Polarising Filters

Turbo-G

Turbo-G

Turbo-G

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6 Jan 2009
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Hi,
I'm considering picking up a 52mm circular polarising filter to accompany me on an upcoming beach holiday. I understand it will give me better results when shooting bright sand, water and skies...

Does anybody have experience of either the Jessops or the Hoya polarising filter? Which should I go for? They Hoya is more expensive, but is it worth it, and are there other brands I should be considering?

I only own one other filter, a cheap 'Bower' UV filter which was 'thrown in' when I bought my 35mm 1.8 in the States. Must say, other than the protective element against sea spray etc I was very dissapointed, as it often gave a 'ghosting' reflection between the two glass surfaces. Very noticeable when indoors under artificial lighting. As a result, I've simply not bothered with it.

Thanks,

Grant
 
I'd go for the Hoya personally. You generally get what you pay for and B+W filters are recommended too.

To be honest though, I hardly ever use mine for general purpose. Your mileage may vary of course but I wouldn't recommend spending a fortune on one.
 
A UV filter is basically useless with digital cameras. At best is is used to "protect" the front element (with dubious arguments for this), although as you mention, it is useful if you are in an area with lots of spray/stones/sand flying around (like roughs seas and rallys). I don't even own a UV filter. A CPL is totally different though, if you shoot landscape get a decent one as you will probably be using it all the time.
 
Amp34 said:
A UV filter is basically useless with digital cameras. At best is is used to "protect" the front element (with dubious arguments for this), although as you mention, it is useful if you are in an area with lots of spray/stones/sand flying around (like roughs seas and rallys). I don't even own a UV filter. A CPL is totally different though, if you shoot landscape get a decent one as you will probably be using it all the time.
Click to expand...

Digitalrev did a video a while back on how much a UV filter can protect a lens and from their rather brash testing, they seem to be worth it in the long run as you can just change the filter if it gets damaged which is a fraction of the cost compared to a lens.

As for the OP, I've used the jessops 52mm CPL and it wasn't bad at all. HOYA is a better brand though, but on that sort of filter size, I doubt you'd really notice a difference between the two. If it was a 77mm filter or above, I'd probably say defo go for the Hoya brand as it'll be more likely to be a quality product, but theres a massive amount of fake hoya filters also on the internet which you need to watch out for!
 
^^^ cheap Uv filters will shatter and the tiny shards will scratch the front element. In general the lens front element is very resistant ( except to razor sharp glass shards) and small scratches have a fairly minimal effect. Front elements are also not that expensive to replace. Saying that I use B&W uv filter on my pro glass when I am not shooting professionally, or when on a beach.
 
Jessops or the Hoya ...


Hoya always. Much better material quality, they feel nicer to use too and produce better image quality because they usually allow more light threw than the cheaper versions.
 
D.P. said:
^^^ cheap Uv filters will shatter and the tiny shards will scratch the front element. In general the lens front element is very resistant ( except to razor sharp glass shards) and small scratches have a fairly minimal effect. Front elements are also not that expensive to replace. Saying that I use B&W uv filter on my pro glass when I am not shooting professionally, or when on a beach.
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Quite a few lenses require a filter to become weatherproof/resistant also so they are more important than most people give them credit for.
 
James J said:
Digitalrev did a video a while back on how much a UV filter can protect a lens and from their rather brash testing, they seem to be worth it in the long run as you can just change the filter if it gets damaged which is a fraction of the cost compared to a lens.

As for the OP, I've used the jessops 52mm CPL and it wasn't bad at all. HOYA is a better brand though, but on that sort of filter size, I doubt you'd really notice a difference between the two. If it was a 77mm filter or above, I'd probably say defo go for the Hoya brand as it'll be more likely to be a quality product, but theres a massive amount of fake hoya filters also on the internet which you need to watch out for!
Click to expand...

A good UV filter can cost the same amount as getting your front lens repaired... If you stick one on the front of a kit lens (such as the 18-55) then you'll probably be paying a similar amount for a good UV filter as you would for an entire replacement lens...

That sort of filter size? It doesn't really matter about the size of the filter, you either have good glass or bad glass, doesn't matter what size...:confused: But yes, go for the Hoya over the Jessops. I have a "cheap" Tiffen 58mm CPL and it is terrible compared to higher quality ones.
 
Amp34 said:
A good UV filter can cost the same amount as getting your front lens repaired... If you stick one on the front of a kit lens (such as the 18-55) then you'll probably be paying a similar amount for a good UV filter as you would for an entire replacement lens...

That sort of filter size? It doesn't really matter about the size of the filter, you either have good glass or bad glass, doesn't matter what size...:confused: But yes, go for the Hoya over the Jessops. I have a "cheap" Tiffen 58mm CPL and it is terrible compared to higher quality ones.
Click to expand...

The PRICE is massively different depending on the thread size. Thats what I was getting at. Also, why send a lens away when it doesn't need to be sent away? Easier to just replace the filter! 52 and 58mm threads are tiny and cheap whilst they get far more pricey the bigger you go.
 
As an update, I purchased the basic Hoya 52mm CPL from a certain market place in the rain forrest, which arrived today.

One concern though, does it look legit to you? I've heard Hoya's are fairly frequently copied. Mines only a cheapy, so can't imagine there would be much need for them to produce counterfeits:


Untitled by grantarcher84, on Flickr

Untitled by grantarcher84, on Flickr

Cheers
 
Looks legit, but it's their older style of filter, which is a little cheaper and originally designed for film cameras.

The more expensive Pro-1 Digital range are obviously marketed at digital camera users, but I don't think there is any difference in that respect. I believe all that is different is better materials used and it has a much thinner profile, so it won't show up when using it on ultra wide lenses.
 
Oh OK, it wasn't clear tbh.

It only cost £15.80.

When I looked on Jessops, it seems there are the following types:

Hoya CPL - 52mm (29.99)
Hoya SMC-PRO-1 Digital CPL - 52mm (64.99)
Hoya HD CPL - 52mm - (64.99)

I merely thought I was picking up the first at a discounted rate.

Hopefully it isn't garbage - or at least on a 52mm thread it's not going to be overly noticeable.
 
It would be exceptionally hard to notice unless there was a fault with the filter so don't worry about it mate.
 
I may be missing something but that doesn't look like a circular polariser (CPL), in which case it will screw up your AF.

I would really look at a Hoya HD or Hoya Pro-1D as an absolute minimum.
 
Yes that looks like Hoya's Linear Polarizing filter which won't work with the AF and / or meter on modern SLRs with beam splitters. Hoya sell two, a linear (PL) and a circular polarizing filter (PL-CIR), the latter you'll need for a new SLR. I have the Standard Hoya CPLs and they look the same as yours but are designated PL-CIR at the top left.
 
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