Customer Reviews

Hoya 77mm Circular Polarizer (G SERIES) PL CIR Filter

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Just bought the HOYA about a month ago for my new Canon 50D with 28-135 IS Lens. I shoot mostly travel and landscapes so I rely on my polarizer for the the best color and exposures. Tried a cheaper polarizer lens filter that I bought in a package deal with a Canon lens hood, and the results were terrible. All my photos were washed out. I had used a Hoya filter for many years with my old Digital Rebel and had good results. I just assumed that any circular polarizer would work as well, but I was mistaken. The Hoya is moderately priced and does a fantastic job. I could have spent a lot more, but this filter does all that I need it to do, and I have gotten some great images with it, even shooting at mid-day.

Also, these filters are tough. I fell backing up for a shot and dropped my old camera, lens first, onto concrete. The Hoya took the brunt of the fall and except for a small dent on the outside of the ring, still worked perfectly.

I purchased this as a backup/primary polarizer for my telephoto lens (70-200), since the bezel is somewhat thick. So far, great results with great optical quality, but I don't think you would be able to use this on a wide/ultra-wide lens, due to the thickness of the metal bezel (vignetting).

The rotating outer element on this is smooth and well damped. I like its motion much better than my Nikon-brand ultra thin polarizer. Optically, I can't tell a difference between them, even though the Nikon was a far more expensive product.

I have now used this on a Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 AF-D and a Canon 70-200 f/2.8 USM, which has been great on each lens.

Great value with image quality that exceeded my expectations. I've never gone wrong with Hoya's mid/high end filters.

The only problem I had with this filter was the snap ring that holds the glass in the housing would come off if you weren't careful. It only happened to me once. I think the glass itself was great, as the images that resulted looked great. For an inexpensive polarizer, I can recommend it.

The rotating front element of the lens dislodges out easily, leaving the user with an inner securing ring and two pieces of glass that can only be put together (if you are handy enough) in a clean, dustless room and some precision instruments. Unfortunately, once the dislodgement occurs, it will happen again. I do not know if this is a coincidence, but I previously owned a cheap hoya 72mm circular polarizer on my 28-125 canon lens and the front element just fell down the second day and the glass broke into pieces! Many of my friends who bought cheap hoya cir-polarizers over amazon have the same complaint.

Perhaps the more expensive line of Hoya lenses are much better in terms of build quality, but I cannot recommend this product which will just leave you without a lens in the middle of your vacation.

Cannot believe how bad this filter was...should have stayed with B & W brand. Used this twice , no drops, no rough treatment at all and the filter came apart ... retaining ring snapped! Will not buy Hoya again.

A circular polarizer is a must for shooting outdoors with a DSLR. The HOYA G-series is affordable, yet of very good quality. It threads on and off easily (although I leave it on most of the time) and using it adds just the right amount of contrast and saturation to the sky while removing glare from surfaces.

I had great and wonderful photos with this filter. Who wants to just give access [...]

Good polarizer (reasonably good reflected light blockage). Nice and tight mechanism for turning the polarizer, so it doesn't slip during usage. May not be a good choice if your lens physically turns during focus/zoom, but excellent for my usage. I will post images taken with it when I have good photos to share (no test images of whatever is on my desk).

I didn't review this when I originally purchased it but feel i need to now.

It's tricky I mean how long do you expect something to last. I bought this in July 2008 and it broke in June 2009 on an Alaskan cruise, something I will probably only do once. So I got 11 months out of it which is why I give it 3 stars instead of 1.

The moral here is always have a replacement. Filters do get knocked about a bit so they wont last forever but this one just unraveled in my hand when I tried to take it off at one point. So great up until this point, but then isn't it always the way. I would probably buy another one to be honest as it did a great job up until then.

I've learned the hard way that cheap filters diminish the quality of the photographs. If you by a good lens, you have to by a good filter. This Hoya filter qualifies as a good filter in my book. You can pay more for a better filter, you can pay less for a cheap filter. You get what you pay for, so pay for what you want.