Last month we wrote about Sigma's announcement of their new ceramic filters which promise to add an extra level of protection for your front element over traditional glass filters, among a few other benefits. Well now there is a video to accompany those claims which goes to show just how much extra protection you can expect, and it looks very promising!
The new Sigma ceramic filters, which are now available through B&H, come with some remarkable claims that had many folks excited. They claim to be water, oil, and scratch resistant, as well as offering a 10x strength increase over traditional glass filters and a 300x strength increase over chemically treated filters.
Sigma has put together a great video to showcase that strength by dropping a 49 gram metal ball right on the filter and the results speak for themselves. As claimed by Sigma, the ceramic coated filter was the only one that survived the test.
[via Imaging Resource]
I never put protective filters on my lenses. 10 years with no problems and that included 5 years of Formula D and D1GP drifting events. Now I shoot weddings and I fear the rigors of a wedding day less than I do chunks of tire.
I'm sure I'm just really lucky, but I just hate to put anything over the lens unless it's for creative purposes.
I'll be more impressed when they show off the strength of their quality control. Two lenses (120-300 & 70-200) and both needed to be sent in for repairs, one of which cost me $400. Not happy!
in the future, check out keh.com for their flat rate repair service. I had a Nikon 70-200 2.8 vr with a non-working AF motor repaired for $195
Hopefully they're repaired properly and I won't have to have them fixed again. I called around 3 or 4 other places after I got the Sigma $390 price and they were all very close. Thankfully the 120-300 was covered under warranty but reading Roger's blog over at lensrentals about the lens doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in long term reliability.
I know a lot of people who have dropped lenses and state that the filter on the lens saved it, cartainly a placebo effect in place for most people who use filters for lens protection and maybe Sigma are aware of this and see an opportunity. Great if it does offer extra protection, but I can't see a situation where it would personally benefit me. I've never used a filter and I drop my gear more than most people - all of it works fine though. My last body looked like it had been put in a washing machine a couple of times, but it worked fine. Most gear can take far more of a bashing than people seem to believe, I've dropped my Canon 28-70 so many times and it still focuses like a champ - and it's atleast 15 years old.
Even the best filters will still reduce the clarity of shooting into a light source significantly. If you shoot live performances or any type of photography where you'd want to shoot into a light, filters hurt image quality.
Usually Sigma gear isn't weatherproof, but soon it will be bulletproof by the looks of it. :D :D