I have been using Tiffen filters for almost 2 decades. Recently I bought a B+W and love the brass ring. However, I personally do not see any problems with the Tiffen filters I have been using. A friend of mine said that Tiffen and Hoya are "pieces of crap".
I know that B+W is better. Has to be, they cost so much more.
Is what my friend said true?
I only went with Tiffen because I was told by someone at B&H that Tiffen is the what pros used (this was 20 years ago).
So is anyone here using Tiffen filters?
And please do not turn this into a "do not use filters" thread.
Thank you.
Well, i just got this "Tiffen 77mm Circular Polarizer" from Amazon last week and it's been good for just $61.00 and FREE shipping. At the present moment I could not afford B+W, so I settled for half the price, I don't use this equipment that much anyway.
People who say Tiffen filters are outright "pieces of crap" are full of it themselves. As you say, you've been taking pictures for two decades with the Tiffens, and I assume you don't have two decades of worthless ruined photos because of your choice of filters.
The more expensive B+W, etc. filters will have some advantages. Better coatings reduce the chance of flare/haze from reflections, and will be more durable through many cleanings without scratching or wearing off. Precision brass mounts will screw more smoothly onto the lens. CPLs may be somewhat more uniform, lose slightly less light, and have more neutral color casts.
You'll have to judge for yourself whether the Tiffen filters are interfering with your pictures. It's pretty easy to do: take the same shots with and without the filter. Check for additional flare spots, blurriness, or lower contrast on the filtered image. The differences between filters will be most obvious in situations with high contrast and bright, direct lighting (especially if the sun is in the image or direct sunlight is hitting the front lens element). Use of lens hoods and careful attention to shading the front lens element will often eliminate disparities between filters.
There are double coated Hoyas and I would walk away from those. The Hoya SHMC filters are the optical equal of the B+W, but they use aluminum rings. (BTW there is a less expensive B+W line made for third world economies, which uses aluminum!) In fact the SHMC tranmits 99.7% of light, whereas the B+W MRC transmit 'only' 99.6%, and Heliopan just introduced filters that transmit 99.8% !
But the Tiffens have been shown to exhibit more flare than the higher end filters (results can be seen on the web!). And, I once literally threw away a Tiffen:
I had been using Tiffen linear polarizer (back in the days of film cameras and not special needs for metering or focusing). I bought a new camera which needed a CPL, so I bought one. Curious about linear vs CPL, I took both filters in hand and rotated them around while looking at various things. In the process, I suddenly realized that theTiffen was DISTORTING what was seen thru it! So I threw it out and will never buy one again.
Yes, 'pros' used Tiffen primarily for special effects in motion pictures. But no one looks at a single movie frame for more than 1/24 sec, so you'd never notice crap!
Tiffen has a few stages of filters just as a few other companies. The lower stage of their filters are crap, they sell for $10-$20. I just pruchased one of Tiffen's Digital HT filters, it's an ultra clear. I'm very happy with it, but there's no way I'm buying they're cheap o filters that are giving away with camera kits.
If you pay hundreds if not thousands of dollars for a lens, better be putting a filter with just as good or not better on it. To save a little $$ check out hvstar to save some $$$.
I have both Hoyas and Tiffens, both work great with no loss really to my picture quality. I managed to pick up a dozen of both brand for $1 a piece at a rummage sale the other weekend. Guess what, some were multi-coated and none of 'em scratched! Amazing what you can find bargain hunting
I am glad to say that the Tiffen filters that I've been using do not degrade my photos, at least I don't notice it (and I have compared with and without filters of same scene images).
I am glad that others here also use Tiffen and that I am not the only "looney" (as my friend called me) for using Tiffen.
It used to be that Tiffen filters were not coated. I assume this is still the case for all of their standard filter line. The only coated Tiffen filters I know of are the 'Digital HT' series and there are only about ten filter types available. http://www.tiffen.com/digitalht_intro.html
Tiffen is the only polarizing filter I have ever used which DISTORTED the photo because it behaved like a prism. You could see the distortion with the naked eye, as you held the linear polarizer filter in your hand and rotated it around. I discovered this as I was trying to see what difference in effect was provided with a CPL vs. a conventional linear polarizer, when I bought a CPL for the first time a couple decades ago. I promptly threw out the Tiffen linear polarizer and never bought another Tiffen.
Most filter manufacturers have high and low grade filters. Some companies have three different grades of the same filter. Low grade and high grade filters usually do not compare. Judging an entire company by one of it's el'cheep-o's is kinda silly. HOYA for example makes awesome filters! But they also make some that would fill me with trepidation too and some that I know produce vastly inferior (even bad) results.
My advice, pay attention to the company's grading specifications and stay away from advice which is based on poor consumership. Read up on the number of coatings used, the type of coating, the kind of glass, and etc. I haven't seen a company that doesn't publish these specifications.
I've used Tiffen and Hoya for over 4 decades and they work just fine. There are a lot of people that think you have to buy the most expensive photo equipment and accessories and anything less is junk. If you have the money there is nothing wrong with that but most of us get along just fine with the more reasonably priced items. Like many of you, I have tested Tiffen and Hoya filters and have never noticed any ill effects on my photos. YMMV
Yes, four decades, but most of them have been while using film. With today and how the sensors use or doesn't use light or abuses it, you have to have filters with the proper coatings. Those are the filters that cost a little more than someone might want to pay. Just throwing a piece of glass in front of the lens that Nikon,Canon and others have made with coatings doesn't make sense.
You can take this debate as to using filters at all, at least UV filters. Someone on this forum someone took the time to show what four different filters do with a digital SLR. Using filters with the better coatings are with paying for, IMO. I don't use UV filters unless needed, but when I do they're the better Hoya and B+W coated one's.
Would you want to use a filter which transmits 93% of the light, one which transmits 97% of the light, or one which transmits 99+% of the light? If it is not the Tiffen Digital HT, there are no published specs for light transmission. But even ignoring transmission, a filter should not behave like a prism and distort (unless designed for that purpose!) so I never should have found a distorting Tiffen.
