Hoya HD Polarizer?

Anton17

Anton17

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Anton
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I was wondering whether anyone has any experience with this filter? I bought a second hand Hama Polarizer from another TP member a couple of weeks ago and for all I have noticed in some occassions it does bring out the sky a bit more and you can change the tone, it's effects are mostly minimal. I have also found that it mostly makes the entire image darker, loses quite a bit of sharpness (enough to warrant not using it in fear of ruining a shot) and in the extreme cases loses any focus point and/or won't let the AF focus due to the darker tint.

Obviously, the Hoya HD is going to be around 5-10x the price that I paid for the Hama, but in this case does spending more give the desired effect? Or would the issue lie with my lens?

Regardless, Amazon have some really big price cuts on the Hoya HD so opinions would be welcomed on your experiences with this filter and what it achieves compared to cheaper/competing models (including those from the Hoya range).

Cheers. :thumbs:
 
I recently got a Hoya Polorizer from a member on here £20 and it performs just how I expect it to. I havent noticed any real darkening of the overall image, only really use it in extremely bright situations and not unless the light is coming from the correct angle. I find it a big help when photographing rivers or if the sky needs a kick.

I had a look at the HD filters myself and even at Amazons reduced prices 77mm one is going to cost me over £100, I have no experiecne with them but would love to know if they are worth the extra £80.

Edit.
Having read a little into them it seems the HD range dont reduce the amount of light entering the lens as much as standard polorizers, the polorizing effect is the same, therefore a faster shutter speed can be used thus reducing camera shake and the possible need for a tripod. Hmmmmm for the price difference I will stick to my tripod I think :)
 
Anton17 said:
Regardless, Amazon have some really big price cuts on the Hoya HD so opinions would be welcomed on your experiences with this filter and what it achieves compared to cheaper/competing models (including those from the Hoya range).

Cheers. :thumbs:
Click to expand...

A comment was made some time ago
1...eBay is awash with fake filters [so be sure who you buy from ]
2...cheap filters are not worth faking only the expensive Hoya and B&W


I read "this" report Chapter 4, and bought a Marumi DHG C-PL ----well pleased
 
Yardbent said:
A comment was made some time ago
1...eBay is awash with fake filters [so be sure who you buy from ]
2...cheap filters are not worth faking only the expensive Hoya and B&W


I read "this" report Chapter 4, and bought a Marumi DHG C-PL ----well pleased
Click to expand...

Cheers for the heads-up, mate. Would Amazon really be a place to get dodgy filters from or is that reserved to eBay? Especially when they are "Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk."?
 
Anton17 said:
Cheers for the heads-up, mate. Would Amazon really be a place to get dodgy filters from or is that reserved to eBay? Especially when they are "Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk."?
Click to expand...

yeah it's a bloody minefield buying filters.....
a similar question brought the response - " where do you think Amazon traders buy their goods from ?......:shrug:

I looked at Clifton Cameras...Marumi DHG C-PL at 72mm for £51
and also Camera King on eBay - TP members buy from CK and have good results - 72mm Hoya Pro-1 Digital C-PL at CK for £52 - a good price BTW

I have one of these Hoyas for my 55-200 VR lens; however reading the Lab Report, decided to try Marumi - very pleased with the slim-line build quality

In other threads, Hoppy has mentioned the quality of the HD series
my 52mm Hoya HD Protector is MUCH easier to clean than the Hoya Pro-1 which seems to be prone to "smearing" of fingerprints

Marumi also do a "Super" DHG which is their answer to the HD - I decided it was too expensive for me - so choose the DHG. Just buy the best you can!

the sun is FINALLY out so bugging off now to try it ...:thumbs:

one thing - my 72mm Marumi slimline is THIN - I bought a 62-77mm filter wrench for £4 so I can remove it easily and safely
 
Edit: crossed post with John :)

I use a Hoya HD CPL. I think it is the best polariser you can get, mainly because of the 1.2 stops light reduction, compared to the 1.7-2 stops you get with most other filters. As a result it's almost permanently attached to my super-wide. It also has very effective easy-clean multi-coating, hardened glass, slim-line mount with a front screw etc - all the usual high end features. I bought off Amazon for about £70 in 77mm but prices seem to have gone up recently. You will not notice any reduction in sharpness and flare/ghosting is very low. I would never use a cheap polariser, even though they are equally effective in terms of the polarising effect they produce - they just come with too many nasty side effects.

