Travel Photography - Just bought Nikon D90--Looking for lens filter

Hello,

After trying out a friend's D40 for a few weeks and loving the action shots he was able to capture, my husband just bought the D90 with an 18-200mm VR lens. He wants to purchase a lens filter, but hasn't been able to find any reviews. He wants the filter to protect the lens but doesn't want it to interfere with the photo quality (I'm sorry if this seems all very obvious to you, but I am completely ignorant when it comes to photography). He saw the Hoya 72mm UV filter and also a 72 mm HD UV filter. Does anybody have any thoughts please?

Thank you!

He wants the filter to protect the lens but doesn't want it to interfere with the photo quality

Not really possible IMO though different people will argue the degree of image degradation.

Personally I feel that the petal lens hood protects the lens from impact damage as well or better than any filter will and it will actually improve the image quality in many situations.

He saw the Hoya 72mm UV filter and also a 72 mm HD UV filter. Does anybody have any thoughts please?

First, IMO filters should only be used for altering exposure conditions [ND, G-ND, etc] or for "special effects" [C-PL, starbursts, etc.].

Second, with a lens like the 18-200 you are going to want a thin profile or "extra-wide" compatible filter in order to avoid vignetting and other nasty filter induced aberrations.

Now, are Hoya HD filters worth the 2x price premium of their normal HMC filters?

Meh, I dunno.

They are about 1mm thinner than "normal" filters [not quite thin profile compatible though] and are certainly much harder and less prone to cracking [hence the HD] but I have never seen anyone I respect suggest that they offer an improvement over or even equal the image quality of the better filters out there.

Personally, unless you are shooting in a very dusty or wet environment I would forgo a protective filter altogether.

If one insists on getting a protective filter though, for the same ~$100 cost of the Hoya HD I would get a thin profile B+W.

I put an ordinary UV filter on that lens, it's never given any problems.

I do agree it's better to have a piece of cheap glass exposed rather than the lens itself.

After trying out a friend's D40 for a few weeks and loving the action shots he was able to capture, my husband just bought the D90 with an 18-200mm VR lens. He wants to purchase a lens filter, but hasn't been able to find any reviews. He wants the filter to protect the lens but doesn't want it to interfere with the photo quality (I'm sorry if this seems all very obvious to you, but I am completely ignorant when it comes to photography). He saw the Hoya 72mm UV filter and also a 72 mm HD UV filter. Does anybody have any thoughts please?

hoya and other filter manufacturers make filters in various levels of quality. it's silly to spend a lot of money on expensive lenses and then get the cheapest filter you can find, which unfortunately is what many people do.

look for multi-coated filters, which in hoya lingo is hmc or shmc. for b+w filters it's mrc. stay away from cheap uncoated filters (including hoya) and single coated if possible. basically, you get what you pay for.


Second, with a lens like the 18-200 you are going to want a thin profile or "extra-wide" compatible filter in order to avoid vignetting and other nasty filter induced aberrations.

that's not necessary. a standard thickness filter is fine.

that's not necessary. a standard thickness filter is fine.

The 18-200 already has 1/2 - 1 stop of light falloff at 18mm and wide open.

Add the petal lens hood on top of a standard thickness filter and you will be introducing even more vignetting induced light falloff.

To the OP: the marginal cost difference between, for example a B+W standard filter and a B+W thin profile filter is, in my experience shooting at wide angle and wide open with this particular lens, well worth the small added cost.

lens filters are much, much, much easier to clean than a lens. And much cheaper to throw away if the crap won't come off.

cue pixel peaper arguments over who's filter is better

The 18-200 already has 1/2 - 1 stop of light falloff at 18mm and wide open.

Add the petal lens hood on top of a standard thickness filter and you will be introducing even more vignetting induced light falloff.

only if it is a low quality filter, in which case it makes no difference how thin it is. i own the 18-200mm lens and there is no problem with standard thickness filter or even a thicker polarizer filter.

on the other hand, my 12-24mm lens does require a slim filter, but the sigma 10-20 which i used briefly does not.

To the OP: the marginal cost difference between, for example a B+W standard filter and a B+W thin profile filter is, in my experience shooting at wide angle and wide open with this particular lens, well worth the small added cost.

if the price difference is small, sure, but i wouldn't rule out a standard thickness filter.

I am the OP and want to thank everybody for taking time to respond. After reading all your posts my husband purchased the Hoya 72mm Ultraviolet UV(0) Super Multi-Coated (S-HMC) Glass Haze Filter. He is just getting into photography and very excited to get started.

Thanks again!