Hoods and filters

[David Kilpatrick]

Tiffen - for some reason, US buyers thought they were all good because Tiffen made some high end movie industry filters (like Lee etc). Actually their amateur/retail market stuff was awful, like Cokin's circular rim mounted plastic filters - and they were uncoated. The only Tiffen filter I give houseroom to in a neodymium glass redhancer, which can be used with digital just as it could with film to boost autumn colours selectively. Most Tiffen filters were resin and indeed, they can't be coated. Same goes even for high end Lee, Hitech and they need using with care preferably with a bellows lens hood.

 

Bill - I no longer have the colour meter (Minolta) but I have the complete set of gels in CC and LB values, and the gel holder. I also kept all my filters with the Stack Caps, when they were all 55mm size. I have some really great old classic filters like Cromofilter graduates, B+W Spectra holographic and six-face coloured prism, Vivitar Chromo-Blend (colour changing polariser) all in this size. But I don't use any of this stuff at all now, I shoot raw and straight and any messing around is post-processing (and not much of that).

[John Mitchell]

Tiffen - for some reason, US buyers thought they were all good because Tiffen made some high end movie industry filters (like Lee etc). Actually their amateur/retail market stuff was awful, like Cokin's circular rim mounted plastic filters - and they were uncoated. The only Tiffen filter I give houseroom to in a neodymium glass redhancer, which can be used with digital just as it could with film to boost autumn colours selectively. Most Tiffen filters were resin and indeed, they can't be coated. Same goes even for high end Lee, Hitech and they need using with care preferably with a bellows lens hood.

 

 

Uh-oh, perhaps it's time to trash the Tiffen PL and look for something else. I don't use PL filters much anymore, though, mainly just to reduce window reflections. Thanks for the info.

 

BTW has anyone heard of TechPro filters?

[Doc]

Thanks David for the advice. I always use a good quality filter and a lens hood with all my lenses, the filter mainly for protection of the front element, and the hood for flare prevention as well as protection for the lens..

 

Kumar

[David Kilpatrick]

Polarisers - it's maybe five years now since Hoya created a new type of polarising filter with extra thin glass and low neutral density - these are the Pro 1 pols. They are very neutral in colour and this has made variable ND filters practical - you still get a deep blue cast at over 10 stops, but neutrality is maintained over a wide range of ND settings. These filters in their single normal polariser form only lose one stop of light instead of betweem 1.5 and 2.5 stops for older polarisers.

 

If you don't want to pay Hoya prices, you can buy them (rims made in China but the element is Hoya) from SRB in Britain, and worldwide as Camdiox filters. I've tried all of them and been told that Hoya keep the best glass for themselves but the rebranded types seem pretty good. They also super-slim so they work on ultrawides or wide zooms (probably the lenses you least want a polariser on!).

[John Mitchell]

Polarisers - it's maybe five years now since Hoya created a new type of polarising filter with extra thin glass and low neutral density - these are the Pro 1 pols. They are very neutral in colour and this has made variable ND filters practical - you still get a deep blue cast at over 10 stops, but neutrality is maintained over a wide range of ND settings. These filters in their single normal polariser form only lose one stop of light instead of betweem 1.5 and 2.5 stops for older polarisers.

 

If you don't want to pay Hoya prices, you can buy them (rims made in China but the element is Hoya) from SRB in Britain, and worldwide as Camdiox filters. I've tried all of them and been told that Hoya keep the best glass for themselves but the rebranded types seem pretty good. They also super-slim so they work on ultrawides or wide zooms (probably the lenses you least want a polariser on!).

Hoya and B+W seem to dominate the screw-on filter market (what's left of it) in Canada. Some stores also carry Sigma filters. Techopro, which I mentioned earlier, is a relatively new Chinese kid on the block. Haven't heard of Camdiox but shall check them out. Since I seldom use a PL filter, I don't want to spend more than I have to in order to get a half-decent one. .