[ucodegen]

Wow, thanks! So I guess especially for the wide angle, putting a polarizer on top of a UV filter is a no-no due to vignetting… I haven’t noticed vignetting problem with my B+W filter, and it’s not a low-profile one…Maybe I’m just not looking too hard.

A UV filter is thinner than a polarizer. Polarizers have two rings, a fixed ring portion that screws into the lens and a rotating portion that allows you to align the polarizing element to get the effect (best if oriented 90 degrees to a line between lens and position of the sun). Depending upon how aligned, polarizers will either strengthen or weaken reflections etc. One way to see if vignetting will be a problem is to ‘double stack’ the UV filters on the wide angle lens and then look at the corners of the viewfinder/pictures and see if they are darker than the center.

One of the problems with stacking a polarizer on top of a UV filter is that each filter adds aberrations to the image. I tend to take my UV off when putting on the polarizer.. but you also have to be careful there. Many lens built today have plastic front thread barrels.. which are too easy to crossthread. Once cross-threaded, trying to get the filters on properly will be a problem.

NOTE: The ‘X’ series of Hoya filters is about the thickness of a UV filter (Super Multicoat thin profile). I suspect that the Pro-1 line is also about the thickness of a UV filter. The others are thicker. (This is generally true across the manufacturers) The thin profiles are a little harder to handle because the ring you have to handle to align the filter is about 2mm wide at most, same size as the ring to screw it onto the lens.

[ucodegen]

Wow, thanks! So I guess especially for the wide angle, putting a polarizer on top of a UV filter is a no-no due to vignetting… I haven’t noticed vignetting problem with my B+W filter, and it’s not a low-profile one…Maybe I’m just not looking too hard.

A UV filter is thinner than a polarizer. Polarizers have two rings, a fixed ring portion that screws into the lens and a rotating portion that allows you to align the polarizing element to get the effect (best if oriented 90 degrees to a line between lens and position of the sun). Depending upon how aligned, polarizers will either strengthen or weaken reflections etc. One way to see if vignetting will be a problem is to ‘double stack’ the UV filters on the wide angle lens and then look at the corners of the viewfinder/pictures and see if they are darker than the center.

One of the problems with stacking a polarizer on top of a UV filter is that each filter adds aberrations to the image. I tend to take my UV off when putting on the polarizer.. but you also have to be careful there. Many lens built today have plastic front thread barrels.. which are too easy to crossthread. Once cross-threaded, trying to get the filters on properly will be a problem.

NOTE: The ‘X’ series of Hoya filters is about the thickness of a UV filter (Super Multicoat thin profile). I suspect that the Pro-1 line is also about the thickness of a UV filter. The others are thicker. (This is generally true across the manufacturers) The thin profiles are a little harder to handle because the ring you have to handle to align the filter is about 2mm wide at most, same size as the ring to screw it onto the lens.

[ucodegen]

Wow, thanks! So I guess especially for the wide angle, putting a polarizer on top of a UV filter is a no-no due to vignetting… I haven’t noticed vignetting problem with my B+W filter, and it’s not a low-profile one…Maybe I’m just not looking too hard.

A UV filter is thinner than a polarizer. Polarizers have two rings, a fixed ring portion that screws into the lens and a rotating portion that allows you to align the polarizing element to get the effect (best if oriented 90 degrees to a line between lens and position of the sun). Depending upon how aligned, polarizers will either strengthen or weaken reflections etc. One way to see if vignetting will be a problem is to ‘double stack’ the UV filters on the wide angle lens and then look at the corners of the viewfinder/pictures and see if they are darker than the center.

One of the problems with stacking a polarizer on top of a UV filter is that each filter adds aberrations to the image. I tend to take my UV off when putting on the polarizer.. but you also have to be careful there. Many lens built today have plastic front thread barrels.. which are too easy to crossthread. Once cross-threaded, trying to get the filters on properly will be a problem.

NOTE: The ‘X’ series of Hoya filters is about the thickness of a UV filter (Super Multicoat thin profile). I suspect that the Pro-1 line is also about the thickness of a UV filter. The others are thicker. (This is generally true across the manufacturers) The thin profiles are a little harder to handle because the ring you have to handle to align the filter is about 2mm wide at most, same size as the ring to screw it onto the lens.

