Filters - worth spending the money?

[glypo]

Well I'm enjoying my new 40D and with Farnborough Airshow coming up I've been looking at filters.

I really need a circular polariser, partly under advice before so I can get darker skies, but also to stop nasty reflections. The problem is, there are so many makes of filters. Is there any major difference between the different brands.

They start at £22 with this Hama upto £125 for this B+W. And anything in-between (Hoya seem popular).

Google has been little help, so once again I would like some wisdom from the great oOple forum members. I spent nearly £900 on my camera, so don't want to ruin optics with a cheap filter... but will It ruin the results or will the difference be negligible? Thanks in advance for any help!

[glypo]

Well I'm going to take a stab in the dark here and try a few different brands, spending good money on my circular polariser (either Hoya Pro or B+W MRC) and perhaps try a cheapy for UV and/or ND to see the differences and I'll report back.

[jimmy]

I got my large (77mm) b&w cpl from eby for about 50 quid - it's the only filter I've ever used tho (and not that often) usually I just use the bare glass.

[josh_smaxx]

I always hav a UV filter on (mainly to protect the lense) but im quite interested in having a go with a polarising filter, let me know how you get on with it Jason.

[billgatese30]

The only thing to look out for with a circ polariser is if the filter mount of your lens rotates when focusing then it will be very difficult to use a polariser effectively as you will need to readjust it every time the focus changes, this is nigh on impossible if your tracking a moving object, or your lens is consantly re foucussing (if an R/C car was coming towards you down a straight for instance)