Circular Polarizer Filters

[jwcosta]

Hi. I want to buy a circular polarizer filter for my Canon EOS camera. Any suggestions as to which are the best? I see several inexpensive ones on ebay. Any suggestions and pros/cons would be greatly appreciated.

[Bob Nichol]

The Hoya SMC (Super MultiCoated) line is very good.

[TCav]

If you get a filter, get a good one. A cheap filter can hurt image quality in a lot of little ways and a few big ways.

[ac.smith]

A good comparative CPL test is here http://www.lenstip.com/115.1-article...ters_test.html and a follow on test here http://www.lenstip.com/119.1-article...upplement.html .

A. C.

[DonalDuc]

EACH filter degrades photo quality! It is funny, why people pay $ 80 (or more) if you get same quality for $ 5.99 :-)

But it is socially to finance extra vacation to Hawaii for rich manufacturers.

[TCav]

Originally Posted by DonalDuc

EACH filter degrades photo quality! It is funny, why people pay $ 80 (or more) if you get same quality for $ 5.99 :-)

How about this: A cheap filter degrades image quality to a greater extent than an expensive filter.

[corkpix]

Originally Posted by jwcosta

Hi. I want to buy a circular polarizer filter for my Canon EOS camera. Any suggestions as to which are the best? I see several inexpensive ones on ebay. Any suggestions and pros/cons would be greatly appreciated.

Filter quality is usually a contentious issue. Some forum members
have achieved excellent results with very cheap filters, others will
only buy the more expensive types.

It is often stated that you get what you pay for. I don't think
this is strictly true. I would say you don't necessarily get
what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get. It
is worth noting that some of the most expensive filters in the
test referred to by ac.smith didn't achieve top ratings in
the tests and overall scoring.

Good quality, mid priced Japanese made filters are probably
the safest bet. Hoya/Kenko and Marumi are reasonably
affordable and known to be of good quality.

If you want a reasonably priced 58mm CPL filter for
the Canon 18-55mm kit lens, I can recommend the
the JYC PRO1-D. This is a multicoated slimline filter
of similar quality to the better known brands. They
cost about $20 on eBay.

[ac.smith]

Originally Posted by DonalDuc

EACH filter degrades photo quality! It is funny, why people pay $ 80 (or more) if you get same quality for $ 5.99 :-)

I've been well documented to be in the anti-UV filter for protection camp but the above is wrong on several levels. First, filters such as CPLs, NDs, grad. NDs accomplish specific functions. If the photo requires that function, glare removal, increased color saturation, reducing DR to what the camera can handle, allowing a slower shutter speed or wider aperture, then the quality was not degraded because the desired photo doesn't exist otherwise.

You do not get the same quality in a low-priced filter as a high priced filter even though paying a high price does not guarantee quality any more than paying $50K for a car insures high reliability. That is the specific reason I provide the links to lenstips every time the subject UV or CPL comes up.

If you compare lenstips tests for UV and CPL filters one can see that even buying by brand does not insure high perfomance. Hoya make great UVs and not so great CPLs.

None the less, to say that all filters are lousy and serve no purpose is flat wrong.

A. C.

[DonalDuc]

Originally Posted by TCav

How about this: A cheap filter degrades image quality to a greater extent than an expensive filter.

Said who? Zaratustra? Moses? Holy Bible? .... George W. Bush? A.Einstein? Your brothers wife? ...

[TCav]

A good filter must have two flat surfaces that are also parrallel. The coating(s) must be uniform across the entire surface(s) (except, of course, in the case of graduated neutral denisty filters, which present problems uniquely their own.) The outside edge of the optical element must be non-reflective. The filter barrel must not bind or seize with the lens or with other filters, as should all moving parts.

What makes a filter expensive isn't just that all that happens, but that the manufacturer can verify that it happens, and that the manufacturer can do it again and again.

Any filter, under some set of circumstances, will degrade image quality to some extent, but a good filter will do so to a lesser extent and do so less frequently.

If you've had good luck with inexpensive filters, I'm happy for you. I've had cheap filters that were bad and expensive filters that were good. I haven't had any cheap filters that were good or expensive filters that were bad.