canon 100-400 L filter question

turbotoes

turbotoes

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Tara
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Could all you canon 100-400 owners, that have Filters fitted on your lens please tell me what you are using?
I bought a Hoya skylight for mine and it clearly does affect the image quality and does weird things to the bokeh. I've got skylights on my other lens and can't see a jot of difference but on this beast it's a no-no. I would rather have a filter on as a just-in-case, but can't live with this one!
Before I splash more cash, I thought I'd ask :thinking:.

thanks

Tara
 
i also bought the hoya skylight for my 100-400 and it too degraded quality, i think the only real option would be a pro series filter but your talking a lot of money for it, i personally am managing fine without.
 
Don't use one. Why degrade IQ. If I drop it I'll be sick of course but it's well covered by insurance.
 
I've got a Hoya Pro1 UV filter on mine, and am happy with the results I get.
 
turbotoes said:
I bought a Hoya skylight for mine and it clearly does affect the image quality and does weird things to the bokeh.
Click to expand...
I think we'd like to see some pictures.

We have 15 100-400s at LensesForHire and they're all fitted with Hoya Pro 1 Digital UV filters or protectors. We've hired them out dozens of times and nobody has suggested any problems.
 
Me to no problem with my photo's also use a CP when the need arises, double up with the the UV (so 2 filters and very little perceivable degradation, at least not with my eyes:thumbs:


Torpedo said:
I've got a Hoya Pro1 UV filter on mine, and am happy with the results I get.
Click to expand...
 
Stewart, here are a few I took this morning to show the IQ degradation, the bokeh "crazing" only appears on certain shots and sure enough not todays!
All taken on a monopod (don't have a tripod strong enough)

without

without1.jpg


with

withfilter.jpg


without (crop)

without2.jpg


with (crop)

withfilter2.jpg


without + 1.4TC

without3.jpg


with + 1.4tc

withfilter3.jpg


If you could post a before and after with your hoya pro filter I'd appreciate it.

Tara
 
Sorry, what I meant was, "I can't believe you can't see a difference in the IQ" To me, the ones taken with the filter are noticeably softer.

You, on the other hand might be saying "they are all so bad, it makes no difference!!" :shrug:

Tara
 
the ones with the filter attached are not as sharp and a little lighter as well
 
turbotoes said:
Sorry, what I meant was, "I can't believe you can't see a difference in the IQ" To me, the ones taken with the filter are noticeably softer.

You, on the other hand might be saying "they are all so bad, it makes no difference!!" :shrug:
Click to expand...
Ah, my mistake. I thought we were talking about the bokeh - hence my comment about no discernible difference.

Now I look closely at the pictures you posted, the 'with filter' ones do seem less sharp.

I'll try to find some time to take some shots over the weekend. But I really don't expect to see any differences. I tried it recently with a different lens - you can see the resultse here - and if the filter doesn't affect the image on one type of lens then I don't see why it should affect the image on another type of lens.

I don't think you've said what kind of filter you're using. Is it a Hoya Green? (Green = cheap = nasty.)
 
StewartR: I saw your thread a few days a go, It's partly why I retested my 100-400 and the "Hoya Skylight".
When I bought my filter I couldn't get a hoya pro 77mm (whole damn country seemed to be out of stock) so I got the skylight instead, as I said in my first post, That's the filter I've got on my other lenses and I can't see a jot of diff'.
I would love to see your hoya pro in action, if just to persuade me I'm not about to buy another coaster!!

cheers

Tara
 
Once the sharpness was mentioned I could see the difference especially on the bark on the fencepost. I'm off to check mine now!
 
The 100-400 suffers from harsh bokeh in certain circumstances anyway. A filter seems to exaggerate it.

Pretty much all filters will degrade the sharpness to various degrees simply because it's an extra bit of glass in the way.

I've also seen lots of posts on various forums with evidence of filters causing extra flares or strange ghosting in certain circumstances as well.

I just use a hood to protect mine. :)
 
Here are completely unsharpened (shot raw) 100% crops from my 100-400 at 400mm and f/5.6. The first is without filter and the second is with a Hoya Pro1 Digital UV filter. Both were focused manually using Live View with 10X magnification for maximum sharpness and to avoid any AF glitches between shots. I notice a difference in sharpness and a much much bigger difference in contrast. The filter is clearly detrimental. So I'm a hood only sort of guy except when using a CPL or in unusually adverse conditions.

Test shot setup. This one is slightly sharpened, but that's pretty irrelevant...

20080609_101730_5519_DPP_sharpened.JPG



400mm, f/5.6, no filter, unsharpened....

20080609_101730_5519_DPP.JPG



400mm, f/5.6, Hoya Pro1 1D UV filter, refocused, unsharpened (result was worse without refocusing, which clearly indicates that the filter is affecting the light path). But just look at the contrast. The paper looks duller and the print looks less deep and rich. So the problem with the filter is more than just focus and edge sharpness. The IQ of the whole image has gone downhill. As contrast is crucial in creating the illusion of sharpness a poor filter can have a very bad effect on the final image.

20080609_102753_5521_DPP.JPG
 
Tdodd, thanks for that. I did some similar text tests first off (with a hobnobs box, hobnobs now expired ;)) with my skylight and got similar results to yours with your pro1. Not a huge difference, but noticeable. I hoped with would be less obvious on more "fuzzy" real life things but this has not proved to be the case. I guess I'll just have to keep the money in my pocket and the hood always on the 100-400 L.

Tara
 
Pleasure to help :) I've certainly noticed far more posts about UV filters wrecking the 100-400 than any other lens. In fact, I think it is the only lens for which I've seen these problems of softness reported.

It's a different story for flare/reflection though, where you have bright lights in a dark scene. In those situations I think any lens/filter combination is at risk. Here's an example of the shocking truth for night photography....

http://www.vanwalree.com/optics/filterflare.html

Lesser example here....

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/sm-feb-05.shtml

Lots of fun here....

http://www.kenandchristine.com/gallery/1054387
 
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