A polariser only works when there is polarised light about - namely from a clear blue sky, which can sometimes go navy blue almost black, and from reflections. It can completely eliminate reflections from glass, water, paintwork etc when you get the angle right, and it will also darken foliage/leaves and grass that also have a lot of reflective surfaces. That's why it is favourite for landscapes, producing effects that cannot be replicated in post processing.

For a polariser to be effective, there needs to be polarised light around as mentioned, plus you have to rotate it to the optimum degree and also be at the right angle to a reflective surface.

Point it at a blue sky with the sun behind you and rotate it. The sky will darken as the marker point gets towards the top. To see how it works with reflections, stand in front of a car. With the marker at the top, it will kill reflections off the windscreen and bonnet. Turn it 90 degrees so the marker is to one side, and reflections on the side will vanish (while those on the bonnet will return). With the polariser rotated 90 degrees, move around the car and watch how the reflections move up and down the sides of the car. Optimum angle is 37 degrees to the surface.
 
""the sun is FINALLY out so bugging off now to try it ""

well one design problem found ..... not the filter but the lens
using a 17-70mm Sigma f2.8 - cracking lens -

ok, put on screw-in C-PL filter, put on Sigma hood - a sort of bayonet twist-lock which goes on the front edge of the lens barrel

err - how do i now rotate the C-PL as it's covered by the hood....:bang:
removed hood but had to be careful where the sun was...

Richard - above you say its on your UWA - how ?
do I now have to buy a 72mm screw-in lens hood....:thumbsdown:
 
Yardbent said:
""the sun is FINALLY out so bugging off now to try it ""

well one design problem found ..... not the filter but the lens
using a 17-70mm Sigma f2.8 - cracking lens -

ok, put on screw-in C-PL filter, put on Sigma hood - a sort of bayonet twist-lock which goes on the front edge of the lens barrel

err - how do i now rotate the C-PL as it's covered by the hood....:bang:
removed hood but had to be careful where the sun was...

Richard - above you say its on your UWA - how ?
do I now have to buy a 72mm screw-in lens hood....:thumbsdown:
Click to expand...

Canon 17-40L - plenty of room to get your fingers inside the hood to rotate it. Same on the 24-104L too.

What's the problem with your Sigma? It only take a sec to twist the hood off if you've got a bunch of bananas.
 
HoppyUK said:
What's the problem with your Sigma? It only take a sec to twist the hood off if you've got a bunch of bananas.
Click to expand...

seems counter-productive to remove the hood every time to rotate filter then replace hood cos close angle to the sun
 
Not sure why your pics would look darker with the filter is on?
I know theres less light but that's why we (or the camera) adjusts the exposure??
 
Yardbent said:
and also Camera King on eBay - TP members buy from CK and have good results
Click to expand...

I know at least the 77mm Hoya HD CP on Amazon is supplied by CameraKing but I'm after a smaller size fit which is sold directly from Amazon. I've had fine results from Amazon directly before - would it be a risk?

HoppyUK said:
A polariser only works when there is polarised light about...
Click to expand...

Cheers for the explanation Hoppy but I already know how it works. :thumbs:

I have had some noticeable results from the Hama CP I have at the moment but like I was trying to say in my original post which has been misinterpreted here:...

Tight Fart said:
Not sure why your pics would look darker with the filter is on?
I know theres less light but that's why we (or the camera) adjusts the exposure??
Click to expand...

... I was saying rather than having a polarizing effect it apppears most of the time just to affect sharpness and make the image darker. Pretty much all of the shots I like to take are landscape (though that may have to change since it's hard for me to get about and I don't appreciate a "landscape" with housing estates in the background!) and so a polarizer, for me, is almost vital. Instead of setting up a tripod for every shot and shooting different exposures (one for the foreground, one for the sky, one for anything else etc.) and then stitching them together and altering exposures via post-production, a polarizer would benefit me being able to hand-hold the camera for shooting a landscape, shooting with the same exposure I have had set for one shot and have the foreground (land) at the same level as the sky (effect of polarizer). Instead of this, all the Hama seems to do is darken the overall image requiring you to up a standard daylight/sunlight landscape exposure level, leaving the polarizing effect minimal or non-existent (even leading to blown out whites). I understand it works best at 90 degrees from the sun and have adjusted my composition accordingly (although very hard) but if you start to lean towards 50-70 degrees the entire part of the sky closest to the sun is blown out white. For me, you'd buy a polarizer to avoid this. :shrug:

I can get the results from the sky that I want most of the time using post-production since the information is there in the RAW file but just needs to be brought out, but I'd rather have the filter do the job properly than artificially manipulating something that should have been right in the first place.

