Here’s a shocker!, February 26, 2011

Heliopan, right or wrong, is the most revered name in filters. They apply more optical coatings, and they are generally more expensive than the competition. They are supposed to be the best of the best. Let’s not forget that Heliopan is even a cool sounding name. I only have one Heliopan filter, the 706211, and it will be my last Heliopan. There is a short list of things that matter on filters. Right at the top is the requirement that the surfaces be perfectly flat and parallel. My filter surface was flawed. I thought maybe it was just dirty, so I carefully cleaned it with Formula MC from The Filter Connection, which is designed specifically for coated filters. The flaw wouldn’t come off. So there it is.

Was the flaw going to visibly degrade images shot through the filter? Certainly any degradation would be extremely subtle, but so would the difference between an image from this filter and one that costs one-third the price.

I’ve decided to go with B+W filters from here on. My number-one reason for using UV filters is keeping my lenses clean and protecting them from damage. B+W filters don’t have as many coatings as Heliopan, but shear numbers of coatings don’t mean a lot. Also, even if coatings were perfect in their spectral properties, a law of diminishing returns sets in as the number of coatings goes up. B+W has one thing that Heliopan and the top-of-the-line Hoyas (also a good choice) do not: they have a hard, tough, easy to clean surface. With B+W, you don’t have to use Formula MC or whatever to avoid permanently smearing or blotching your filter. Since I use filters specifically to keep dirt out of lenses, it follows that my filters get dirt on them. Having filters that are very easy to clean makes sense for me. I should mention that B+W is second only to Heliopan for snob-appeal.

If you’re reading this review, you are concerned about filter quality. Here’s how I look at it. If I use a cheap, uncoated filter, I’m going to have to take it off before I shoot. If I use a high-end filter, I can leave it on for about 50 percent of shots. For my most important shots, I always remove the filter.

Coatings reduce reflections at filter surfaces. The biggest benefit is the reduction of reflections that rattle back and forth inside the filter, creating effects like solar flare and generally reducing contrast. This is even a bigger deal for filters than it is for lenses, all of which have multi-coated optics. It’s a big deal for filters, because the surfaces are parallel and more prone to the bad effects of reflections. Lens designers are careful to avoid parallel surfaces.

Finally, I’ll comment on the utility of the UV-blocking property. UV light is shorter wavelength than visible light, and as such it scatters more off of the finer aerosol particles in the air. Shooting over a long optical path (like a sweeping landscape), the cummulative effect of the UV scatter puts a significant amount of UV into your camera. In the days of film this was a big deal, although films were made less UV sensitive over the years. Digital sensors are inherently fairly insensitive to UV. In addition, DSLR sensors have a UV blocking layer applied over the detector array. As a result, you will likely never detect any improvement in image quality from using your UV filter. But it does depend on your camera. At one point, Leica screwed up and released a camera model with poor or non-existent UV blocking on its sensor. You badly needed a filter on that model, which is a crying shame, considering the fact that any filter degrades the image. Leica, who makes the finest cameras in the world, and is tied with Hasselblad for the finest optics, may never live that one down. If you actually can get two images that show the reduction of UV by a filter, please add a comment to this review. Look for a reduction in bluish haze. I’d love to hear from you.

I hate giving a very negative review, and I almost never do it. I know manufacturers like Heliopan are hurt by reviews like this. On the other hand, we consumers are hurt when they fail. We have to stick together, and we have to give honest feedback.

Good shooting,

Tim

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