So many filters, so many prices. What's the difference?

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I am curretly in the mood for buying a circular polariser and an ND grad to help with landscape shots. Looking around on the net I can see about a thousand different brands at anywhere from a few quid up to who knows what limit. Does anyone know what I would be getting in a pricier filter that I wouldn't in a cheaper model?
Currently I'm looking at the Cokin A series for the ND grad, and a £25 Hoya for the CP. Does anyone know if they are any good, or should I consider spending a little more?
 
Cokin A are a bit small.... unless of course you have all the adapters etc... but if you are startng out new... Id go for Cokin P

Cokin are cheapest.........Hi tech are better..... and Lee are better still.

The prices go accordingly. Cokin tend to have a slight colour cast to the grey grads and it has been said they are not actually ND but just grey.

Hi Tech are a very good choice and fit into the Cokin P filter holder.
 
You get what you pay for....what size filter ring? I might have a circ pol you can have (72mm)

Otherwise, if buying new ones go for the best you can - the Hoya SFC Pro 1 is as good as they get, equal to B&W, Heliopan or any of the other vaunted makes and names. I just bought two new ones (smashed one, bent the other....) they were something like £140 each.

What do you get? Thinner glass with less refraction. Thinnner mounts so less chance of vignetting on wides. Proper coatings so you get true colours. Better polarising film sandwiched between the glass (which is how most decent polarisers are made - a thin film of polarising film stuck between two pieces of glass and shoved in a brass housing.) The ring will turn more smoothly, so you don't get that sticking feeling with graunching and grinding as you turn the filter.

ND grads - Cokin at £25 will likely give you mauve casts.

Lee ND grad at £35 will give you tonal neutrality.

Better filters are more expensive because they are....well, better actually. Yu can pay more, but the Hoya is very, very good if you get the Pro 1, they are as bad as everything else if you go for the cheap, uncoated one.

ND grads - how many do you plan on buying? So buy one good one, once. Forget the filter housing, you don't need it. A blob of blue tack does the same thing - save the cost of the filter housing and ring and spend it on the better filter! All the housing does is hold the filter in place - just like blue tack does!:clap:
 
where do you put the blu tack, on the lens ring??? does it not start to slip down, sounds like a good idea as i fancy some nd grads, sounds a cheap solution so i can get better filters.

By the way anyone bought photography monthly sept 08? had a filter article but my copy started at page 55 and tehn when at the end started again so didnt get the article!!
 
Thanks for the info. I might splash out a bit more for the quality. Perhaps not quite £140 though- I think that's more than my camera is worth!
It's 52mm that I need, so hopefully they won't come to that much anyway :)
Certainly hadn't thought of blu-tack but I might give that a go.
 
To start, Kood, Cokin or Hi-Tec would be your best bet. I use a pair of Kood ND grads, 0.6 and 0.9, they were fairly cheap, and get used a lot!
 
Just a little bit of blue tack each side of the lens - off the glass folks! On the body of the lens so you can get the filter right up tight to the lens body - if you have a zoom that extends beyond the body when zoomed....put it on when you have framed everything and remember to keep the blue tack away from the gaps where the lens is going to slide in and out - just be sensible. Then simply line you ND up, NOT on the blue tack....when in position as you want, push it gently to the blue tack, take the shot.

To be fair, I used this technique on my Mamiya RZ when I was using prime lenses - but I still use it as above on zooms too. Just that you need ot be aware of where the sticky stuff might get. All it is for is to hold the filter against the lens as close as poss. A filter holder is simply something else to carry around that does the same thing.

52mm - shouldn't be more than about £60. Mine were 77s.
 
Lensflare said:
Otherwise, if buying new ones go for the best you can - the Hoya SFC Pro 1
Click to expand...

I've done a search on these as i was after a 77mm one, but can't find them anywhere, did you mean "Hoya SHMC Pro 1" :shrug:
 
TEL48 - I think so. Pro 1 sounds familiar!

There are several standards of filter put out by Tokina (Hoya) the expensive, pro series filters are as good as any - they make many of the other brands. The cheaper ones are just that - cheap (and nasty). Pay the extra and look after them. The new Digital series have a new nano coating on them. HSMC = Hoya Special Multi Coating
 
I'm in the market for these filters also and this thread has proven quite useful. However I need 67mm which are minimum £75 for the Hoya Pro-1 and a bit toppy for me. I know sound advice is to buy the best but what is the advice if the budget for a CPL is only £30?
 
Thanks for that help, hepburn
 
eaglet said:
I'm in the market for these filters also and this thread has proven quite useful. However I need 67mm which are minimum £75 for the Hoya Pro-1 and a bit toppy for me. I know sound advice is to buy the best but what is the advice if the budget for a CPL is only £30?
Click to expand...


Order one from HK ;)

Actually, I might have a 67mm cpl somewhere, I don't have any lenses left that take that filter size, so let me have a look and I'll get back to you ;)
 
eaglet said:
Thanks for that help, hepburn
Click to expand...

You pays your money and takes your chances. For £30 or less for a new 67mm CPL the chances are you'll waste your money... A cheap filter will cause more problems than it solves. I think that point has been made several times in this, and other, threads.

Hopfully the 2nd hand market will pay dividends for you. :)
 
Lensflare said:
TEL48 - I think so. Pro 1 sounds familiar!

There are several standards of filter put out by Tokina (Hoya) the expensive, pro series filters are as good as any - they make many of the other brands. The cheaper ones are just that - cheap (and nasty). Pay the extra and look after them. The new Digital series have a new nano coating on them. HSMC = Hoya Special Multi Coating
Click to expand...


Thanks mate (y) i actually thought it was that one just a typo error i guess, i have one of these UV type on my 18-200mm lens, i'm now looking for a 77mm CPF one for my 12-24mm landscape lens, do ebay do the best deals, and if so which ebay shop have you all purchased from ?
 
To be honest I keep as far away from ebay as I can. I have never sold anything on there and never bought anything from there - but heard plenty of tales of woe from people who have.

I prefer to do business with folks I know will give me good SERVICE. Posting a lens/filter whatever out is not difficult and does not constitute good service either. BUT, when something goes wrong and you have built a working relationship with a supplier - a phone call from out in the field is all it takes to get kit on its way and the paperwork sorted out on your return. THAT is service and try getting that from an ebayer in Hong Kong. It ain't gonna happen.

instance: You are away on assignment. Somewhere awkward to get to (I was actually on a 10 assignment up the Amazon doing a corporate brochure shoot and several magazine features). You have a problem with your gear - I can't remember exactly what the problem was but I used the satellite phone to Calumet (KJP in those days) in Birmingham, UK. They got it sorted and replacement gear was flown out to the mission, about 50 miles away by boat., I was up and running again in 2 days. It was despatched from their Miami office. It cost me, but my insurance covered it. The important thing was IT WAS SORTED. That is service.

Do you think an ebayer flogging gear for £10 below list is going ot be able to give that kind of back up?

How much would it have cost me if I hadn't had that kind of backup? I would have spent enough to keep me in new gear at list price for decades.

The cost of the trip you go on is far more than what you save on a piece of gear or two. If you want these shops to be there to get you out of a hole, to be able to supply your lens when you want it - you have to keep them in business. You can't have it both ways. You can't go in for their advice and pick their brains and handle their gear and then go and buy it for £10 cheaper over the net and then expect them to be there next time - how do they survive?

If you want service, you have to pay for it - but it is generally cheaper in the long run, and more convenient and much more satisfying.

I HATE ebay with a passion. :thumbsdown:
 
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