Just curious, what filter brand do you prefer?

[Ratpack]

I was just wondering if there is a dominant filter brand that most people use.

 

[mabas9395]

I only have four canon lenses and so far have only gotten one filter. Its a Hoya UV filter and has been pretty good.

From what I have seen, filters are an area that people really try to skimp out on. I understand that the last thing you want to do after spending several hundreds of dollars on a lens is getting another hundred dollar accessory for it. But it just doesn't make sense to spend that much money on a lens and then put a cheap filter on the front of it. The picture will only be as good as the worst part of the lens.

 

[0bli0]

i only use filters in certain circumstances. for neutral density and circular polariser, i use B+W. for IR i use Hoya R72

 

[muphoto]

There are several good brands of filters. I have always used Hoya or Tiffen. There seems to have been a lot of debate over filters on this board. I would never use my lenses without a good UV/haze filter. It is easier and a lot less expensive to replace a filter than get a scratch or broken front element on a lens. Just recently my student assistant dropped our 180 2.8 nikkor lens,
the filter was destroyed, the lens fine.

 

[jann1033]

I have hoya, tiffen and canon and to my untrained eye they all seem about the same .
the hoya is used and lots looser in the ring than even my old tiffen, not sure if that is normal for hoya or if the original user is lots rougher with his stuff than me.

 

[ukcatfan]

There are several good brands of filters. I have always used Hoya or Tiffen. There seems to have been a lot of debate over filters on this board. I would never use my lenses without a good UV/haze filter. It is easier and a lot less expensive to replace a filter than get a scratch or broken front element on a lens. Just recently my student assistant dropped our 180 2.8 nikkor lens,
the filter was destroyed, the lens fine.

I use my hard plastic hood for protection purposes instead of a filter. The most likely accident for me is going to be dropping it on to a flat surface like a floor or the ground. I feel like the hood is better for protecting it in that situation than a filter. In the rare occasion that I am not going to have the hood on for an extended time, I will put a UV filter on the lens.

I do keep a UV filter and lens adapter on my S1 IS all of the time to protect the extendable lens.

As for brand choice, I think it is hard to go wrong with either Tiffen or Hoya. I would buy the cheaper of the two as long as the specs are the same.

Kevin

 

[muphoto]

Hoods were never meant to be used as protection, they are there to help cut down on glare from the sun and other lights. I have seen many hard plastic hoods shatter when dropped and the glass either cracks or breaks. A filter is a small investment to protect an expensive piece of glass.

 

[ukcatfan]

If something hits with enough force to break the hood and the lens after that, then just a filter would not have been enough protection either. It comes down to the simple physics of the force applied. You say that the hood was not designed for impact protection, well neither was the filter. If they were, they would be much more durable and much more expensive. A combination of the two would be the best protection. Also consider that the shockwave created from the impact will be reduced by a plastic hood breaking, but a thin metal filter will just radiate that wave deeper into the lens where more delicate parts reside. There are other things that can break besides the glass.

I am just talking about on a flat surface, which is the only thing that I will encounter. I can hardly get my family to go outside with the FL heat and bugs, let alone go on a hike or something like that. If I were going to encounter something like that, I would also use a filter.

Kevin

 

[garris3404]

I prefer the HOYA PRO1 Digital Series. I keep the UV on as general protection on my Nikon 18-200 VR. I also have the circular polariser.

 

[0bli0]

i have never broken an element or even scratched one. scratches in the element will not be noticeable until around F/22 or so anyway, and they can be replaced.
in the unlikely event i do drop a lens (touch wood). and, in the event i do, if the very hard yet slightly flexible hood breaks (touch wood again), hopefully enough energy has disapated. otherwise, i'd rather break the element than put optically poor filter glass in front of all of my images. as it is, i hate using circular polarisers and neutral density filters, and only use them when necessary. uv filters were great when we used films like ektachrome and velvia, as they are prone to UV hazing in daylight. fortunately sensors aren't overly sensitive to that area of the light spectrum.

with any filter, i highly recommend multi-coated filters. this will reduce reflections and flare which occur between the outside element and the filter. also, i highly recommend taking the filter off at night when taking pictures of scenes with strong light sources (signs, etc.) as light will reflect off of the flat sensor and the flat filter back down to the sensor, giving you artifacts.

it's like buying a nice BMW, then putting on stickers all over the car which says please don't touch or park too close. it may protect from scratches but it ruins the experience.

if you feel better with a filter for protection, by all means - i highly recommend it - then get a decent one like B+W or Hoya pro1 (avoid the green boxed ones).

 

[boBQuincy]

Count me among the hoods... umm, hood users that is.

I sometimes use polarizers and try to get good multicoated ones ($$$ in 77mm), no real brand preference. I have suspicions about filters "made for digital", like oil "made for trucks". That sounds more like "made for marketing" to me.

I wonder how much an occasional new front element would cost compared a few good filters. So instead of buying filters, save the money to replace the (very rare) scratched glass, and come away with better images to boot!

 

[tinksdad]

I like the B+W brand, but do have some Tiffen and a couple of Cokin P series graduated filters which I prefer over the circular ones.

 

[Ratpack]

I am not so much worried about protecting the lens, I am more interested in using the filters for their intended purpose, such as star filters, center focus, and so forth. Should I buy only the better ones or will any of them do?