Photography News Issue 31

Photography News | Issue 31 | absolutephoto.com

38 First tests

Accessories First tests We g t our hands on he latest kit and share our first impressions – so you know whether or not to add it to your wish list

Reviews by Will Cheung

HoyaFusion From£36 Photographers give a lot of thought to the lenses they buy and in most cases precious little to the filters they stick on the front. Given that putting anything in front of the lens is going to impact on its ultimate performance, even if that impact is tiny, this doesn’t seem logical. So if you have spent hundreds or even thousands on a lens it surely makes sense to minimise any quality loss by investing in a decent piece of glass. Hoya’s latest range of Fusion filters uses professional-grade my regular protection filter. With heavy rain forecast I was looking forward to a good soaking. The 5mm thin high-quality mount is beautifully machined and it screwed sweetly onto the lens with no cross-threading. Having a front thread and being thin helps to avoid vignetting when you want to add an extra filter or a creative filter holder. I tried it on a Nikon 16-35mm f/4 and added a Lee Filters 100 holder with no vignetting at the wide end.

Specs

Prices 58mm Protector £36, UV £44, circular polariser £75 77mm Protector £55, UV £70, circular polariser £120 Availability All 3 types, 37mm to 82mm Mount thickness 5mm (77mm Protector) Weight 29g (77mm Protector) Contact intro2020.co.uk

I am happy shooting in the rain and one benefit was immediately apparent. On my normal protection filter drying off water drops with a microfibre lens cloth smears and getting a clear view to shoot through without any soft-focus was difficult. In persistent rain I had to take the filter off because the image was soft. With the Fusion filter I didn’t have that problem at all and even with a damp lens cloth keeping the filter clear and free of smears was easy. Next I planted a peanut butter thumbprint in the middle of the two filters. Admittedly this is a rather extreme, but good, way to test how a filter deals with problematic situations. Using a kitchen towel, first dry and then dampened, the Fusion filter was quickly restored to its pristine state; the sticky residue came off readily. The other filter needed a good deal more buffing to remove the resulting bloom. WC

optical glass with a nine-layer multi- coating formula to give excellent light transmission qualities. Use a Hoya Fusion filter and your lens’s performance will not be impacted. But the range offers much more ,with a new antistatic layer giving filters protective qualities as well as being stain and waterproof, scratch resistant, anti-static and easy to clean. Three filter types are available, a circular polariser, ultraviolet and protector. Looking at the transmission characteristics of the clear protector and UV filters, the latter removes near UV wavelengths around 350-400nm. If you’re in the hills or at the coast when there is a strong blue sky, a UV filter will help stop your pictures becoming too blue – very important with film where you can’t just use a custom white- balance to get round the issue. I had a Fusion Protector to test so headed out to the coast with it and

Verdict

There are filters available at all prices and the Hoya Fusion range is in the more expensive area of the market, but then that is fully justified with top-quality glass and those extra protective characteristics provided by the new anti-static coating. Pros High optical quality, anti- static coating, easy cleaning, thin mount, front filter thread Cons None

Images To test how easily substances could be wiped off the Hoya Fusion filters, peanut butter (top) and water (above) were used. Water ringmarks came off no problem and peanut butter was removed more easily compared with rivals.

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