No Polarizing Filter...I was surprised actually, the colours are very rich for what I am/was used to with ASA 400 film, but I think mucking around with the digital for so long has twisted all my perceptions - more than their normally twisted tendencies ;-)> The DOF in the bird and blossom photos is shallow because at 200mm I had to go down to 3.8 to get a decent shutter speed, not so important for the blossoms, but that bird was so damn fast! I like shallow DOF in these kind of shots, helps decrease distraction from the subject!