[causey]

I need two--67mm and 62mm--and I'm hesitating between Hoya Pro1 DMC and B+W MRC UV 010 F-Pro. I heard Hoya were difficult to clean and had fragile coatings.

[wlachan]

All HOYA MCs are difficult to clean, except the HD which is said to be more smear resistance than B+W MRC. I just bought the HOYA HD CPL 77mm and the coating is indeed easy to clean. Their DMC (97%, same as HMC) is inferior to HMC SUPER (99.7%) btw. I am not sure how flare resistance the HD coating is.

NEW HOYA 67mm HD High Definition Digital UV Filter | MaxSaver.Net (hvStar)
NEW HOYA 62mm HD High Definition Digital UV Filter | MaxSaver.Net (hvStar)

[alohadave]

None. There is no photographic need for a UV filter unless you are up in the mountains or shooting at high elevations from a plane.

The original purpose of a UV filter was to prevent UV from getting to the film and causing a color cast. Most people use them for protection now.

[causey]

I just came back from a two week trip to Italy. Most of the time the filter--a cheap one--was full with dust, and on several occasions it got water splashed. I was glad to have it on, because it avoided my repeatedly cleaning the lens itself.

None. There is no photographic need for a UV filter unless you are up in the mountains or shooting at high elevations from a plane.

The original purpose of a UV filter was to prevent UV from getting to the film and causing a color cast. Most people use them for protection now.

[Ratmagiclady]

I just came back from a two week trip to Italy. Most of the time the filter--a cheap one--was full with dust, and on several occasions it got water splashed. I was glad to have it on, because it avoided my repeatedly cleaning the lens itself.

Really depends what lens you want it for and what purpose. Generally apart from 'beaters' (which I put on in crappy conditions to save cleaning) I'll only put them on my most vulnerable lenses (namely, those that can't take a deep hood and have pretty exposed/big elements) and then only the best I can manage to obtain.


If for some reason your filter's getting that cruddy, you'd probably best look at why that is, and if you can't stop that from happening, carry a couple of reasonable quality filters to juggle, rather than buy any one extra-nice thing: nothing's gonna stand up to that kind of thing for very long or stay as nice as you paid for under such treatment, anyway.

(Edit: BTW, I usually operate under pretty tame conditions. If things are really getting full of dust or flying water, due diligence may prove convenient. To my experience, salt spray and blowing sand and the like usually mean I don't want to risk spending my nicest *polarizer,* but that's often exactly when I want *a* polarizer on there. Cheap ones of those are often worth having around for just that reason. )

[Russell-Evans]

I've just started buying Kenko ProD filters. These are the only wide filters I know of that have a front filter threads. I can use them on the Sigma 10-20mm without issue.

Thank you
Russell

[Ash]

Go with B+W's MRC range - they're top quality and minimally affect IQ.
Otherwise, you can go with Hoya's Super HMC or even plain HMC variety - each have shown to be equally good at limiting IQ effects.

[causey]

Thank you all for your pieces of advice. I think I'll follow Ash's.