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Here at Park Cameras we thoroughly test and check products, this means we can offer impartial advice and choose the best products between rival brands.
As this is the case we can wholeheartedly recommend Hoya, Tiffen and BW filters as we know these brands produce excellent results with very high quality glass.
However they still produce different levels of optics to suit different customer needs. To find out what makes a good filter read on for more details.
Don’t Just Go For The Cheapest Option
Many cheap filters are made with a layer of plastic which allows them to be produced very inexpensively but has a detrimental effect on image quality.
| This can, unfortunately, degrade overtime and can lead to separation between the two different materials resulting in discolouration and reduced performance, rendering the filter practically useless. |
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Many poor quality units also tend to lead to negative lens effects such as fringing or ghosting and in extreme cases can cause focusing issues leaving your expensive lens under-performing or possibly not even focusing at all.
Multi Coatings
| All high quality filters have various coatings to help improve optical performance and to reduce reflections of light which gives the sharpest and best possible results. Filters without any coatings can reflect as much as 9% of light hitting them; this greatly increases ghosting and the risk of lens flare. |
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This can be seen in a simple test. Take a bare glass filter hold it so that light reflection can be seen off a surface. Then take a long very thin object like a pin or the tip of a pen and hold it over the filter so that its reflection can be seen. There will be two reflections of the pin on the surface, one a little more pronounced than the other. The more pronounced reflection is from the front surface and the lighter one is from light reflecting off the rear surface.
| Whereas to meet the high demands of professional photographers multi-coated filters will have at least three anti-reflective coatings bonded to their surface, this means that 98-99% of all light hitting the filter travels through onto the lens. |
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However some manufactures of inferior filters will claim to have multicoated filters, however they only apply the coating to the front of the filter, not both sides.
Latest Optical Performance
Some of very latest filters have such good coatings that just 0.3% of light is reflected away. As you might expect these professional products carry a higher price tag than the standard multi-coated filters but provide you with unparalleled results.
Better Value
Despite their increased price these ‘pro’ filters do offer better value especially in conjunction with 2.8 lenses. These lenses are obviously very expensive and all photographers will naturally want to get the best possible speed and optical performance from their investment.
For example if a customer buys a 24-70mm 2.8 and uses a cheap filters which reflects 9% of light, the filter is literally slowing the lens down by 9% resulting in a lens not much faster than F/4.0. This means any savings from the cheaper filter are effectively costing you more, as with this cheaper filter the lens will give results which are a little better than a lens half its price.
It’s always worth thinking about what you’re putting on the front of your camera, and this includes filters. So as with the example above the cheapest option can and will end up costing you more than you might realise.
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