When I ordered my Nikon 10-24mm ultra-wide lens, I knew I needed to pick up a new UV filter to put on it right away. I’ve gone back and forth on whether to use UV filters or not on my lenses, but decided I needed one for protection on this lens since it has such a bubbled front lens element and a very small lens hood.
After some research, I decided the purchase the 77mm Hoya DMC Pro1 UV-0 filter because it has a slim frame to prevent vignetting, good multi-coating and a great price. If you are looking for a UV filter, you should read through the spectrometer testing results over at lenstip.com. It’s interesting to see that Hoya multi-coated filters test better than or equal to more expensive B+H or Heliopan filters. I use mostly Hoya filters and continue to buy them for their great quality and price.
I really like the feel of this filter. The matte finish and knurled edge makes it very easy to take on and off and it looks like it belongs on the lens. It feels sturdy with no movement of the glass in the frame. I see no decrease in image quality at all and I feel much better having that bulbous front element covered. I’ve not had any issues with reflections or flare.
Since this is a slim frame filter, you cannot attach any filters to the front of it. However, unlike some other slim frame filters, you can still use the original lens cap because there is a single groove where normally there are threads. I’ve found this groove actually holds the lens cap better than the standard threads. Since you cannot stack additional filters, this may not be a great option on a non-wide angle lens if you plan to stack additional filters, but you probably wouldn’t want to stack with a UV filter anyway. If you use an Expodisc, you’ll find you have to hold it on to the filter carefully because it won’t snap into the slim single groove.
Since the spectrometer results indicate the Hoya HMC UV, the Super-HMC UV, and this Hoya Pro1 UV are essentially optically equal, the choice comes down to price and usage. I needed the slim frame of the Pro1 UV-0 and now after using it, I prefer it’s build to the others. I’d buy it again for other lenses since it’s only slightly more expensive than the standard HMC but less than the Super-HMC.
