I am thinking about getting a circular polarizer for my lens and probably another one for a lens I want to buy.
The filters I am interested in are the 67mm and 77mm circular polarizers by Optex. So I am kinda wondering if any of you guys use or have used Optex filters and if they are any good compared to more well known brands like Hoya and B+W

No idea about the brand(never even heard about it before), but why not just get hoya? Theyr good and pretty cheap. Can i ask you why your intrested about two different sized filters?

This post was edited by Tomes on Feb 20 2009 05:56pm

Was going to say the exact same thing.

I have 2 Hoya polarizers, they work magic on skies and water

Well to tell you the truth the only reason why I want to buy Optex is because of the price. I saw the camera near where I live is selling them for around half the price .
I have seen other camera accessories made by Optex before so they are not that unknown at least not in Canada lol.

I have owned I think one Optex filter, a UV which I purchased in Canada. In terms of polarizers, I've owned/own ones made by Tiffen, Hoya, some off brand, I think "Optical" and B+W Kassemann. The B+W is by far the best polarizer I have used. You have to consider such things as multi-coating and weather resistance, etc. But in all my uses of the CPL filters I do notice a difference in the "strength" of the polarization, if you will. And as said the B+W is the best that I have personally used.

Also as you need a 77 and 67mm you could purchase the 77's which cost more but then buy a $5 step down ring to be able to use that 77 on your 67 ... whereas if you bought 67 and stepped up you would likely see vignetting on wider lenses. This saves you from buying two sets and you can save that extra money for other accessories/lenses, etc.

I think B+W says something which I consider kind of a maxim. It goes something like this: "Your lens is as good as the filter on the end of it." Meaning if you put a piece of crap on a really nice lens you degrade your image [potential] immediately. And as is always said, the old cliche still holds true, "you get what you pay for."

I often do not shoot with a filter but if I do it's usually a CPL ... and I will use a UV if in close quarters with people ... as I don't like the idea of my front lens element being hit by some passerby in a crowd.

Uv filter on dslr is no different than non uv protective filter, since dslr sensor allready filters uv light(just like ir). Uv filters only makes difference on film.

I was actually going to buy myself a polarizer 77mm for my new lens; but then changed my mind and got a new camera bag instead. I might regret it later, seeming as the summer is coming up soon; but we'll have to see.



I've heard some very similar advice when it comes to buying filters. Especially the part where if you're going to buy one for a nice lens, you my as well buy a nice filter too. Thanks for the into I learned something new today!

This post was edited by chantal7 on Feb 20 2009 06:58pm

Well I have also heard that B+W makes the best polarizers and only reason why I am considering to get Optex is because they are on sale. The regular price on the 77mm is almost 100 dollars here but I can get it for 50 while the regular price on the 67mm is almost 80 and I can get it for 25! so you can understand why I want to buy those lol. So if the "you get what you pay for" logic applies here then those Optex circular polarizers can't really be pieces of crap lol.

The only info I have found about those filters are:


Which doesn't say much and it doesn't say if it's multi-coated or not



Well I use UV filter on my lens as a protection



I went to Don's earlier and they don't have those filters in store but I could buy them online. The salesdude told me that they still have like 7 of those 77mm in stock elsewhere so you may will be able to get it when you get your next paycheck or whatever lol.

This post was edited by Futurama on Feb 20 2009 07:04pm

One more thing you might want to know, that more wider the lens is, more important it is to have thin(quality) filter. Its because the lens looks at the center and when the lens is wider the filter looks more thick in the corners, making quality worse and maybe even make some vignetting.

On circ-pl filter i wouldnt care that much since thin ones cost like hell and you wont use it all the time enyways. Allso if you dont have lens(and camera) with superior iq bit crappier filter might not even lower the quality so much you would see eny or much difference at all.

For protection im using hoya hd filters because theyr good quality, easy to clean(people report that normal filters might get unusable in some time because of shit in filter) and theyr 4x harder than other filters. Allso iv heard alot of good things about hoya hd circ pl filters and people report they let much more light in while removing polarizing the same amount, but if you get one with like 77mm diameter they cost like 120€

Well I just found more info about Optex polarizers:


http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?sku_id=0926INGFS10070532&catid=24573&PCName=cameras_100_149&logon=&langid=EN

and it cost 120 bucks at Bestbuy so it's seems to be a good one...



So is that Hoya HD filter plain glass without coating or does it do something? Well I do want high quality filters because I don't want the coatings to disappear or having a filter that is easy to get scratches.

I just don't understand why it is SOOOO freaking hard to choose a filter lol I mean when it comes to lenses and camera bodies there are like millions of reviews out there but when it comes to filters I have only found reviews on B+W .

This post was edited by Futurama on Feb 20 2009 07:19pm