[ucodegen]

It is hard to tell which of your listed ones give you the best price/perf. They are not using the names of the filters that Hoya is actually using. If they were, I could compare them. Hoya has 4 styles of coated filters. In the size of 67mm, they have have 3 of the types.

Standard, HMC and S-HMC(same as HMC but slim profile for wide angle lens to prevent vignetting.)

I tracked down the size of the filter for both lens. They both use a 67mm. The problem is that the wide angle will probably need a slim profile or you should use a 67mm/72mm step ring and go to a larger size. You will not be able to use the lens hood on the Tamron 17/50 with the filter on if the filter has a step ring. On the other hand, you will be able to use full wide angle on the lens with the filter without vignetting when using the step ring design.

Links for Hoya filter specs from manufacturer:
http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/gf-04.html
coating types: http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/coatings.html
“Pro” line
http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/pro1d-04.html

With Amazon, I don’t know what specific filters are being listed because they don’t use manufacturers part numbers. The ‘model number’ does not trace to anything.

Try Adorama and you can use their ‘filtering’ ability to select specific sizes and manufacturers. They also list manufacturer’s model numbers. What I can determine from Hoyas part numbers.. the format is the following:
{type_of_coatings/family}{size}{type of filter}
{type of coatings/family} maps to:
A – Multicoat
B – Hard multicoat
X – Super Multicoat – thin profile
XD – Pro 1 line, multicoat.
XHD – Super Multicoat with Hardened glass.
G – Standard
{size} will be size in mm.
{type of filter} would map to
PL – Linear Polarizer
CRPL – Circular Polarizer.

Therefore a G67CRPL will be the ‘standard 67mm circular polarizer’, which is single coated. This is for Hoya.. other manufacturers are different.

[ucodegen]

It is hard to tell which of your listed ones give you the best price/perf. They are not using the names of the filters that Hoya is actually using. If they were, I could compare them. Hoya has 4 styles of coated filters. In the size of 67mm, they have have 3 of the types.

Standard, HMC and S-HMC(same as HMC but slim profile for wide angle lens to prevent vignetting.)

I tracked down the size of the filter for both lens. They both use a 67mm. The problem is that the wide angle will probably need a slim profile or you should use a 67mm/72mm step ring and go to a larger size. You will not be able to use the lens hood on the Tamron 17/50 with the filter on if the filter has a step ring. On the other hand, you will be able to use full wide angle on the lens with the filter without vignetting when using the step ring design.

Links for Hoya filter specs from manufacturer:
http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/gf-04.html
coating types: http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/coatings.html
“Pro” line
http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/pro1d-04.html

With Amazon, I don’t know what specific filters are being listed because they don’t use manufacturers part numbers. The ‘model number’ does not trace to anything.

Try Adorama and you can use their ‘filtering’ ability to select specific sizes and manufacturers. They also list manufacturer’s model numbers. What I can determine from Hoyas part numbers.. the format is the following:
{type_of_coatings/family}{size}{type of filter}
{type of coatings/family} maps to:
A – Multicoat
B – Hard multicoat
X – Super Multicoat – thin profile
XD – Pro 1 line, multicoat.
XHD – Super Multicoat with Hardened glass.
G – Standard
{size} will be size in mm.
{type of filter} would map to
PL – Linear Polarizer
CRPL – Circular Polarizer.

Therefore a G67CRPL will be the ‘standard 67mm circular polarizer’, which is single coated. This is for Hoya.. other manufacturers are different.

[ucodegen]

It is hard to tell which of your listed ones give you the best price/perf. They are not using the names of the filters that Hoya is actually using. If they were, I could compare them. Hoya has 4 styles of coated filters. In the size of 67mm, they have have 3 of the types.

Standard, HMC and S-HMC(same as HMC but slim profile for wide angle lens to prevent vignetting.)

I tracked down the size of the filter for both lens. They both use a 67mm. The problem is that the wide angle will probably need a slim profile or you should use a 67mm/72mm step ring and go to a larger size. You will not be able to use the lens hood on the Tamron 17/50 with the filter on if the filter has a step ring. On the other hand, you will be able to use full wide angle on the lens with the filter without vignetting when using the step ring design.

