B+W vs. Leica Filters

[sm23221]

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Does anyone know if B+W UV/IR filters are equivalent in quality and function to Leica's UV/IR filters? Thanks in advance.

[wparsonsgisnet]

Apparently they are quite similar. Leica's corrections are specifically tuned to the Leica-branded ones.

 

If you were a subscriber to ReidReviews, you would be able to see the differences detailed very clearly. The subscription is an easily affordable $30-something. Highly recommended.

 

Welcome to ReidReviews

[Guest tummydoc]

Leica's corrections are specifically tuned to the Leica-branded ones.

 

Correction, singular. The firmware applies a single correction algorithm, which is specific to each lens but does not change with light quality, although the amount of cyan drift does. I have frequently had to go back to PanoTools to add or subctract correction after the firmware, regardless of which filter I used. I use Heliopan filters because they produce the least amount of veiling glare and ghost images compared to the others. I find that immeasurably more difficult, if not impossible, to eliminate than the infinitessimally small difference in cyan drift that occurs in the subset of cases where the Leica filter and the firmware enjoy more symbiosis.

[sean_reid]

The quality of the B+W and Heliopan filters is quite high - at least as high as the Leica branded filters (and sturdier in many cases). With about a 24 mm or wider lens, the M8's in camera corrections (plural because there are different ones for different lenses) tend to be best matched to the Leica filters. But, as Vinay pointed out in another thread, that's not always true.

 

I myself use Leica filters for 24 mm and wider lenses and then a variety of IR-cut filters with longer lenses.

 

Cheers,

 

Sean

[Guest tummydoc]

the M8's in camera corrections (plural because there are different ones for different lenses)

 

Singular because for each lens there is only one, unaltering, fixed correction. Since few of us will be fitting more than one lens at a time on our M8 I expected that would be more germaine to the topic at hand. Hope that's clearer if what I originally wrote was not.