Customer Reviews

Opteka 58mm HD2 Professional Filter Kit (UV, PL, FLD)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If you have a DSLR which you always leave in "AUTO" mode because you don't know the difference between aperture, exposure, depth of field, bracketing and lens flare, then by all means get this filters.

However, if you know how your camera works and like to take GOOD pictures, then stay away from these filters!

These filters are uncoated. Light reflecting off the front of your camera lens will be perfectly reflected by the filter right back into your camera, causing your image to wash out. You can sometimes even see a nice rainbow image of your own lenses anti-reflective coatings in your picture.

The edge rings are SILVER, which reflect light into the filter and lens at bad angles, causing ghosting, lens flare, image wash out and just lousy results in general.

The edge of the filters are NOT BLACKENED, but are in white plastic goop which reflects light from the filter edge back into the filter and into your camera, once again causing washout, lens flare, etc.

You may ask yourself "why, if this guy thinks he knows what he is doing, did he even buy these filters?" Fair question. The ANSWER is 47th Street Photo used to advertise this filter kit as multicoated with black edge rings and blackened glass edge; but what they actually sent me were these. When I asked them to ship the correct filters, they claimed that these were the correct filters and that images may vary.

The reason these filters don't have a bunch of 1 star ratings is no photographer that knows much about lenses and filters would consider filters with silver edge rings and no anti-reflective coatings.

I would not buy these filters for $1 at a garage sale, they are that bad. Don't waste your money.

These are the second set of filters I have purchased and I am absolutely love it. I have to buy a new set because my other lense is 62mm and these are for 58mm. It produced outstanding colors and great quality filters. I would recommend it, and for the price, that's how much you would have to pay for the polarizer filter alone.

I purchased the filter kit for my Sony Camera. The price is considerably cheaper than Sony's and the quality is great! I'm looking into other items offered at a good price from Opteka.

I had initially purchased a polarizing filter from a chain electronics store for $16 only to discover it wouldn't thread properly on my Canon Rebel, so when I came across these three filters for this price I was hesitant becuase I felt for the price surely the quality must be lacking, but when they arrived I was delighted with the quality of the lenses, and the carrying case that is included is exellent for protecting the filters! I am especially pleased with the flourescent lighting filter- it has been excellent for taking pictures at my son's school events. All three of the filters thread properly and have excellent resolution! I would highly recommend this product to anyone experimenting with filters in your amateur photography!

Though I am not qualified to write about the quality of the filters, they seem to be doing the job pretty well. The finish is good and they fit well with the 58 mm Canon lense for my Rebel XT. The lense cap goes right over it so it is doubly protected. The small pouch to hold the three filters is also of big help to keep them safe and easily accessable.

For the price its not bad.

However, it fits shoddily into the lens and has actually just fallen out without me even touching the camera.

For being 58mm, it seems to be changing between 57mm and 59mm throughout the threads. It will be tight in some places, not so much in others.

Overall though, its nice for the price, and great to have handy, but I myself will be going Canon from now on, despite higher prices.

These filters deliver. I use them on a regular basis and they have not let me down. If you are looking for an inexpensive filter set that still gives a quality image, then these filters are what you are looking for. I have used them to shoot indoors (FLD) and out (PL) with great results.

These are great filters for this price. I have no issues with scratches or falling off my lenses....they seem to be a perfect fit. I own this kit in 52mm and 58mm and if I ever get lenses that require bigger filters I will buy this brand again. I can tell a difference with these filters in my pictures! The only *tiny* complaint I have is that the case they are housed in leave red lint on the filters...but I simply just clean them off before putting them on my lens. Doesn't bother me enough to make it less then a 5-star product.

This was a disappointing set of filters.

The UV filter, the main reason I bought the set, is not worth using on my 85mm f/1.8 lens. It causes pretty serious reflection artifacts.

The polarizer is slightly useful, it doesn't do a very good job of filtering out reflections or darkening the sky.

On the plus side, the filters do fit my lens.

In buying this set, I learned the hard way that you can't use cheap filters on decent glass, without paying the price in image quality.

It may be fine for short range photos. But when you go to telephoto with good lens, these filters blur the image. If you do not have good lens like Zeiss, you may not notice. But if you have good lens, you will see some blur quite similar to image quite a bit of out of focus. It is my fault to try expensive lens with cheap filters. HD2 may be a misleading information since manufacturer brand itself these attributes, it should have some kind of regulator agency like ISO or FDA or other to test photo products and state if it is real HD2, or if it is OK for telephoto.