Topic: Buying filters in Europe

[Urban Hafner]

Hey everyone,

I'm planning to shot a bit more black & white these next months and I've been thinking of trying to use filters. But somehow I have a problem finding color filters. Yes, I can find Heliopan filters, but I'd rather spend a bit less (maybe Hoya?). Where do you buy your filters? Even ebay seems rather empty on those filters ... I'm pretty sure I'm just search wrong so please help me out here

[Paul Mitchell]

Cokin do reasonably priced B&W filter kits

Paul

[Andrej K]

For basic colour filters if you don't want top notch quality, just find some store that buys and sells used cameras, they usually have plenty of them for silly prices. At least here. Or watch ebay for some time and buy used - I have assembled my stock of quality B+W colour and ND filters in that way and each filter cost me considerably less than a basic hoya or similar.

[Alan]

Hi Urban,

For the 58mm filters I use with the mamiya I sourced them all used and new!

hoya, vivitar, jessops, Victar, quantaray.

i have a good selection, R72, Red, Orange, Deep Yelow, Yellow, 81A, CPL, UV.

it takes time if you want to save money and buy used.

Marumi filters [new] are a V.good brand with high coatings if thats what you are after
and would be cheaper than HOYA.

You could try ebay, ETSY.com and APUG !

[Urban Hafner]

Thanks guys, I'll go with the ebay route I guess.

[Late Developer]

Hi Urban,

Buy the best quality you can get - ideally B&W (a German brand, I think) or Hoya, Marumi or the Likes of Minolta, Nikon, etc... Why buy really good lenses and ruin them by putting crappy, inferior filters in front of them?

My suggstion is to work out the maximum diameter of the thread of your largest lenses and buy lenses that diameter - then buy step-up rings from other lens thread diameters to the size of the filters you have. That way, you only spend good money on filters and a few pennies each on the step-up rings.

The other option is to go for a system like Lee, Hi-Tech or Cokin where you can just buy the holder, filters and adapters to suit the lens thread diameters.

[Urban Hafner]

Thanks Paul. But I think I might have to invest in two sizes. I just got a Sigma 18mm lens that takes 72mm filters. And I want to use filters on my Yashica Mat (I have an adapter), but I don't think putting 72mm filters on that camera is a good idea I guess I'll go with the 46mm for now and see if I even need 72mm filters.

[Andrej K]

Thanks Paul. But I think I might have to invest in two sizes. I just got a Sigma 18mm lens that takes 72mm filters. And I want to use filters on my Yashica Mat (I have an adapter), but I don't think putting 72mm filters on that camera is a good idea I guess I'll go with the 46mm for now and see if I even need 72mm filters.

I faced the same problem - in the end I ended with 67mm filters for my MF & LF lenses and for the rolleicord I just hunted their original bay-1 filters. Neat and small. And cheap. Only problem here are ND filters, if you are into that stuff..

[Urban Hafner]

46mm seems like a sweet spot to me. As I've modified my Holga WPC to take 46mm filters and if I get a 40.5mm step up ring then I should be able to use it on my russian glass, too.

[Late Developer]

Down the years, I've collected a load of glass filters in various diameters and colours, UV, polarising, etc and I'm loathe to get rid of them as I know they'll be useful to me at some point. I tend to use these for my 35mm SLR and rangefinders. I've got a step up ring (48-52mm) that works with the 150mm lens I have for my 5x4.

For MF, I invested in a Lee holder and a small selection of ND grads / red and yellow filters as Hasselblad lenses have some weird fittings. Similarly, for my Rolleiflex, I have to use "Bay 1" filters. Thankfully, these are fairly readily available (if you know where to look) and not too expensive.

That said, I dread to think how much it would cost me to replace them all as new 

[Pete_R]

Try Amazon. In the UK, at least, there are several dealers who sell filters through Amazon and sometimes it's cheaper than going direct to the dealer as Amazon fixes the postage cost.