Tiffen 55mm Haze-1 Filter Description Film and video are more sensitive to UV light than our eyes are. This often shows up as a bluish cast in images, especially shots from high altitudes and of long distances, particularly over water. UV filters help protect your camera lens against dust, moisture, fingerprints, scratches and damage. They can be kept on your camera at all times. The Haze 1 filter reduces excessive blue by absorbing almost three quarters of UV light. The Haze 1 filter is considered to be the best general purpose filter, by protecting your lens along with elminating UV problems from most situations where increased haze tends to wash out color and image clarity. see image >>> tinyurl/o95d5f3 Details Size: 55mm Color: none Brand: Tiffen Model: 55HZE Features Helps protect your valuable investment from dust, moisture and scratches Reduces excessive blue, cuts through haze and can improve image clarity Offers correction for ultraviolet (UV) light 10-year warranty I purchased a 55mm Tiffen Haze-1 plus UV (ultraviolet) filter for my film camera lens.A UV filter is a good thing to have, even for a digital camera, as it does not change the color of the light (color neutral) as it enters your camera through the lens, but, for film cameras, protects against the adverse effects of UV light.A UV and/or haze filter also protects the front element of the lens against scratches, dings and dust, which is advantageous for digital users even if they dont need the UV protection. The particular filter I bought filters both UV light and haze.The reduction of haze is good for maintaining contrast in pictures, especially when shooting on a humid, hazy day, or high in the mountains.Note: haze filters do not eliminate all haze from your photos, but reduces the effect so that details are not quite as obscured by the haze in the atmosphere.UV light is more prevalent as you rise above sea level, so this sort of filter really helps cut the excessive blue cast of UV light and the haze you find in mountainous areas. I had read elsewhere a review of UV filters, and this one was rated highest in that particular review.I am very pleased with it.Colors are still bright and strong, and I believe it does reduce haze to a significant degree.(If possible, I will upload an image taken with the filter in place on the lens, though it didnt occur to me to take one without the filter for comparison.) Most UV filters in this price range do not block all UV light, which is fine if you are just buying the filter to protect the lens. There are expensive, professional grade filters that block more UV, down to a certain desireable wavelength (also available on , I believe).But good, cheaper UV filters like this one are sufficient for most photographers, and, supposedly, this one blocks more UV light than most.The primary goal for me was to protect the lens from scratches and dings, without changing the color or quality of the light entering the lens.The UV filtering is just an added benefit, and should contribute to good film exposure. In reading up on the subject lately, I learned that both films and the CCDs in digital cameras can see UV or ultra-violet, which is just beyond the normal human visual range. (Interestingly, bees can see into the UV end of the spectrum, which enables them to see when the nectar is flowing in flowers by enabling them to see the nectar guides in the flowers). Anyway, too much UV light can produce a bluish image, and can affect the saturation and tints of the other colors. UV and skylight filters are great for reducing haze, and foreliminating chromatic desaturation of colors (i.e., the bluish washing out effect that occurs with distance), and enhance sharpness as a result, too. These filters are designed to remove UV and can help to some extent with the bluish cast. UV filters are colorless and skylight filters are pinkish. Both will work well as far as removing excess UV light, but note that skylight filters produce slightly warmer photos because of their pinkish tint. Haze filters work similar to UV filter. Because of light-scattering due to microscopic dust particles in the air, different wavelengths are scattered more or less than others and can cause reduced sharpness. Haze filters can help with this problem. According to the specs, the Tiffen Haze-1 blocks 71% of excess blue at 400 mm wavelength. The Tiffen Haze-2A provides greater UV correction and filters 100% at 400 mm wavelength. Excessive bluish tint frequently occurs in outdoor photography, especially in open shade under a clear, blue sky and near the water front. Unlike pink skylight filters, haze filters are yellowish--the opposite visual color complement to blue, which allows it to counteract a bluish effect. Id like to thank C-Ks digital camera page at Michigan Technical University for much of this information. Short version:A filter like this is useful for protecting your lens, but it does degrade optical performance.Also, because it isnt coated, it is as easy to clean as cheap eye glasses.If youre setting up an important shot, though, youll want to take it off when youre ready to push the shutter button. Long version: The front optic of your camera lens is coated on both sides, which reduces reflections going into and out of the optic.The result is that light does not bounce back and forth (as much) inside the lens creating the ghost images called flare.Higher priced filters are also coated to reduce flare, which can be worse in filters, because the surfaces are parallel. Optical designers go to great lengths to avoid parallel surfaces. This filter is not coated; at least it doesnt say it is in its advertising.If I hold it next to a high-end coated filter, it shows about 40x the reflection of a light source as compared to the coated filter.Multiple coatings are even better.(Take a quick look at high-end binoculars on and see what the ads say about coating.)With this filter, though, you wont notice flare in scenes that dont have very bright spots such as lights in them.If sunlight gets on the filter while youre using it, its useless, and even the best coated filters will have problems, as will most lenses.This is one reason for lens hoods.Hoods reduce the bad effects of filters in general, but they only protect from sources outside the field of view of the lens.(Hoods also help protect both filter and lens from physical harm.) If you want something that will protect your lens and might actually reduce noticeable UV haze, this filter will accomplish your goal, and its cheap.Tiffen makes good filters.Even so, if you are taking a very important shot, take the filter off.Any filter degrades, and this one will generally degrade more than a coated filter in the face of bright, localized light sources.I use B+W top-of-the-line filters on my best lenses, in part, because they are easy to clean.Heliopan have the most coatings, but there is a law of diminishing returns on coatings, and the only Heliopan I have came with a flaw in the surface of the glass!Hoya HMC Super UV(0) filters are very good for the money.I leave the high-end filters on my camera while shooting for at least half the time.But when I have the opportunity for a really special shot, I take even those filters off. Years ago, I did a comparison test between a prime (non-zoom) lens and a zoom lens.I shot both lenses with and without a filter on.I was using a tripod and extremely careful manual focus at long range, where focus wasnt super sensitive.The filter did more to degrade the shot than going to the zoom over the prime lens.Filters are filters: what comes out just isnt quite as good as what goes in. UV light, which is abundant in solar illumination, is invisible to the eye, but scatters off of naturally occuring atmospheric aerosols more than visible light.The scattered UV can show up like haze in your photos, because it may not be invisible to your camera.UV reduction isnt nearly as important as it was in the days of film cameras.Film is much more sensitive to UV than digital sensors.In addition to being inherently fairly insensitive to UV, camera digital detector arrays have a surface layer that blocks out most UV. Even with film, UV haze was mostly significant for longer-range shots where the effects of UV could accumulate over longer optical paths.If youre shooting in those conditions and you have the opportunity, be sure to take the shot with and without the filter.If you see a difference, post a comment to this review. I, and others, would love to hear from you. Many people disagree, but I think every valuable camera lens deserves a filter for protection.They protect from scratches and smudges, and they keep out dust.An uncoated filter like this one will have to come off more often when youre shooting.Otherwise its as good as the next, and it costs less. See all 71 customer reviews... more information >>> tinyurl/o95d5f3
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 02:31:12 +0000
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