After only three times using it, a Hoya Polarizing filter, 77mm, bought from the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite fell apart in my hands! 3 big pieces just fell to the ground!! And one of my workshop students said the same thing happened to him several months ago. A Google search of this subject reveals that this is not a new or uncommon occurrence! No more Hoya for me...
Buy B+W filters to avoid the Hoya auto distruct issue, which is a pretty well known problem. Get Hoya to replace your filter and then sell it to help with your costs of getting a B+W now.
I have 4 Hoya CPL filters of different sizes, never had one falling apart, however my biggest gripe is they tend to always get stuck on the lens thread and be a pain to remove. I now carry the strap wrench with me everywhere.
Carson Wilcox wrote:
That's odd, I've been using Hoya filters for years with absolutely no problems what so ever
More power to you, Carson, you ahve my blessing. But it happened to me and, apparently, a Google search on this subject shows it's been happening to far too many people for far too long. Discussion boards dating back to 2007 reflect it was happening then too.
To clarify, this is a known problem with the HD version of the Hoya filters. Apparently it has caused some long-time distributors to rethink their relationship with Hoya. You rarely see comments like this from a shop that makes its money selling all kinds of filters"
B+W never cleaning issues, like Hoya MC filters, remember HMC in our opinion the hardest ever to clean and not just smear the dirt around http://2filter.com/
I knew of the problems with the 77mm HD filters, at some point multiple vendors including B&H stopped selling them until Hoya had a chance to review the situation. At the time it was believed that the smaller sizes were immune. I liked the low profile of the filter and the fact that they seemed to have solved the "stickiness" issue with their HMC coatings, so I bought a 67mm filter. Around 13 months later it fell apart in my hands, like the OP describes. I sent it to Hoya with a request for repair or replacement, they asked for $30. I told them to take the filter and shove it, and have promised myself to never give them another cent of business.
I like the optical quality of much of their stuff, particularly the ND filters that IMO are much better than B+W. However, the worksmanship leaves a lot to be desired. On at least half the Hoya filters I have owned the glass rattles in the fairly flimsy aluminum frame, and when the filter gets stuck and you apply a minor force trying to get it out the frame would flex making the situation even worse.
Do yourself a favor, write off the $100+ that you spent on a 77mm HD CPL as a "lessons learned" thing and never give them another dime.
GroovyGeek wrote:
To clarify, this is a known problem with the HD version of the Hoya filters. Apparently it has caused some long-time distributors to rethink their relationship with Hoya. You rarely see comments like this from a shop that makes its money selling all kinds of filters"
B+W never cleaning issues, like Hoya MC filters, remember HMC in our opinion the hardest ever to clean and not just smear the dirt around http://2filter.com/
I knew of the problems with the 77mm HD filters, at some point multiple vendors including B&H stopped selling them until Hoya had a chance to review the situation. At the time it was believed that the smaller sizes were immune. I liked the low profile of the filter and the fact that they seemed to have solved the "stickiness" issue with their HMC coatings, so I bought a 67mm filter. Around 13 months later it fell apart in my hands, like the OP describes. I sent it to Hoya with a request for repair or replacement, they asked for $30. I told them to take the filter and shove it, and have promised myself to never give them another cent of business.
I like the optical quality of much of their stuff, particularly the ND filters that IMO are much better than B+W. However, the worksmanship leaves a lot to be desired. On at least half the Hoya filters I have owned the glass rattles in the fairly flimsy aluminum frame, and when the filter gets stuck and you apply a minor force trying to get it out the frame would flex making the situation even worse.
Do yourself a favor, write off the $100+ that you spent on a 77mm HD CPL as a "lessons learned" thing and never give them another dime....Show more →
Wow, I have all Pro-1 Digital Hoya filters, including the CPL, and they've worked just fine for years. The CPL gets stuck once in a while if I get a bit exuberant in putting it on the lens, but never has one fallen apart on me. Lucky me I guess.
I have a 77mm slim cpl filter, that did come apart in a camera bag. It was on the front of a 70-200 with lens cap on it, and placed lens down into camera bag. So there was a fair amount of weight on the cap and filter. Of course, it happened on vacation in a remote cabin, with no back up. Luckily, a lot of looking and thinking, and work with small tools we were able to figure out how the 3 (?) parts go back together. I wanted the slim style for use with 16mm wides, but I think they may have shaved too much off all the parts to make it slim; and it is indeed fragile. The real downside, is after getting it back together the grease they use was now all over the glass, and extremely difficult to clean off the glass and coatings.
Appreciate the heads-up. 2filter got into a large dispute with Hoya over minimum pricing and Hoya pulled the product line from them. I'm not really a fan of that type of business practice so I've looked to other filter manufacturers since then.
As a side note, it's amazing to me the price of filters. I've paid less for a brand-new kit lens than I have for a stupid metal ring with clear glass in it....... But I keep buying them.
The price of most any photo accessory is amazing. I can see how lenses and bodies cost as much as they do. But filters, brackets, pouches, straps, etc? Oh well, just like you I keep buying them.
GroovyGeek wrote:
The price of most any photo accessory is amazing. I can see how lenses and bodies cost as much as they do. But filters, brackets, pouches, straps, etc? Oh well, just like you I keep buying them.
Amen, but you forgot the following:
1) Canon stand for the 580 II flash; $25 for a 5-cent piece of plastic.
2) Canon 24-70MM lens hood; $75 from Canon, $50 from B&H. for 50cents worth of plastic.
And yes, we keep on buying them because we have no alternative.