Links for Hoya filter specs from manufacturer:
http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/gf-04.html
coating types: http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/coatings.html
“Pro” line
http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/pro1d-04.html

With Amazon, I don’t know what specific filters are being listed because they don’t use manufacturers part numbers. The ‘model number’ does not trace to anything.

Try Adorama and you can use their ‘filtering’ ability to select specific sizes and manufacturers. They also list manufacturer’s model numbers. What I can determine from Hoyas part numbers.. the format is the following:
{type_of_coatings/family}{size}{type of filter}
{type of coatings/family} maps to:
A – Multicoat
B – Hard multicoat
X – Super Multicoat – thin profile
XD – Pro 1 line, multicoat.
XHD – Super Multicoat with Hardened glass.
G – Standard
{size} will be size in mm.
{type of filter} would map to
PL – Linear Polarizer
CRPL – Circular Polarizer.

Therefore a G67CRPL will be the ‘standard 67mm circular polarizer’, which is single coated. This is for Hoya.. other manufacturers are different.

[ucodegen]

It is hard to tell which of your listed ones give you the best price/perf. They are not using the names of the filters that Hoya is actually using. If they were, I could compare them. Hoya has 4 styles of coated filters. In the size of 67mm, they have have 3 of the types.

Standard, HMC and S-HMC(same as HMC but slim profile for wide angle lens to prevent vignetting.)

I tracked down the size of the filter for both lens. They both use a 67mm. The problem is that the wide angle will probably need a slim profile or you should use a 67mm/72mm step ring and go to a larger size. You will not be able to use the lens hood on the Tamron 17/50 with the filter on if the filter has a step ring. On the other hand, you will be able to use full wide angle on the lens with the filter without vignetting when using the step ring design.

Links for Hoya filter specs from manufacturer:
http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/gf-04.html
coating types: http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/coatings.html
“Pro” line
http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/pro1d-04.html

With Amazon, I don’t know what specific filters are being listed because they don’t use manufacturers part numbers. The ‘model number’ does not trace to anything.

Try Adorama and you can use their ‘filtering’ ability to select specific sizes and manufacturers. They also list manufacturer’s model numbers. What I can determine from Hoyas part numbers.. the format is the following:
{type_of_coatings/family}{size}{type of filter}
{type of coatings/family} maps to:
A – Multicoat
B – Hard multicoat
X – Super Multicoat – thin profile
XD – Pro 1 line, multicoat.
XHD – Super Multicoat with Hardened glass.
G – Standard
{size} will be size in mm.
{type of filter} would map to
PL – Linear Polarizer
CRPL – Circular Polarizer.

Therefore a G67CRPL will be the ‘standard 67mm circular polarizer’, which is single coated. This is for Hoya.. other manufacturers are different.

[ucodegen]

It is hard to tell which of your listed ones give you the best price/perf. They are not using the names of the filters that Hoya is actually using. If they were, I could compare them. Hoya has 4 styles of coated filters. In the size of 67mm, they have have 3 of the types.

Standard, HMC and S-HMC(same as HMC but slim profile for wide angle lens to prevent vignetting.)

I tracked down the size of the filter for both lens. They both use a 67mm. The problem is that the wide angle will probably need a slim profile or you should use a 67mm/72mm step ring and go to a larger size. You will not be able to use the lens hood on the Tamron 17/50 with the filter on if the filter has a step ring. On the other hand, you will be able to use full wide angle on the lens with the filter without vignetting when using the step ring design.

Links for Hoya filter specs from manufacturer:
http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/gf-04.html
coating types: http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/coatings.html
“Pro” line
http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/pro1d-04.html

With Amazon, I don’t know what specific filters are being listed because they don’t use manufacturers part numbers. The ‘model number’ does not trace to anything.

Try Adorama and you can use their ‘filtering’ ability to select specific sizes and manufacturers. They also list manufacturer’s model numbers. What I can determine from Hoyas part numbers.. the format is the following:
{type_of_coatings/family}{size}{type of filter}
{type of coatings/family} maps to:
A – Multicoat
B – Hard multicoat
X – Super Multicoat – thin profile
XD – Pro 1 line, multicoat.
XHD – Super Multicoat with Hardened glass.
G – Standard
{size} will be size in mm.
{type of filter} would map to
PL – Linear Polarizer
CRPL – Circular Polarizer.

