

Don't forget that plexiglass/acrylic can introduce some nasty Chromatic Aberration, depending upon the window's thickness. It will take a manual approach in the new CA tool to remove that-if present.

 

[Mark Sirota]

Lens hood sounds like a good idea, but I don't have one. Is it something everyone should have or are there other special uses that might incentivate me.

Lens hoods are something of a religion. I always, always, always use one -- they prevent flare (increase contrast) and provide protection for the lens.

In this particular case, I'm recommending a collapsible rubber hood (as opposed to various other forms of hoods) to solve a very specific problem in a very specific shooting situation. I would consider it required equipment if you're regularly shooting through a window, whether or not you choose to use lens hoods at other times.

 

[clee01l]

Thread on collapsable rubber lens hoods are available for $5-$15USD through most camera stores and Amazon.

I managed to lose my OEM (non rubber) hood that came with my 300mm. A replacement was around $60USD, I got one of the Collapsable rubber hoods and find that I can leave it on the lens in the camera case, where as I had to remove and reverse the OEM hood.