Quirky or Querky Hoya filters????

[xkaes]

One thing querky about it is how to spell it. Kind of quirky.

I've been using HOYA HMC filters for a LONG time -- and never had a problem. They all have a familiar green HMC coating.

But here's the quirky/querky part.

I just ran across two Hoya filters, one marked SUPER and the other marked SUPER HMC.

The SUPER appears to have no HMC coating at all, and the SUPER HMC has a magenta coating.

I can use them for my purposes, but perhaps someone can 'spain it to me.

What is a Hoya SUPER and what is Hoya SUPER HMC???

Curious minds want to know.

And how do your spell quirky -- or is it querky? or KWERKY? or Kwerkeee?

[peter brooks]

Definitely 'quirky' here in the UK (where things are invariably quirky anyway).

(Or, if you're an old typist, it is QWERTY of course...

[Oren Grad]

Here is some info from a Hoya catalog of roughly 15 years ago.

[Drew Wiley]

The multi-coated HMC series has not changed at all except to now get marketed with a "Digital" filter label. There are certain ones, namely "clear UV" and slightly tinted "skylight" UV which are now ALSO available with 8 to 16 layers of coating on each side for exceptionally high light transmission, at a much higher price point, intended to compete with similar expensive UV filters from Heliopan etc. These sometimes show up re-branded at even higher pricing. The cost difference might be, for example, $25 for an HMC up to $160 for a specially rebranded "super" one in the same size, just to get a few extra percent of transmission. Since I shade my lenses, and already get superb performance from the standard HMC version, the extra cost simply doesn't make sense for me personally. And these deluxe coatings do not apply to black and white contrast filters, just protective and UV ones.

Not exactly QUIRKY, but perhaps a temptation to someone who just spent $6,000 for the latest digital camera and lens, desiring the bragging rights to a correspondingly expensive protective filter for it. Even our local camera stores offers em. I guess if Leica rebranded them, they'd ask a thousand dollars apiece due to a genuine alligator hide filter pouch with their logo on it.

Curiously, the most expensive line of skylight filters of all, Sing-Ray, aren't coated at all, but rely on a special kind of glass. I often use those in relation to correcting the cyan error in Ektar color neg film; and they are indeed the best in that respect.