Therefore a G67CRPL will be the ‘standard 67mm circular polarizer’, which is single coated. This is for Hoya.. other manufacturers are different.

[ucodegen]

Economic decline in America will continue as long as real estate values are declining

Statement presumes facts not in evidence. This statement is basically wrong. It assumes a ponzi mentality, ignoring that eventually the person who will live in the house for a while will have to buy it at a higher price (reducing their discretionary income after mortgage payments, discretionary income that buys cars, saves for retirement, buys computers.. etc). Wage has to support the prices of the houses because at some point, you have to have someone new buy in.

4. 40% of the economic activity in Southern California was based on housing

NOT! You are forgetting that Cisco, Sun Micro, Oracle, are primarily located in California, along with BAE, Raythen, Northrup Grumman having a large presence and not to forget Disney, Industrial Light and Magic(), Pixar. I could continue with yet more large companies, facilities etc being in California.. how about JPL – NASA??

The only way to a real recovery is to allow home prices to drop to a sustainable level where people are not spending most of their money just to make the next mortgage payment. With house prices high, just the speculators, banks and government win. Everyone else loses. No value is created by ‘shuffling’ money, and that is all that the governement, banks and speculators really do.

[ucodegen]

Economic decline in America will continue as long as real estate values are declining

Statement presumes facts not in evidence. This statement is basically wrong. It assumes a ponzi mentality, ignoring that eventually the person who will live in the house for a while will have to buy it at a higher price (reducing their discretionary income after mortgage payments, discretionary income that buys cars, saves for retirement, buys computers.. etc). Wage has to support the prices of the houses because at some point, you have to have someone new buy in.

4. 40% of the economic activity in Southern California was based on housing

NOT! You are forgetting that Cisco, Sun Micro, Oracle, are primarily located in California, along with BAE, Raythen, Northrup Grumman having a large presence and not to forget Disney, Industrial Light and Magic(), Pixar. I could continue with yet more large companies, facilities etc being in California.. how about JPL – NASA??

The only way to a real recovery is to allow home prices to drop to a sustainable level where people are not spending most of their money just to make the next mortgage payment. With house prices high, just the speculators, banks and government win. Everyone else loses. No value is created by ‘shuffling’ money, and that is all that the governement, banks and speculators really do.

[ucodegen]

Economic decline in America will continue as long as real estate values are declining

Statement presumes facts not in evidence. This statement is basically wrong. It assumes a ponzi mentality, ignoring that eventually the person who will live in the house for a while will have to buy it at a higher price (reducing their discretionary income after mortgage payments, discretionary income that buys cars, saves for retirement, buys computers.. etc). Wage has to support the prices of the houses because at some point, you have to have someone new buy in.

4. 40% of the economic activity in Southern California was based on housing

NOT! You are forgetting that Cisco, Sun Micro, Oracle, are primarily located in California, along with BAE, Raythen, Northrup Grumman having a large presence and not to forget Disney, Industrial Light and Magic(), Pixar. I could continue with yet more large companies, facilities etc being in California.. how about JPL – NASA??

The only way to a real recovery is to allow home prices to drop to a sustainable level where people are not spending most of their money just to make the next mortgage payment. With house prices high, just the speculators, banks and government win. Everyone else loses. No value is created by ‘shuffling’ money, and that is all that the governement, banks and speculators really do.

[ucodegen]

Economic decline in America will continue as long as real estate values are declining

Statement presumes facts not in evidence. This statement is basically wrong. It assumes a ponzi mentality, ignoring that eventually the person who will live in the house for a while will have to buy it at a higher price (reducing their discretionary income after mortgage payments, discretionary income that buys cars, saves for retirement, buys computers.. etc). Wage has to support the prices of the houses because at some point, you have to have someone new buy in.

4. 40% of the economic activity in Southern California was based on housing

NOT! You are forgetting that Cisco, Sun Micro, Oracle, are primarily located in California, along with BAE, Raythen, Northrup Grumman having a large presence and not to forget Disney, Industrial Light and Magic(), Pixar. I could continue with yet more large companies, facilities etc being in California.. how about JPL – NASA??

