Polarizing Filters on Ebay
 

Anyone have any thoughts on 'cheapo' polarizing filters on ebay? Do they work decently, or is it absolutely necessary to spend money on a more expensive filter?

they work in terms of the polarizing effect, but the glass quality is prolly crap. So if you're putting these $10 filters on your $1500 L lens, you waste your $1500.

cheap CPL filters (i'm talking <$10 for a 58mm) still work as described. the picture just isn't sharp that's all.

what lens are you using it for? if it's a lens you plan on keeping for a long time then get a nice filter. maxsaver.net. excellent prices.

Sorry I don't mean to hijack the thread, but it's still somewhat on topic.

What's your take on using step-up rings? Does it really decrease IQ? For example, I want to invest in a good CPL and a few ND filters, but I don't want to buy some for each of my lenses (or rather, my future lenses). I want to buy a 77mm and hopefully use step-up rings for my 72mm sigma, and upcoming 67/77mm 70-200 mm. The uwa lens I plan on getting is also 77mm.

If step-up rings are kosher, what's the limit on number of rings to use? Obviously I wouldn't use a 77 on my nifty- but what's your take on it.

didn't think step-up rings decreased IQ at all since there is no glass on them at all

only concern is vignetting when using a wide angle. i think the more you stack, the less wide you can go. like compare a 58->67 + 67->77 to a 58->77

ah yeah i knew that issue. luckily my kit is 72, and the uwa that i'll eventually get is a 77 so the vignetting will be kept to a minimum.

I guess the thing I was worried about was having that void space between the filter and the lens element increasing opportunities for light bounce. probably unwarranted though. thanks!

Yea, good call. Definitely a lens I want to keep for a long time.. its thes 16-85mm Nikkor.

Ok, sounds good, it is decided. A B&W circular polarizer it is :thumbsup:

no they are a piece of crap that would probably fall apart or have crap inside between the glass. I would rather buy a purple hoya instead of some crap <$10 ebay filters.

Honestly go with some better filters, especially name brand ones. You can't go wrong with B+W, Hoya, Tiffen, Rodenstock, etc. Obviously they would be more expensive, but will last probably longer than your no name, and they would produce a better image.

If you can afford an L lens, you can afford to put nice filters on IMO.

B+W Kaesemann :D

Try http://maxsaver.net/ for cheaper brand name filters, if u're on a budget.

Stay away from Tiffens too.

If ur looking for uv, I recently got a hoya super HMC uv and it's awesome! Compared to my b+w fpro, it has visibly way less reflections due to the coatings. I angle the lens to catch a lightbulb reflection and I can barely see any on the hoya, whereas on b+w it's pretty significant. Looking at the lens with the hoya i can't even tell there's a filter on it from the lack of a glare reflection! But cleaning is a bitch at first. First time I cleaned it, it'd smudge and would not clean. Even with lens fluid, it was the same. Eventually though after some rubbing it became easy to clean like normal glass... I guess some sort or coating got rubbed off. Haha.
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B+W single coat is ok...MRC is the way to go if you buy B+W.

Yea, I have a B+W MRC UV as a daily protector on mine.. and that thing virtually is fingerprint proof. Crazy easy to clean too.

I've decided I'll probably get a Hoya HD CPL filter for polarizing things..

Don't buy cheap ones... they are comeplete fucking shit.

I paid $60 almost 2 years ago for one, it was a Hoya and the this filter was great. In stores it sold for $100+... but filter is gone now since i broke it.

I recently bought two filters from ebay, paid $50 in total, and the shipping was free. They are some random name, i got them in a pretty case and the description makes them seem so good... but they hardly even rotate like they should, complete junk and wasted money.

So when buying filters from ebay, only buy good and known brands.

they've got the best prices, i just ordered a few more filters from them for my new lense, highly recommended!

just ordered a 82mm hoya HD cpl off them. $12 cheaper than on ebay with free shipping.

oh nice, which 82mm lense do you have?
I'm thinking of getting the ZE 21/2.8

16-35L mk2

oh nice, i am considering that lens, how do you find it?
do you mainly use it for landscape or people shots also? or?

just curious

thx

it's awesome. I rarely use it for people. mostly landscape and interior. it's good if you need the extra speed. but otherwise a 17-40 would do for half the price. The image is marginally better than the 17-40 but not worth 2x the price imo if you dont need the speed.

the 16-35 mk1 is worse than the 17-40 though, so stay away from it.

Another very good polarizing filter that I had great exp. with is Singh-ray. reasonably priced for amazing quality product.

I just picked up a Hoya HD CPL after doing a ton of research. I probably would have gone for the B&W MRC CPL, but I think $130 its a bit much!

Did I get hosed?

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_RlBlRdp4hCE/S_...2/DSC_1561.JPG

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_RlBlRdp4hCE/S_...2/DSC_1565.JPG

"This product is licesed by Hoya"

The filter I picked up on Ebay says Genuine, the rest of the packaging and the filter seem very genuine. The build quality is very very good. I'm not sure what to think right now..

That's the usual packaging for Hoya HD.

But the best C/P ratio filter is still Hoya HMC. Anything beyond that show very minimal improvement (sometimes even worse in term of reflection).

This is what I think after having experienced with almost every filter brand out there. (I'm a gearhead. :D and for every lens I get, I purchase a new filter if they don't come with one, and not always the same brand)

Some short review on each filter:
Hoya HMC: Best C/P. Almost minimal glare and fairly cheap on fleebay

Hoya Super HMC: Can't tell a difference between this and HMC, in the 2 samples I got, one of the actually have a tiny hint more of reflection than HMC.

B+W MRC: Very good glare suppression with excellent light-pass capability (sometimes noticeable on vignette-heavy lenses) but $$$$$

B+W non-MRC: Garbage, don't waste your money, might as well go HMC, better product at lower price. Only thing worth mentioning is construction. They are excellent as any other B+W product.

Kenko Zeta: The top-of-the-line filter from Kenko. Expensive, best glare suppression I have seen to date on a UV filter. But not worth the price against HMC.

Nikon: Newer generation are great, but again, not worth the money. The older generation without coating is useless.

Canon: garbage. Do not buy unless you have a thing with Canon. Only good thing from Canon is close-up filters.

Sony Zeiss T*: Very expensive stuff. But the best filter I've used to date. If you want the absolute best stuff, get this.

Heliopan: Awesome quality and performance. But again, very pricy and I'd rather go HMC unless you want the square filter system.

Singh-Ray: Perhaps the best ND filter out there. Although without coating, hence little to none glare suppression, but color shift is kept to minimal (on my D700 at least)

^

It's usual for Hoya to have a spelling mistake?