best and cheapest place for filters

[melt]

the title says it all....where is the cheapest and best place online to buy filters..

[Colin Southern]

the title says it all....where is the cheapest and best place online to buy filters..

Are you after the cheapest filters, or the best filters at the cheapest price?

[Dave Humphries]

I have found Amazon.co.uk's re-sellers cheap (as anywhere) and reliable, even for decent quality filters. If you're UK that is.

[Colin Southern]

For what it's worth, I "invested" in some cheap filters once. I had some initial issues with them, but I was able to solve them using a 2-step process ...

... I took 2 steps and threw them in the rubbish bin. Problem solved.

[Faldrax]

I find it varies with time - I generaly use Google for the filter I'm after, then choose the best price from the results from places I've heard of or used before

As Colin suggested, it's best to pay the extra for good quality, personally I use Hoya Pro1-D and am quite happy with them.

[Dave Humphries]

personally I use Hoya Pro1-D and am quite happy with them.

Me too FWIW

They came out very well performance wise in that survey someone posted here the other night. Although there were apparently some 'almost as good' for less money, but I hadn't heard of them. Can't remember where it was now.

[melt]

sorry for the conflicting info in the message. I am looking for one the best at the cheapest price.

[Colin Southern]

sorry for the conflicting info in the message. I am looking for one the best at the cheapest price.

OK - glad we got that sorted

Next question then has to be, where in the world are you?

[melt]

NYC ....close to B&H...

[Alis]

Nothing beats Heliopan filters. I bought them at Adorama, had the cheapest price at the time but Amazon is a good place too. They are not cheap though, specially if you need more than one.

Alis

[Colin Southern]

NYC ....close to B&H...

NYC - is that in America somewhere?

Next thing we need to know is what kind of filters are you after? GND? Reverse GND? Variable, Skylight, Circular Polarising? UV? Screw in? 3 x 4? 4 x 6?

[Dave Humphries]

Nothing beats Heliopan filters.

<Cough>, As I recall, that review I was refering to actually had several other manufacturer's filters beating the performance of a Heliopan UV filter, I'm afraid. I was surprised too.

[Colin Southern]

<Cough>, As I recall, that review I was refering to actually had several other manufacturer's filters beating the performance of a Heliopan UV filter, I'm afraid. I was surprised too.

The last review I saw had Heliopan with a relectance of 0.2% per side, but sadly, it's difficult to get detailed performance info on them. I understand that both Heliopan and B+W both use Shott glass (in fact I heard that B+W were making some of the glass elements for Heliopan for a while while they had a factory off line ... was a while ago though).

I think that it's probably true to say that Heliopan and B+W probably have the best reputation; the likes of Hoya apparantly have some very good models, but also some "not so good" models.

[Dave Humphries]

the likes of Hoya apparantly have some very good models, but also some "not so good" models

That wouldn't surprise me at all.

This is the review site, but it seems to be down at the moment
http://www.lenstip.com/113.4-article...d_summary.html

Cheers,

[Alis]

That wouldn't surprise me at all.

This is the review site, but it seems to be down at the moment
http://www.lenstip.com/113.4-article...d_summary.html

Cheers,

Hi Dave,

The ranking on this list is based on all categories and Heliopan, I am sure, did not get a positive point for being the most expensive.

So, basically what this ranking gives you is the biggest bang for the buck which is not necessarily someone like me wants: A very rich professional who does not want to compromise on quality by any means

[Dave Humphries]

Alis,

I believe the first table is performance alone; without taking cost into account and Heliopan came 7th and 12th.

In the second table, when cost IS taken into account, they came 16th and 19th.

Only saying it as I read it.

Cheers,

[Colin Southern]

Alis,

I believe the first table is performance alone; without taking cost into account and Heliopan came 7th and 12th.

In the second table, when cost IS taken into account, they came 16th and 19th.

Only saying it as I read it.

Cheers,

The problem as I read it Dave is that they're measuring things like the ability of a UV filter to cut UV - unfortunately - nobody ever uses a UV filter for that on a digital camera. Instead, of course, they're used almost exclusively for front element protection - in chich case it's more an issue of "what they don't do" (in terms of flare resistance and reflectance, which I don't think was reflected in the tests - no pun intended

[Alis]

Alis,

I believe the first table is performance alone; without taking cost into account and Heliopan came 7th and 12th.

In the second table, when cost IS taken into account, they came 16th and 19th.

Only saying it as I read it.

Cheers,

I think you're right. I thought price was included in the ranking in that table.

[Dave Humphries]

in which case it's more an issue of "what they don't do" (in terms of flare resistance and reflectance, which I don't think was reflected in the tests - no pun intended

I'm sure you're right Colin

Oh hang on, what's this
http://www.lenstip.com/index.php?art=113&roz=12

Sorry, couldn't resist

These pages are available for each filter from the Test link at end of each row.
I dunno how accurate/rigorous they are though.

[Colin Southern]

I'm sure you're right Colin

Oh hang on, what's this
http://www.lenstip.com/index.php?art=113&roz=12

Sorry, couldn't resist

These pages are available for each filter from the Test link at end of each row.
I dunno how accurate/rigorous they are though.

Hi Dave,

Thankfully I use 77mm and 82mm models (mostly) (they were all 72mm models!)

I had a closer look - in my opinion the flare resistance is the only thing I'd be concerned about (mind you, for me that's not even an issue as they often have to come off to make room for other filters) - and the ones I looked at seemed relatively similar. In terms of UV rejection, I wouldn't weight it at all ... in terms of visable light attenuation, personally, I wouldn't get overly excited about the differences between them either.

Just my 10c worth