Hoya Pro 1 or B+W Kaeseman MRC

[Ben Rubinstein]

I've sold my cokin polarizer, although the cokin system was very useful for my Mamiya film days, with digital I found the polarizer caused me problems with very fine detail using FF hi res DSLR's.

I want to invest in a good quality polarizer, multi coated and slim so I can use it with WA lenses should I choose to.

The choices are the Hoya Super Pro 1 polarizer or the B+W Kaesemann MRC polarizer. Both are 5mm, both multi coated (the hoya has more layers) and significantly, both use aluminium rings (this is the only B+W that does!). The Hoya has a front thread for stacking but with digital the need to stack is very small. The price is similar to equal.

Anyone have any opinions?

[JKSeidel]

There are two issues commonly mentioned that make people avoid Hoyas in favor of B+W or Heliopan.

First is Hoyas use of aluminum rings that can cause binding when attached to an aluminum mount. Since both of the filters you are considering are aluminum, this is a moot point.

Second is that Hoya's packaging (filter cases) outgas over time and cause streaking/haze over the filter. In some cases this is simply an annoyance, others have reported that it has done permanent damage to their filters.

Some state that Hoya's optical quality just plain isn't as good as Heliopan's or B+W's.

I own several Hoya S-HMC coated filters, but I don't keep them in their original cases. I've never had an issue with their optical quality. However, when I invested in circular polarizers (I own 3), I went with B+W and Heliopan. I'd rather go with products that don't seem to have any known issues (aside from the fanatics who maintain that the only thing that belongs in front of a lens is the subject).

[Yakim Peled]

I have the B+W MRC (though not Kaesemann). it is excellent in every respect and I highly recommend it. No experience with the Hoya but from what I hear they are rather good - though not as good as B+W - but rather hard to clean.

HTH.

Happy shooting,
Yakim.

[Ben Rubinstein]

You can say that again, I have a Hoya HMC ND2 filter that's a nightmare to get clean.