[Dirk W.]
Generally, Heliopan and B+W are considered the best.
[joel w.]
Except that Gary R. tested some B+W's and found some defective
samples. Hoyas performed a little more consistently, so I've stuck
with Hoya as a result.
Maybe Gary will comment, but what I gleaned from his posts about
filters is that buying them is a pig in a poke.
On the other hand, when I tested all my UV filters on film, I
couldn't see a difference with the amount of magnification I
typically use to examine slides or even the difference between using
a filter or not using one. These included Vivitar SMC(?), Oly's,
B+W, Tiffens, and no-names.
My compromise with confusion is just to buy Hoyas and not use them
more than necessary.
[winsor c.]
Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought the point was that even a very
expensive filter, like a B&W degrades the image, not that the filter
was defective.
Winsor,
Here's Gary note about filters from Nov 1999:
"Bill Rogers, of Bill Rogers Camera in Las Vegas, NV (eBay ID brcamera) came
up with a test for filters using a collimeter (I believe it is called) which
checks lenses for centering. It can also give you a star image of a filter
and tell you if it is plane parallel and flat in the mounting rings.
I ran all my work-a-day filters through it. The Olympus filters (probably
made by Hoya) came out quite well. Vivitar VMC filters did well, as a
group.
My B&W filter was terrible. I had a very useful Hoya graduated neutral
density filter - it was awful. Various off brands of UV filters were junk.
Cokinlight was a mixed bag: either fine or poor.
Bill has found Kenko to be a consistently good filter maker. I bought
Kenko's
to replace the ones I threw in the garbage.
I plan on using one of the real bad UV filters that I didn't toss on a lens
that I've already done a SQF lens test on. That should give me a handle of
what effect a "bad testing" filter actually has. I'll report the "with
filter" findings on my Zuiko Lens Test site.
Gary Reese
Las Vegas, NV"
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