Hoya Filters

Eyezayuh · May 21, 2009

I have a Canon Sx10 is and am thinking about getting the lensmate filter adapter for it but was wondering a few things...
Do they work well?
Which is going to give me better results, The Moose Hoya or HMC Circular Polarizer?
Your thoughts on using them...

Thanks

benhasajeep · May 21, 2009

The lens mate seems like it would work ok at holding a filter on.

As for the filter choices its really up to you. My circular polarizer's are standard. The Moose is a combination of a CPL and a 81A warming filter. The 81A helps to bring out colors on dull days or flat lighting. I think you would be happy with either.

rmh159 · May 21, 2009

The only advice I'd give is that I try to be conservative with using filters that add something into the image (colors, warming / cooling filters, etc.) because most of that stuff can be easily added in post.

I'd imagine you could cool the image down in post as well if you didn't want the warming affect but then you have to ask yourself why bother putting the warming affect in the filter???

Eyezayuh · May 21, 2009

I'm pretty new to photography so I wasn't sure if they were worth the money even. The HMC is multi coated, does that make a big enough difference to pay the extra $30 over the moose?

I also read that the moose wasn't good for digital photography.

And I don't really know how to do those in photoshop

benhasajeep · May 21, 2009

rmh159 said:
The only advice I'd give is that I try to be conservative with using filters that add something into the image (colors, warming / cooling filters, etc.) because most of that stuff can be easily added in post.

I'd imagine you could cool the image down in post as well if you didn't want the warming affect but then you have to ask yourself why bother putting the warming affect in the filter???

Yes, the warming affect can be reproduced by software.

Eyezayuh said:
I'm pretty new to photography so I wasn't sure if they were worth the money even. The HMC is multi coated, does that make a big enough difference to pay the extra $30 over the moose?

I also read that the moose wasn't good for digital photography.

And I don't really know how to do those in photoshop

Multicoating is a big plus. It helps to keep unwanted reflections down. I am not sure why the moose would not be good for digital.

If it were me a multicoated circular polarizer would be the choice.

rmh159 · May 21, 2009

Eyezayuh said:
I'm pretty new to photography so I wasn't sure if they were worth the money even. The HMC is multi coated, does that make a big enough difference to pay the extra $30 over the moose?

I also read that the moose wasn't good for digital photography.

And I don't really know how to do those in photoshop

I would pay extra for the multi-coating (especially since it's only $30). It'll help reduce glare and scratching.

Some filters can't be reproduced like Infrared filters, polarizers and ND filters. Those are worth buying. Other filters can be reproduced, easily.

That's probably why they say it's not recommended for digital. If you shoot in RAW you'll likely do some white balance tweaks in post production and that would remove any warming affect that the filter would add.

To help explain why the warming affect is probably a waste I'll try to give an example to illustrate the point. If you shoot RAW you'll need a program to convert it into whatever format you want (jpeg, tiff, etc). You'll load the pic into the RAW conversion software and you'll see a ton of basic editing options like exposure compensation, contrast, fill light and others.

You'll also see some White Balance tweaks like Temperature and Tint. To achieve the same affect that the warming filter gives... you'd slide the Temperature slider a bit to the right. That's it. That tweak will be in any RAW conversion software you can find too. Likewise most programs have a Custom WB setting where you click on a neutral color in the image and the software sets the WB to that color. If you have the warming filter on, doing that will remove the warming affect.

So you can buy the warming polarizer filter if you want to but the warming affect will most likely be wasted.

rmh159 · May 21, 2009

Maybe it'd be a good idea to download some RAW conversion software and take a look at the White Balance tweaks. Once you understand that (and it's not too in depth), you'll understand why the warming filter isn't needed for digital.