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Hoya HD3 lens filters claim to be 4x stronger than optical glass

Published Aug 26, 2015 | Brittany Hillen

Kenko Tokina USA recently announced the Hoya HD3 series UV and Circular Polarizer lens filters. According to the company, the new filters feature an anti-reflective coating that is substantially harder than the coatings on previous Hoya lens filters. In fact, the filters are 4 times stronger than optical glass, and offer a 99.7 percent light transmission rate.

Kenko Tokina has developed a new nano-coating formula and a new process used to apply the anti-reflective coating layers to the glass. As a result, the UV filter's coating is 800% harder than the previous generation, while the Circular Polarizer filter's coating is 200% harder. Both HD3 filters are available in sizes ranging from 37mm to 82mm.

The HD3 UV filter in particular sports a new 32-layer system that reduces or, in some cases, eliminates reflections from the glass surface. As a result, there is little effect on the image's contrast, clarity, and color balance. This filter also features an anti-static top layer that is water-repellent, resistant to both scratches and stains, and is said to be easily cleanable.

The Hoya HD3 filters are available in the U.S. now through select retailers ranging in price from $55.90 to $223.90.

Source: Hoya

Tags: accessory-news, filters, hoya

Comments

Total comments: 45

Reading the official blurb on these, I suspect that the glass is the same as before as they make no reference to this aspect being different.

0 upvotes

I've always used filters but now that I have some pro style 2.8s, I'm getting new B+W filters. My question is: clear or UV? The clear Pro B+W is actually more expensive than the UV. Why is that? Do we really need UV now with digital cameras? Why not just clear?

0 upvotes

Wowzers on the price, unless that $223.90 is for some super duper polarizing filter in 82mm. St

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

0 upvotes

not cheap, but I like to see progress, alternatives in the filter category

0 upvotes

Who would buy these filters? US$ 55.90 - 223.90 A real bargain :-(

I don't know what Hoya is doing! First they nearly distroyed the Brand "Pentax" and now such idiot prices!

1 upvote

Not so many people can afford to buy these filters... until Hoya revise their price.

Yes! Pentax is downing... but Hoya is sill the main supplier of Sigma lenses...

0 upvotes

Pentax was bought by Ricoh, not Hoya. Hoya, Kenko & Tokina are together. I've used Kenko UV Filters from 2006-2010, but their UV filters have been always something lower in quality terms compared to Hoya back then.

About the price: don't shuffle the CPL (Circular Polarizer Filters) with the Price of the UV Filters, they're naturally cheaper.

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

1 upvote

hallo marc

before ricoh buys pentax it was owned by hoya from 2008 till 2011. They did a nice job in destroying the brand! (URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentax (Merger with Hoya)

I think they were only interesting in the endoscopes, intraocular lenses, surgical loupes, biocompatible ceramics business and they sell or destroy the Pentax Camera Brand!

Gérard

0 upvotes

Hoya is best into making filters - nothing else. ;)

Marc

0 upvotes

Also, while you buy Hoya (slim) CPL, you better to try it in store with your lenses as the ring is made from Aluminum-Alloy. It may be very difficult to take it off depending on your lens *materials* for the reason we all know.

Plus there is almost no space to grab the Slim CPL to screw it off to start with. It is very easy to screw the Slim CPL on though.

Some one may be able to share same or different experience with Hoya slim CPL in this regard.

Comment edited 3 times, last edit 6 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

Impressive tech and expensive! But you get what you pay for I suppose.

0 upvotes

No you get less than you pay for.

2 upvotes

Sorry, posting in wrong thread :-)

0 upvotes

Holley Moley! They are expensive! More than the B+W.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=hd3+filters&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

2 upvotes

I would stick with B+W filters given a choice. Hoya will bring down the price of these soon, if the sales are disapointing.

1 upvote

I have about 8 to 10 Hoya HD (Mark I) Filters from 40.5 to 82mm Size - they're way good - the only difference between them and the HD2 was in fact the longer waranty, nothing more - physically onto the glas element.
Funny though, i remember back when the Hoya HD series have been announced - they also said it's 4x stronger than ordinary glass. And now the same - for even more money?! c'mon Hoya.
I've found besides the marketing speech - the HD series are not so easy to clean, they're often micro spots over there and there...and i washed them with liquid soup, used a Rocket Blower and also microfiber lens cleaner.

Update:
A quite good lowcost Alternative to Hoya SuperHMC, HD & B+W F-Pro UV Filters: W Tianya XS-Pro1 UV, costs almost nothing, is truly a multicoated (MC) filter and for the fraction of the price of a B+W XS Pro nano or Hoya HD2/3 series really nice quality. I have these filters on many of my legacy MF prime & zoom lenses, but also current ones like Tamron 17-50/2.8, etc.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 3 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

Update, i just read from the B&H Link above that the HD3 series do have a 32-layer nano coating...so that means 16 layers on both sides - the Original HD Series and HD2 was 8 layers per side multicoated. For really serious lenses, i do use the B+W XS Pro nano UV Filters, and i don't think to change that way.

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

1 upvote

I got the XS Pro nano UV filter you are talking about. But I then saw that B+W has a clear Pro nano filter. It is more expensive than the UV. I don't think we really need UVs anymore, so I will send back and get the clear. Your opinion? How do you like your UV?

0 upvotes

For myself, the UV Filters nowadays are just a good lens protection - every bit of extra glas in front of your lens (that means one glass to air surface more) is physically degrading IQ, but the Hoya HD series, the B+W XS Pro nano (and F-Pro) series are really high quality UV Filters, and the bargain XS-Pro1 from (W)Tianya is better from the glass & coatings then a ordinary Hoya HMC or -Pro1 Filter. I've not seen IQ degrading with these Filters, the Tianya are mostly on my old mf prime & legacy lenses.