The only way to a real recovery is to allow home prices to drop to a sustainable level where people are not spending most of their money just to make the next mortgage payment. With house prices high, just the speculators, banks and government win. Everyone else loses. No value is created by ‘shuffling’ money, and that is all that the governement, banks and speculators really do.

[ucodegen]

Economic decline in America will continue as long as real estate values are declining

Statement presumes facts not in evidence. This statement is basically wrong. It assumes a ponzi mentality, ignoring that eventually the person who will live in the house for a while will have to buy it at a higher price (reducing their discretionary income after mortgage payments, discretionary income that buys cars, saves for retirement, buys computers.. etc). Wage has to support the prices of the houses because at some point, you have to have someone new buy in.

4. 40% of the economic activity in Southern California was based on housing

NOT! You are forgetting that Cisco, Sun Micro, Oracle, are primarily located in California, along with BAE, Raythen, Northrup Grumman having a large presence and not to forget Disney, Industrial Light and Magic(), Pixar. I could continue with yet more large companies, facilities etc being in California.. how about JPL – NASA??

The only way to a real recovery is to allow home prices to drop to a sustainable level where people are not spending most of their money just to make the next mortgage payment. With house prices high, just the speculators, banks and government win. Everyone else loses. No value is created by ‘shuffling’ money, and that is all that the governement, banks and speculators really do.

[ucodegen]

The real answer is: It depends. I am assuming you have an SLR type camera if you are asking this question.

First question, what type of camera do you have, and do you plan to upgrade anywhere in the near future. Some cameras will find flaws in a lens and anything that will attach to it and others don’t have that good a resolution – despite megapixels

What lens does the camera have? Is it the kit lens that often comes with the purchase? Is the mount ring on the back of the lens (where it mounts to the camera) made out of metal or plastic? The plastic mount ‘kit’ lens are not as good as the metal backed. In fact, even the optics on the kit lens are often plastic.

That said, if the camera has good resolution and lens.. you should be prepared to pay money on the filter. You will generally need to go with a multicoated filter. Non coated filters will create internal reflection in the glass that will often resolve to 2 to 3 pixels wide in a 10Mpixel APSC sensor camera – softening the image. If you have the plastic backed ‘kit’ lens and don’t plan to upgrade, there is no point in getting a multicoated filter. The lens is not sharp enough to really make a difference.

For multicoated, I tend to look at Hoya, B&W, Sigma, Heliopan. Tiffen makes multicoated filters but they are not quite a good as the 4 I listed and they charge significantly more for them. The filters from camera manufacturers tend to be more expensive for the same quality than these 4. In terms of getting them, I would tend to mail order from B&H Photo Video or Adorama.

[ucodegen]

The real answer is: It depends. I am assuming you have an SLR type camera if you are asking this question.

First question, what type of camera do you have, and do you plan to upgrade anywhere in the near future. Some cameras will find flaws in a lens and anything that will attach to it and others don’t have that good a resolution – despite megapixels

What lens does the camera have? Is it the kit lens that often comes with the purchase? Is the mount ring on the back of the lens (where it mounts to the camera) made out of metal or plastic? The plastic mount ‘kit’ lens are not as good as the metal backed. In fact, even the optics on the kit lens are often plastic.

That said, if the camera has good resolution and lens.. you should be prepared to pay money on the filter. You will generally need to go with a multicoated filter. Non coated filters will create internal reflection in the glass that will often resolve to 2 to 3 pixels wide in a 10Mpixel APSC sensor camera – softening the image. If you have the plastic backed ‘kit’ lens and don’t plan to upgrade, there is no point in getting a multicoated filter. The lens is not sharp enough to really make a difference.

For multicoated, I tend to look at Hoya, B&W, Sigma, Heliopan. Tiffen makes multicoated filters but they are not quite a good as the 4 I listed and they charge significantly more for them. The filters from camera manufacturers tend to be more expensive for the same quality than these 4. In terms of getting them, I would tend to mail order from B&H Photo Video or Adorama.

[Author]

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