Hoya Green Series UV Filters...

SUCK! Here's the story...i buy my first 'L' series lens last week after doing most of my wildlife stuff using a 100 quid Sigma 70-300 lens, which was good for starters, but isnt exactly a pro lens.

So i thought id spend part of my hard earned Christmas bonus on a Canon 100-400mm lens, i thought, yeah, not stupidly expensive, IS, 'L' series glass etc etc, perfect to take my wildlife stuff to the next level. I thought i might as well get a UV filter to protect the front element as well, and thought id plump for a Hoya one.

I get the lens...excitedly attach it to my camera and head out into the great outdoors. I then spent last week wondering why i was getting crap results with the lens, nothing was sharp, id even say that my Sigma was sharper...i thought maybe it was my below par holding technique, i thought maybe several trips to the gym might be needed to build up suitable arm muscles in order to hold the lens steady...in short...i was disapointed...results were rubbish, nothing was sharp...me...not a happy bunny!

I did some research and found a thread on here by someone with a similar problem with their 400mm lens and non sharp results, and the fact that they were using a Hoya filter...they removed the filter and hey presto...sharpness returned.

I thought "nah way, it wont be that...thats way to simple"...well yesterday, i took a trip to Marwell Zoo...and thought id shoot the day without the Hoya UV filter i had on my lens! THANK GOD I DID!!!!!!

The results were so much better than with the filter...shots were sharp and i wass so chuffed at the fact that nearly all my photos were sharp as hell and of excellent quality! Suffice to say, the Hoya filter is going to get binned and i urge anyone on here who uses such a crap filter to ditch it and get sharp shots!

Here you go...Mr. Snow Leopard nice and sharp from yesterday :)

Hope this works...i have no clue how you post photos on this forum :(

Hi Ian,

The Snow leopard is a great shot. Pleased that you have solved your problem, although I would suggest protecting the front element with a different make of UV filter

Regards

Rob

Looks pretty good Ian. I bet you're happy. Nothing worse than getting poor results from a hard earnt new lens. Be good to know your techs as this lens is meant to be less sharp at the long end and wide open. You may have bagged yourself a 'Justin' quality lens

You may have bagged yourself a 'Justin' quality lens

Enjoy the new lens Ian. I remember reading an article in EOS magazine once upon a time, and they reckoned having a filter attached to that lens could have detrimental effects on the image quality. I can't remember off hand which make of filter it was.
I use a Canon Protect filter and have done some comparison test shots and have never noticed any loss of quality. I'd also have faith in a B+W UV filter or a Hoya Pro 1 series.

Ah cool, well i think ill get one of those Canon protect filters then, i dont want to have the lens un-protected so ill invest in one of those. Cheers for letting me know about it :)

with some cheaper filters i have noticed a difference at 100%, but i almost always user HOYA Super HMC filters, and haven't seen any difference. between having them on or off, so they tend to stay on.