HoppyUK said:
I would never use a cheap polariser ... they just come with too many nasty side effects.
Click to expand...

I plan on having a polarizer permanently attached to my lens, so this says it best for me at the moment, that's why I made a thread asking of opinions for the Hoya HD. :thumbs:

Thanks to Yardbent and HoppyUK for your input on this. The Hoya HD filter I am after is for sale for £55 at the minute which, for all it is a bit steep for me in my financial situation, it is a bargain for what it is - that's why I was looking for some opinions on it. I'd be stupid not to buy it, no?

Yardbent said:
the sun is FINALLY out so bugging off now to try it ...:thumbs:
Click to expand...

Get any good results? :D
 
I have been using Hoya HD polarizing filters since they came out and I love them.
In my opinion, they don't come any better than this.
Of course they are expensive, but good equipment was never cheap.
 
The only polarizer I've used has been a Hoya HD, and I love it.

However, I'm not sure if this is the case with all polarisers, and filters, but compared to my UV/ND filters, it is extremely vulnerable to scratching. Mine is wrecked because of a dodgy lens cap. However as I'm only using it on my LX3, they're not noticeable through the lens as they're on the outer most edges.
 
Anton17 said:
... I was saying rather than having a polarizing effect it apppears most of the time just to affect sharpness and make the image darker. ...... all the Hama seems to do is darken the overall image requiring you to up a standard daylight/sunlight landscape exposure level, leaving the polarizing effect minimal or non-existent (even leading to blown out whites)

Thanks to Yardbent and HoppyUK for your input on this. The Hoya HD filter I am after is for sale for £55 at the minute which, for all it is a bit steep for me in my financial situation, it is a bargain for what it is - that's why I was looking for some opinions on it. I'd be stupid not to buy it, no?

Get any good results? :D
Click to expand...

Based on your poor/no results - I would dump the Hama

£55 what diameter thread is that ?

yes - I'll sort tonight and post a few
the effect was very noticeable rotating the filter BTW [unlike the Hama ?]

here's one out the camera - no pp at all, jpeg, resized to 800 at <200kb
the original 3MB is much much sharper details...

showphoto.php
[/url][/IMG]
 
I have both a Hoya (77mm for the 24-70) and a Heliopan (82mm for the 20mm f1.8). Both have their pluses and minuses. I prefer the Heliopan in most cases but the Hoya is still ok. I would say that the Heliopan has more of an effect at the extremes but both drop to about the same level at the other extreme. Filters are an afterthought for a lot of people but you really do get what you pay for in a lot of cases.
 
Yardbent said:
£55 what diameter thread is that ?
Click to expand...

I got my Hoya HD for around £50, and that was for the 52mm, so I'm guessing that's the one they're talking about. Would be shocked to find anything larger than 52mm for that price though. :eek:
 
guybrush said:
I got my Hoya HD for around £50, and that was for the 52mm, so I'm guessing that's the one they're talking about. Would be shocked to find anything larger than 52mm for that price though. :eek:
Click to expand...

true if you only look at Hoya HD - which was the reason I switched to Marumi as the 72mm Hoya HD becomes silly money on a pension.....:shake:

got my Marumi 72mm DHG for £51 - early days to say if it's good - pleased so far - and suits my Bank Account!
 
This is probably too late to be of use, but I noticed the Hama filter you purchased was second hand. The older linear polarizing filters do not work with the split prism autofocusing systems of todays digital cameras. You need a CPL - circular polarizing filter that adds another filter behind the linear one so that the light entering the camera is circular and does not interfere with the focussing (you said your shots were blurred). You can read about the difference here: http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/gf-04.html. Most new polarizing are CPL, like the Hoya Pro-1 and the HD series.
 
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