 BetterPhoto Member |
How to Choose a Filter Manufacturer Hello! I am interested in purchasing a circular polarizing filter (72mm). Having never used filters before (other than a UV filter), I do not know from whom to purchase a filter. There are several major manufacturers of filters, all ranging in prices. I have also found polarizing filters listed for low prices that seem to be made by Asian companies. How does one choose what brand of polarizing filter (or other filters for that matter) to buy? Are there different levels of quality? I am using a Nikon N80 with a Sigma 28-105mm f2.8-4 lens (72mm). Thank you for your help!
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John A. Lind |
First, when you add a filter to your lens you are introducing the equivalent of another lens element/group to it! The question I ultimately asked myself when finally researching lens filters: "After spending a considerable sum of money on a high quality lens with world-class optics why add a low-grade lens element to the front of it that introduces aberrations and distortions, and reduces contrast and resolution?" B+W and Heliopan are generally considered the two best filter makers in the world. B+W is owned by Schneider-Kreuznach (a.k.a. Schneider Optics), noted for world-class cinema, projection and medium format lenses. Another very good filter maker is Hoya. A fourth company is Tiffen, which is noted for its filters for the cinema industry. However, on its consumer filters, Tiffen uses aluminum rings and sandwiches a gelatin filter between two plates of glass (can affect parallelism or separate), something I personally don't care for. The aluminum threads tend to "gall" on my brass lens barrels making them very hard to remove (brass filter rings will not do this). There is disagreement among photogs about these two aspects of the Tiffen's and how much it affects their quality. Yes, there is a quality difference. Bench tests of lenses with and without filters on them shows significant degradation of contrast and resolution with a poor quality filter. The most important aspect of a filter is having absolutely dead flat front and back surfaces perfectly parallel to each other (unless it's a special effect type and not supposed to be flat). After that comes use of an AR (anti-reflective) coating and high quality optical glass (if it's a glass filter). Your lens has AR coatings on it for good reason: to reduce flare and maintain contrast. An uncoated filter will defeat this. Multi-coating is better than a single AR coating (on each side), but it's very minor compared to the enormous improvement having a single coating on each surface gains. Protect your filters against chips, scratches and "cleaning marks" as you would a valuable lens, and keep them clean! Many years ago I had a number of "no-name" generic filters. After buying several high quality ones used (B+W's) and seeing the visible difference in my images I kept the Hoya's, an old multi-coated Vivitar, and pitched the generic "no-names" into the trash. The only two brands I buy now are B+W and Heliopan. A new 72mm circular polarizer from B+W, Heliopan or Hoya is not inexpensive. If you are near a large camera store with a fair amount of used equipment, you can browse their used filter bin regularly and grab the ones for your lens(es) in excellent condition as they appear. I've gotten some of mine this way at much lower cost than new ones. It takes some patience and regularly diving through the bin. It may take a while to find used 72mm filters though (two of my lenses use that size). The most common sizes are 49mm, 52mm and 55mm. -- John
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Jeff S. Kennedy |
These days its tough to tell the difference between filter companies. Some are better constructed but optically I think you would find it difficult to see a difference between the most expensive and the cheapest. Coated filters are better as they will help eliminate flare (which is the biggest problem when using filters). My recommendation would be to get a system like the Cokin P series where you can drop in the filters. Once you get the basic pieces the filters are much cheaper than screw ons and it is easliy adapted to different lens sizes not to mention allowing you to use such filters as graduated neutral densities which are very handy in landscape work.
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Ryan Kelly |
Thanks for your help!
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