For instance, the original Hoya HD (mk. I) series is relative hard to clean, the B&W XS Pro nano compared to that way easy. And the Hoya (S)HMC, -Pro1 Digital series are really a mess to clean - micro particles everywhere, you need really a good lens microfiber cloth and a Rocket Blower, thats a mess when shooting into location.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 3 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

But will they be a nice as B+W filters? That is what I have on order arriving tomorrow!

0 upvotes

If they're going to round numbers, why not say 8 times and 2 times as strong instead of 800% and 200%?

1 upvote

I guess that 800% seems more impressive than just 8.

1 upvote

Hey, that's great. I've been looking for some coasters to park my 4WD on.

So sick of the regular filters breaking.

Comment edited 21 seconds after posting

1 upvote

But but but guys; to use filters or not to use filters? Oh, woe is me!

3 upvotes

0 upvotes

Can they tow a trailer? I think this translates as "the coatings on these filters are harder than the previous ones."

0 upvotes

I see the word stronger and harder being used interchangeably. The problem is that a substance can be 4x harder and resist scratching, but be prone to breaking from impact.

From the text they're saying the coating is harder. So I suspect the underlying glass is the same. While the coating may be durable, coatings don't add strength to the base material. So I wouldn't be using this filter as a ballistic shield, as the glass will break just as easily as before.

4 upvotes

The original HD filters were pretty tough. Not so tough were the coatings - I use them when I know the glass will be getting impacted (gravel etc). Sadly a few of them have had the coating scratched off. Hopefully this improvement means they'll survive better when taking hits.

1 upvote

Just right. I experienced that one time, too.

0 upvotes

Coatings and layers can add strength (or enduring flexibility) to the base material, and quite a lot... depending on the material of the coating.
But ignoring all the marketing fluff, I'd like to see some decent tests done on filters, there was an excellent test several years ago, but it does not seem to be something that is kept up to date. If the filters get in the cheap lens price territory (and some of my Zeiss ones go above that), I'd love to see some subjective testing instead of just marketing fluff

0 upvotes

right, lenstip had made an excellent review, but at that time it was 2009 - now it's 2015, and filters have changed something...from the quality of coatings & material something. I do also have a few from Zeiss, but before i bought it years ago - i called their optical division, and the person there responding couldn't tell me how many multicoated layers the famous T* coatings are onto their UV filters.

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

so scratch proof? I can't say i've scratched a filter.

mind you i'd love this on my eyeglasses

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 58 seconds after posting

1 upvote

Hoya is a good brand, but still...

"claim to be ...". Claim is just a claim. the coating needs to be tested by independent lab by using SPECs such as MIL-E-12387. MIL-C-48497, MIL-A-A113 as some other Brand did for supporting their Claim.

I have couple of Hoya including HD2. They are ok.

I'm not sure this CPL, but one of my Hoya CPL's coating is not that great as it is very difficult to clean up the "lens cleaning solution".

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 11 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

Hoya does have a good reputation when it comes to filters for the last couple decades.

0 upvotes

I have purchased several Hoya filters in the last few years and never had any problems. However, I also have B + W ones and feel that they are superior. I have one Heliopan UV and it seems well built but the colour in photos taken with this on one of my lenses seems to be a bit dull. The Hoya actually seemed to be better in this regard.

0 upvotes

For Heliopan UV Filters, you'd do pay much for the brand name, but these filters are less good than the HD series, i do have 2 or 3 of them. A very cheap Filter, good, but costs very little: (W)Tianya XS Pro1 UV. The brand exists since 97, so these guys know what they're doing. Better than Hoya HMC & SuperHMC, and also Pro1 digital Series. Much easier to clean than these mentioned 3 Hoya Filters here.

0 upvotes

I think you misread what may be the company's purposefully misleading advertisement. I read it as the coating allows for a 99.7% light transmission. Not the filter itself.

4 upvotes

"In fact, the filters are 4 times stronger than optical glass, and offer a 99.7 percent light transmission rate."
I don't see the word coating.

0 upvotes

That quote is from the writer of this article. Not Hoya. I can't find anywhere that Hoya says the filter has 99.7% light transmission. As far as I can find Hoya only talks about 99.7% light transmission when talking about the coating.
LensTip posted about tests on filters done 9 years ago. The best filters back then, Hoyas, had a 97% light transmission. So I'm skeptical they somehow improved that much in 9 years.
http://www.lenstip.com/113.1-article-UV_filters_test_Introduction.html

Comment edited 3 minutes after posting

4 upvotes

Thanks, good point.

0 upvotes

Good catch, because 97% is about the best surface can get. I think 99.7% for a surface and coating is not just impossible today but for the seeable future, going by what various Japanese, German, and American optical engineers have told me.

Comment edited 42 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

If it's stronger than optical glass, then why not make it entirely out of coating? (Come on, someone out there knows this answer...)

2 upvotes

If it's 4X stronger than glass, it might actually have more stopping power than a lenscap. Some curious soul will have to do tests, I suppose. I'll probably never know myself, since my $8 Fotasy MRC's are so clear they look like there's no glass in them. And so cheap, I can't stomach spending $55 to $223 on a single filter anymore.

2 upvotes

Good for paintball photography..

5 upvotes

I wait for the bullet proof version. Until then I use a lenscap.

3 upvotes

Total comments: 45

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