CP Filter cost variations

[Dante King]

Hey guys. I have been adding to my lens arsenal. A have some filters. I was wondering if there is a noticable difference in pics that come thru a 54 buck CP and a 200$$ CP.

I am not a pro and dont make a living form my camera. Would it be a mistake to settle for mid priced filters. I am specifically looking at the hoyas and sunpack. The heliopans seem like they have a sweet rep, but are they really needed in my case?

[thomasrhee]

I've always had the opinion that if you've spent good money on a lens, why put a cheap filter in front of the expensive glass.

IMO, as long as you buy a multi-coated filter from one of the "better" brands (i.e. B+W, Heliopan, Tiffen, Hoya, Singh-Ray, etc..), the differences in image quality if any will be too minute to be visibly apparent.

I use B+W filters and am happy with them.

[weemannie]

I agree, why spoil the quality of good quality lenses with cheap glass filters?

The relative cost of a quality filter compared to the price of a lens makes a cheap filter a false economy IMO. :)

[Medic1]

I agree, why spoil the quality of good quality lenses with cheap glass filters?

The relative cost of a quality filter compared to the price of a lens makes a cheap filter a false economy IMO. :)

I too agree, I have seen the difference between a Canon brand filter (that was included with my 300D) and a Hoya Pro filter.....it is subtle, but it is percievable if you look at the pictures and compare them.

No sense spending good money on a lens only to degrade image quality with a cheap filter

[Dante King]

Medic, could you please post a sample of what you are talking about?

[aam1234]

Are Canon CPL's that bad.

[Medic1]

Are Canon CPL's that bad. No, they aren't that bad. For the price, they are more than fine. I just like the Hoya CPL better. I actually don't have those images on hand anymore, and the Canon CPL is gone as it has been replaced with the Hoya....sorry. Its not that if someone who didn't know would notice, its that I knew there was a difference myself. The Hoya filter gave better results to my eye. I am sure that someone who didn't know which was which wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. It was just that I was looking for the difference....

Maybe I am just picky as to what I like or maybe it was just coincidence that I had a bad experience with them. There was a thread a while ago and someone posted there had been a review in some magazine and all filters came out equally. I think that Canon can manage to build some great lenses they can manage to build a great filter as well.

CPL aside, I have had bad experience with Hoya UV filters on my 70-200 f4L causing loss of sharpness......I have not tried Canon UV, I just leave the UV filter off now

[aam1234]

Thanks Medic1for the reassurance.

[london]

This is actually a very serious issue that you are raising here -- the loss of sharpness due to poor filters and polarizers. Does anyone know of any tests or good articles on the subject? I would like to read up on it.

Scott

[foxbat]

I have a Hoya Pro-1 UV filter permanently mounted to my 70-200 and it hasn't affected the sharpness as far as I have noticed. That said I do find that the 70-200 produces RAW images that need the "shadows" slider on the photoshop RAW import dialog moved up to about +5.