Filters

[taslin]

I'm very confused on filters for my lenses. I have purchased "cheap" filters in the past, but after reading posts I understand this can make my picture quality less. What would be a good filter to get to protect my lens, but at the same time not degrade my picture quality. I also don't understand the difference between Hoya Multi-Coated and Super Multi-Coated. What's the difference between a UV and UV Haze?

Would a Hoya Multi-Coated UV be a good filter? Any suggestions would help. Thank you very much.

[DavidW]

Hoya's range is confusing, because there's so many options. It's one reason I prefer B+W - so far as coatings go then at most there's a standard option and MRC. B+W MRC is also reckoned to be easier to clean than the higher end Hoya coatings. I prefer B+W's brass mounting rings, too (Heliopan and B+W use brass, everyone else typically uses aluminium). All my screw-in filters are B+W MRC.

There seems to be some kind of consensus that Hoya S-HMC is a good price/performance trade-off in their range, and is in some way comparable to B+W MRC. HMC is a lower performance product, which I wouldn't rate amongst the quality multicoated products from leading manufacturers (which I rate as 99% + transmission - HMC is 97%, see here (http://www.thkphoto.com/products/hoya/coatings.html) - which also makes it clear that Hoya "Ultra" is a slim filter).

The Hoya digital filters have various supposed advantages which can't hurt, but I suspect they're small in reality (see here (http://www.thkphoto.com/digital/dp-02.html)). For example, Hoya seem to stress that both sides are coated with their digital product, when I'd expect that on any quality multicoated filter.


Hoya seem to have a baffling range of options, and not all are always that clear (not least because their slim mount filters are "Ultra" and aren't necessarily described clearly as such by vendors). If you want a 77mm filter for your 70-200mm f/2.8, then I think the two leading Hoya options at B&H would be this S-HMC filter (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=94134&is=REG&addedTroughType=search) for $52.50 or this "digital" filter (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=391177&is=REG&addedTroughType=search) for $86.95. The web page for the "digital" version is this (http://www.thkphoto.com/digital/pro1d-03.html), but I wouldn't expect any "improvement" like what is shown there. To get that sort of change, I'd expect to need a circular polariser and to warm the picture a little (which I'd do by changing the colour temperature a few hundred degrees lower in the RAW converter).

The B+W equivalent is an 010 UV-Haze MRC, which is this (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=11994&is=REG&addedTroughType=search) at $79.95. I can vouch for the quality of the B+W product, because that's what I use when I need a protective filter.



David