Filters UV (O) vs UV (N)?

[Reaperman]

Heh all.
Googled this and came up with... (O) is for optical glass...(N) normal glass. That O is no longer used as too expensive. But Hoya make their PRO1 and PRO1 Super with (O). I also did a thread search but couldn't see anything although I could have missed something.

So what do you reckon.

And if this is the difference then surely Optical glass has to be better or is it so fine in a filter that it doesn't matter?.

:D Reaperman

[Lester Wareham]

Heh all.
Googled this and came up with... (O) is for optical glass...(N) normal glass. That O is no longer used as too expensive. But Hoya make their PRO1 and PRO1 Super with (O). I also did a thread search but couldn't see anything although I could have missed something.

So what do you reckon.

And if this is the difference then surely Optical glass has to be better or is it so fine in a filter that it doesn't matter?.

:D Reaperman

AFAIK all Hoya filters are made with Hoya optical glass, they are one of the major optical glass manufactures in the world. I would be amazed if they used ordinary glass even in their cheapest filters.

Again AFAIK UV(0) (note that looks like a zero not an O), all this defines in the filtering characteristic.

Check out the Hoya docs
http://www.hoya-online.co.uk/Hoya.pdf
http://www.thkphoto.com/products/hoya/hoya-02.html
http://www.thkphoto.com/digital/dp-02.html

I have never seen a UV(N), where did you get that from?

Ahh update, this may or may not be correct, a search on UV(N) only turns up doggy ebay adverts and this discussion http://www.dogpile.com/info.dogpl/clickit/search?r_aid=1DEC4CBFA90F4811B377BF1A6AE44C30&r_eop=8&r_sacop=2&r_spf=0&r_cop=main-title&r_snpp=1&r_spp=1&r_wsm=0&qqn=m%24t%26y)6H&r_coid=239138&rawto=http://www.dpchallenge.com/forum.php?action=read&FORUM_THREAD_ID=226320


"There are 2 different UV from HOYA - UV(N) & UV(0). AFAIK, UV(N) has been marketed in Asia only because it has inferior glass quality, and much cheaper than UV(0). UV(0) uses the same high quality glass as other high quality filters. And yes, both are available in HMC, and the situation is confusion"

So as long as you don't get your filters in the far east or from ebay you should be OK.

Get the SHMC Pro 1s they are good.

[Reaperman]

Heh Lester. Thanks for that. I Googled it and it came up with a number of things.
Onestop-digital.com state the N absorbs unwanted light rays in UVB, UVC & IR ranges without affecting colour balance.:confused:
NexTag UK sell Genuine Hoya (N) UV filters also as do a number of Internet sales.:confused:

This doesn't appear to be just ebay. The O still comes up as Optical glass where as N comes up as normal glass (whatever they mean by this).
I do have PRO1's (O) on my lens and they are a lot more expensive and I guess worth it.
Anyone have any other ideas I would be interested.

Interesting though.


:D Reaperman