are there any real differences when using a b+w filter?

[renegade150]

i'm not talking about its build or how easy it is to clean the glass...
but when compared to brands like hoya or tokina will it really make a difference in picture quality?

[Belle&Sebastain]

no idea, but your wallet sure feels lighter, but i really dun find any differences.

i use it cos its easier to wipe off, nowadays all the lens pens suck and they leave glue residue on the filter, the hoya ones are much tougher to clean.

once NYP, a guest sprayed the form and kenna my filters, took me a long time to clean off the hoya filter.

but real world, no differences in colour that is outstanding to me.

[haagen_dazs]

frankly if you get decent filters there is not much of a difference.
refrain from getting filters with no coatings (just a piece of glass)

[waileong]

Yes, dirty glass or glass that's not easily cleaned will make a your pix very bad.

As to whether B+W glass is better than Hoya or Tiffen glass, it depends on your whole setup. If you shoot a good lens at low ISO, you might be able to tell the difference. Otherwise, what's the point?

Look at it this way: is glass that costs $10 going to be as good as glass that costs $100? Sure, the difference may be 5-10%, but like in sports (eg 100m athletics, where the winner beats the runner up by 0.1 s or less), like in all other fields, getting the last few % of performance takes a lot of $$$.

Originally Posted by renegade150 i'm not talking about its build or how easy it is to clean the glass... but when compared to brands like hoya or tokina will it really make a difference in picture quality?

[PnS]

I got a lens pen from CP, plus some effort to keep my fingers away from the filter glass, and the Hoya HMC stays...

[Xing]

psychological differences

[Artosoft]

Originally Posted by renegade150 i'm not talking about its build or how easy it is to clean the glass... but when compared to brands like hoya or tokina will it really make a difference in picture quality?

Last time there is someone who do some kind of test. IIRC, Nikon filter give slightly better picture quality than B+W. Hoya/Tokina is slightly below B+W. Don't ask me (before someone pretend as a newbie ask for pictures), I am not the one who doing the test.

BTW, it is true psychological may bias you. I am bias to German for optic.

Regards,
Arto.

[Tumbleweed]

One thing about B+W filters is that the ring is made of brass instead of aluminium like Hoya. I had a few problems before when I tried to remove the Hoya UV filter during a shoot to replace with a polariser. But the aluminium ring will bite into the lens thread and make it more difficult to remove with the fingers. Even more problem to remove polariser because the outside ring rotates!

With brass ring filters like B+W removing filters are a lot easier as the brass do not bite into the lens thread. Just my two cents.

[Clown]

no filter is best..
if you shoot for money and picture quality is paramount, you should be making enough to cover the incidental damage of your front element when there's nothing protecting it.

[davsmiths]

So far, from what I have read on the forums and searched online,

I have yet to see actual pictures of filter comparison between the B+W UV vs Hoya HMC UV vs Nikon NC vs Hoya UV(0) vs Hoya UV Guard.

I have came across comparison between cir pl of Tiffen and Hoya that showed a wide difference though on performance.

[waileong]

Do you believe you can see differences online using web-sized images with no standard for colour calibration, etc.?

Originally Posted by davsmiths So far, from what I have read on the forums and searched online, I have yet to see actual pictures of filter comparison between the B+W UV vs Hoya HMC UV vs Nikon NC vs Hoya UV(0) vs Hoya UV Guard. I have came across comparison between cir pl of Tiffen and Hoya that showed a wide difference though on performance.

[davsmiths]

Originally Posted by waileong Do you believe you can see differences online using web-sized images with no standard for colour calibration, etc.?

Of course not. Compressed JPEGs cannot truely show the quality lost.

In fact, when image quality is decreased, what aspect of it is lost?

Sharpness? Colour contrast? Lens flare? CA? Purple Fringing?

Anyone to advise? Thanks.

[smallaperture]

The trouble starts when everyone is able to view their pix at 100%, which is like printing a pix 1m wide. So, you start to see all the flaws in the picture. When you view or print at realistic size, you cannot see those noise, CA or other minute flaws.

When you compare among those multi-coated ones, hardly any difference. Color cast? Well, it is only when you need such color accuracy that it makes a difference. If not, under normal circumstances, you can hardly see it at all.

We all know that those Hoya HMCs are hard to clean. But then, how often do you need to clean them?

[Artosoft]

Originally Posted by smallaperture We all know that those Hoya HMCs are hard to clean. But then, how often do you need to clean them?

When you have a lots of them, you know how hard to clean them .

I switch all my filters (for protection filter, ie.: UV) from Hoya HMC to B+W MRC and my life is easier... .

Regards,
Arto.

[cheersjy]

Switched to B+W due to cleaning issue too. When u have stubborn stains/marks on your filter, sure affect your image

FYI, comparison on different brands of filters has been done before:

http://www.clubsnap.org/forums/showthread.php?t=171781

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=171421