DennisC. Loc: Antelope, CA

I recently acquired this lens and luv it, mine has a Nikon clear glass filter on it, one the last Nikon items I have left.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

I have a large drawer full of filters- most of which I don't need anymore. This is because, as a commercial and portrait photographer using, back in the day, a wide variety of black and white, color negative and especially "professional" transparency film, filter usage was rather mandatory and routinely applied on a daily basis.

With film, there was no in-camera white balance control so I needed a raft of conversion and color correction filters and professional transparency films came with basic filter recommendations with each emulsion batch- just to achieve accurate color reproduction. Shooting by available fluorescent lighting or high-intensity discharge lamps was nightmarish- it required stacking as many a 3 filters- sometimes I used fragile gelatin filters in a filter pack. The neutral density, intrinsic in some of those packs, required extended exposure times and the accompanying reciprocity law failure required even more filtration-DON'T ASK! Add to this inventory polarizing filters, colored filters for black and white contrast management, UV and skylight and lens protection filters, diffusion and special effect filters, split-filters and even the odd diopter (closeup attachments) all tolled was a heck of an investment. Add to that different sizes, adapter and step up and down rings, and other required attachments- we are talking a major inventory! and let's not forget about those costly special FLD/B filters for fluorescent lighting. some of my lenses were much larger in diameter than 77mm- how about Series IX- $$$$$!

Nowadays, even as a commercial shooter, I require very few filters and the average enthusiast can get along with just a few. Currently, I use my polarizers, an N.D. model or two, a few of my contrast filters for monochrome, a protection filter for hazardous locations, a diffusion filter or two and that's it! Even crazy light sources, mixed lighting, discontinuous spectrums, and bizarre color temperature- right off the scale, can be white balanced and somewhat corrected in post-processing.

My point is if you only require a few filters- only buy top-quality products. I have never had bad experiences with filters made by B+W, Hoya, Sing-Ray, and Zeiss. Tiffen used to have a high-end series- I don't know what they are up to currently. I am sure there are other brands that are good, however, I have no personal experience with them. In my work, many of my images require high degrees of enlargement in prints, lithographic reproductions, and display on very large screens. Defects or shortcomings in filters of lesser quality might show defects or losses in image quality that may not detect in less critical work or lesser degrees of enlargement.

Theoretically, ANYTHING you hang in front of your lens and place in the lightpath CAN affect image quality in terms of distortion, flare, loss of definition or acutance. Fine quality filters minimize this occurrence Nowadays especially, we spend megabucks on the good glass so make certain you have good glass in your filters; good optical quality, parallel surfaces, anti-flare coatings, the negation of unwanted color shifts or casts, and don't forget about dimensionally stable rims and well-crafted threads that won't jam, cross-thread and cause damage to you lenses' filter mounts.

There is a disproportionate amount of controversy about filter usage. My rules of thumb are simply to use your filters only when necessary to secure the effect you want, use protection filters when there are perils that may damage your lens, and buy the best filters you can afford.

Race Raccoon Loc: Yankton, South Dakota

I use B&H filters & have had excellent results using them. They are German made & absolute top quality. Here is a link showing one of their available filters.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/756189-REG/B_W_1066123_67mm_Ultraviolet_UV_MC.html

barryg

The differences are in the quality of the coating, the mounting threads and the thickness. A poorly coated filter will reflect light back onto the sensor causing ghosting and low contrast. Under most conditions even the cheapest filters will work fine, but with difficult lighting conditions the more expensive ones make a difference.

dtsobel Loc: West Hills California

I just bought several Breakthrough Photography filters. For you that don't use them, that's up to you. in the 40 years I've been taking photos, i have replaced multiple filters because they got scratched. I hate to think of what it would have cost to repair or replaced these lenses. Today, there is alot more info on how these filters perform.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

My first choice in filters is B+W. I like their quality and choice of materials. One of the biggest motivational reasons was their honesty when asked about one of their products. I was speaking with one of their optical engineers and advised against purchasing that product.

My other choice is the Hasselblad filters. That because they are the only ones made to mount to their lenses.
--Bob

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Many manufacturers make two or more series of filters at different quality and price levels. Cheaper ones with lower quality and fewer features versus more expensive ones with better quality and more features.

If you're using oversize, rectangular filters... Singh-Ray and Lee are among the best. Tiffen also makes some very good ones, but in limited sizes and they ain't cheap! Arri and Formatt-Hitech are a couple more high-end makers of square & rectangular filters. A lot of the "more affordable" sqr./rect. filters are optical plastic and uncoated. There's nothing wrong with optical plastic, except that it's pretty easily damaged, harder to safely store and difficult to clean. Multi-coatings are good to have on all types of filters, but may be more important on sqr/rect. than than round screw in, because the sqr/rect. filters are more difficult to shade effectively. The "better" filters may be glass and have multi-coatings, but you should check carefully because it varies by the type of filter, too.

