Lee/Heliopan(B+W)

[Andrew ren]

Anyone ever compared those Lee filters(ND, B/W filter, normally yellow/Green/Red) to glass filters, such as Heliopan or B+W? Quality wise?
I use a 105mm heliopan polarizer for my Lee system, I love it.

I am thinking about replacing all my Lee Resin Filters with (round)glass filters, hopefully can get some higher optical quality. but those 4x4 schott glass filters made by formatt/schneider are bloody expensive! and also seems very fragile to me.

Thanks

Andrew

[Brian Ellis]

I've never done a direct comparison but I've used every major brand of filter from Lee to B+W to Heliopan to Tiffen to Hoya and never noticed any difference among them. What problem are you having with your Lee filters and why do you think another brand or type of filter would fix the problem?

[Andrew ren]

Hi Brian,

I always think Glass filter(Heliopan/B+W) probably has better optical performance over to the resin one(Don't know why). Never done a test, just a thought..
Currently I have 12-13 lee filters(ND, GND, black and whites, warming...), quite a big package, and as I now 100% play with black and whites, so I am thinking of buying just round glass filters for this purpose(ND,green/yellow/red).

And I don't have any problem with the Lee system, at least I didn't notice it.
Just think of my tax return money, someone need to keep the economy going..:-)

[RooX]

Andrew,

If you ever consider selling off your lee kit, fire me a pm, i'm always looking to expand mine.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Set up your camera in a darkened room on a sunny day with the camera pointed toward a window that's mostly shaded, but with a patch or a band of strong light coming through, and then try different filters, and see what you can see.

When I've done this test, resin filters did somewhat better than cheap uncoated filters, but even a cheap multicoated filter like a Vivitar VMC did better than resin in suppressing flare and ghosting. I think we can expect that all filters from the major manufacturers are optically flat and that all but the budget lines are made with decent optical glass, and optical grade resin is a decent product, but the coatings do make a significant difference, aside from attractions like brass rings and filters that are dyed in the mass rather than glass/gel sandwiches.

[Nathan Potter]

As David says. Filters with anti reflection coatings on both sides will do better in reducing flare from strongly backlighted situations but you'll pay a lot more for each due to the complexity of the coating on typically optical glass. Not sure whether any resin filters come with antireflection coatings but I suppose that may be technically feasible since polycarbonate spectacles are SiO2 coated as anti scratch protection.
Heliopan are superb filters if you can stand the cost and you want to squeeze every bit of performance out of an equally superb performing lens.

Except for flare reduction my experience indicates that any other advantages of glass over resin are pretty negligible if there at all.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[pkphotog]

I've tried both resin and glass filters and found they performed the same. I opted to buy B&W and Heliopans because they packed better in my rather compact camera bag. The glass filters were expensive, but they are still like new after 18 years of use.

[Atul Mohidekar]

There are following criteria to compare filters:

1. The optical quality – optical quality of different filters can be compared by using a test target and a powerful loupe to compare the results from different filters on the film.

2. Flare - some filters use multi-coatings to reduce the flare. If a proper lens hood is used, the advantage of multi-coating might be negligible. Multi-coated filters are more expensive.

3. Color neutrality for ND filters and polarizers - some ND filters and polarizers have color cast, especially the polarizers. Many years back Joe Englander tested different filters and concluded that the B+W Linear Warming/Warmton Polarizer had the best color neutrality among all the filters he compared including B+W, Heliopan, Hoya and Tiffen. Things may have changed since then. It just shows that all filters are not equal. I have heard that Cokin polarizers are not as color neutral as other polarizers. Now a day the effect of color cast could be easily removed if you are digitizing the image.

4. Resistance to scratches and other elements - some filters use hard coatings to reduce the possibility of scratches or make the filter resilient to water and dust. I have some Singh-Ray resin filters that are more scratch prone. Heliopan calls their latest coatings SH-PMC and B+W calls it MRC. Also, Heliopan and B+W use Kaesemann technology to edge-seal the filters to protect them from moisture, fungus, etc.

If the filter is in good shape, is clean and a lens hood is used, only the first and third criteria may have some impact on the image quality. As mentioned above, the best way to do this comparison is to remove different variables and use test targets and then compare the results under a high-powered loupe or low-powered microscope.

The Heliopan SH-PMC and B+W MRC filters that also use Kaesemann edge-sealing are the most expensive filters besides Singh-Ray filters.

Personally I buy the best filters I can afford because I’m image quality freak – I don’t want to take a chance to reduce the image quality by even a small fraction by having an inferior filter in front of an outstanding lens. You don’t need to buy these filters brand new – eBay has great deals if you are vigilant and patient.


// Atul

[Jim Michael]

No manufacturing process is perfect, so the physical parameters fall within some accepted quality control criteria (of those sampled in a lot at least). The question then is, who has the tightest QC standards and what happens to the material that doesn't pass? IIRC Heliopan is a supplier to some filter brands and those brands may have differing standards that must be met. The stricter the standards the higher the price of course. The physical parameters as David pointed out include flatness, presence of single or multi-coatings, and uniformity. For multi-coatings the thickness of each coating is a factor affecting the efficiency of filter.

[Bob Salomon]

Heliopan is a supplier to some filter brands and those brands may have differing standards that must be met

This is a bit confusing.

Yes Heliopan makes the German made Rodenstock filters (not the Marumi Japanese Rodenstock filters). They also made the Zeiss filters for Contarex, Contax, etc. and the Kodak Retina filters.