Filter and Step Up Rings

[francois]

Not sure if it will help you but I use on a regular basis a step-up ring (72mm to 77) with a polarizer on my 1D MKII with no visible degradation.  Lenses used are EF-135 f/2 and TSE-24 f/3.5 (not often as wides and polarizers do not mix too well).

Francois

[David R. Gurtcheff]

You may want to check out the filter sizes on lenses of various focal lengths of the Camera Maker that you may some day want to invest in; then buy that size filter. For example, 77mm is the size that Canon seems to use for a lot of their larger aperature lenses, so this might be a good size to standardize on, if you were leaning towards Canon. Just a thought.....
Dave

[Barry Prager]

B+W makes a very nice step up ring that is brass, works very well, and is not expensive.  The only potential problem is that you won't be able to get a lens hood over it.  If the filter is much bigger than the lens it might look goofy.

[dwdallam]

I have a Sony F828, and I need a couple of ND filters. I've decided that if I buy them, I should buy nice ones, such as B+W or Heliopan, and those a pricey pieces. However, the F828 is a 58mm lens, and I know the better cameras are much bigger, in the 70mm+ area.

Ken Rockwell.com suggest buying the biggest filters you can afford, and using step up rings to prevent buying new filters when you buy new cameras with different lens sizes.

I see the logic, but will step up rings degrade performance, such as adding vignette and flare? If it's good reasoning, how big should I go for practical purposes. I'm probably never going to have enough money, nor reason, to buy a large format camera. But I can see myself buying a DSLR Canon back, etc., in the 3K range some day.

[Jonathan Wienke]

Step-up rings have no effect on optical quality, so there is no reason to overspend on them. you may want to get brass ones instead of aluminum to reduce the possibility of the threads seizing, but other than that there's really not much reason to buy the most expensive.

[dwdallam]

OK great information. I guess the next logical question would be  what is the largest lens size I will encounter in the pro area without going to the really high end, you know, the cameras most of you use professionally, like the 1D etc. I want to buy the largest filter I can afford so I can always step it down for smaller leneses if I have to with my next camera purchase.

I guess it isn't "that" big a deal, since I'll probably only own four filters--a polarizer, which I have in 58 MM already and will need to be replaced, and 3 ND filters. I guess if I put the money out to buy a 1D or better camera, a couple hundred dolalrs in new filters won't break me.

[dwdallam]

Yes I've decided to jsut go with teh 58mm sixe, which Hoya makes for about 29 bucks. Since I only need two, that's not bad, even if I have to buy new filters in the future.