If you are asking about round, screw-in filters, the list of manufacturers is a whole lot larger, and among those there are a lot that are making top quality. Again, it can depend upon the type of filter. For example, B+W Circular Polarizer in their very good F-Pro and top-of-the-line XS-Pro series are among the very best, but are priced far less than many comparable filters. Compare those to Heliopan, for example, which are virtually identical specifications for twice the price! Breakthrough Photography's X4 are very comparable, too... and priced somewhere in between B+W and Heliopan. One of the more expensive of this type filter are Hoya's "HD3", which lack some features offered by B+W, Heliopan and Breakthrough.

Hoya has taken stratification of their products into different quality/price niches to the point of ridiculousness... For example, B&H Photo lists seven different Hoya Circular Polarizers ranging in price from $55 to $199 (not counting their "Moose Peterson" C-Pol combined with 81A warming filter, which serves little purpose on a digital camera). That's out of a total of 54 77mm C-Pols by 29 different manufacturers (not counting any "combo" filters), ranging in price from $7 to $285 at B&H Photo!

But if you look for Neutral Density filters (not "Grads", the solid type in various strengths)... There's little to no price advantage to B+W, though the quality remains among the best. Might be worthwhile to shop around, though.

There are some relatively new manufacturers who appear to be very competitive with their pricing, such as Gobe and Benro.

And there are also innovative companies, such as Kase and Freewell who are both offering magnetically attached ND filters, which may be handy when you have to remove the filter to focus and then reinstall without bumping any settings to take a shot. That technique is sometimes necessary when working with stronger ND filters. And will likely be easier with these magnetic filters, than with the screw-in type or the square/rectangular type that slide into a holder.

Some old manufacturers are doing new tricks, too. Cokin filters are widely known for their huge range of affordable, uncoated, plastic square & rectangular filters in several sizes, along with a system of holders to be able to mount them on a variety of lens diameters. The company is under new ownership and in the last year or so have introduced a new "Nuance" line of filters with high-end specifications, in both rectangular types and some round, screw in.

Usually, but not always, you "get what you pay for". For example, at $194 the Canon branded 77mm C-Pol is one of the more expensive. It's a decent filter, but nothing special and not multi-coated (B&H says it is, but I had one and it definitely isn't). I'd wager it's a rebranded filter from Hoya or someone else... not actually made by Canon. Rebranding is fairly common among camera and lens manufacturers... along with premium pricing. I bet Sigma, Sony and others outsource too. Older Nikon filters weren't multi-coated, but their new "II" series supposedly are ($140 for 77mm C-Pol). B+W and Schneider Kreuznach are subsidiaries of the same parent company. So are Heliopan and Hasselblad. Sony and Zeiss are related, too. Tokina, Hoya, Kenko are all under same ownership, as well. (THK used to own Pentax, too... but sold it to Ricoh. There there still seems to be some cooperation on products, though.)

dtsobel Loc: West Hills California

I've moved to breakthrough filters. I'm planning to buy some ND. it seems that most other brands shift colors on their nd and cpl filters. I've reaearched both of the brands you mentioned. I bought breakthrough top of the line ones that use German made glass from Schneider/Schott which is the top quality glass available for optics.

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

Thanks for confirming my findings. I am in the process of getting ND filters for my lenses. From all the data I am finding, Breakthrough may be my only choice for ND right now. Although white balancing and PP color correcting can be done, it is always nice to do things upfront so one does not have to do as much PP later on.

Joecosentino Loc: Whitesboro, New York

I have switched to breakthrough, I have a set of lee filters and the color cast is really bad. so they are now on my shelf of unused photo gear.
I also a couple of B&W polarizer filters that I also like.

OleMe Loc: Montgomery Co., MD

I got some hard to find filters from GOBE. Good price for star filess in a hard to find size, 37mm. Thet even came with caps.

/Roger

lev29 Loc: Born and living in MA.

NOT to necessarily place the burden on you, BooIsMyCat, but through 2100h on page 3 of your topic, there has not been a single post concerning filters that let selected portions of the UV and/or IR spectrum pass through!

Be it known that some of the photographic filter manufacturers mentioned thus far DO make some of these, including Heliopan, Hoya, B+W, and Singh-Ray, though they are not the only ones.

As for which is "Best," it would be useful if one were to list some useful criteria.

bwilliams

May be old school but I like brass threads. I do not want one stuck on lens. Heliopan is my go to but other brands are good also.

Screamin Scott Loc: Marshfield Wi, Baltimore Md, now Dallas Ga

Keep in mind that most filter manufacturers make different "grades" of filters, some are Pro grade, others are consumer-grade. Also note that there are lots of "knockoff" ones out there as well...

11bravo

Brought back a lot of memories of my bag full of filters for my slide shooting days when I traveled. FL filters for several lenses especially come to mind. No such thing as post processing to correct mis-lighting. In museums now, you find multiple types of lighting; so much easier to switch WB or just set to auto. Plus you can instantly check the results.