Hoya 77mm DMC PRO1 Digital Circular Polarizer Glass Filter Review

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(More customer reviews)After having problems with the ability to clean filters' surfaces, and needing to buy 2 polarizers (I always have a spare) for my new Canon 24-105mm pro lens for my Canon 5D full-frame SLR digital body, I ordered several different polarizers in 77mm size for testing: I'd keep the winner. All of the polarizers named in this review had front threads for filter stacking and lens cap attachment.
My problem with cleaning the polarizers' glass surfaces: When a drop of rain or some spray from a garden's water fountain landed on the polarizer, I could spend 10 minutes wiping the filter and all I did was move smears all over the place; I COULD NOT get the glass clean!!! When shooting into nighttime street lights, the sun, or other light sources, the smears really hurt image quality. It was like shooting through a dirty window.
My tests involved putting a wet fingerprint and some saliva (sometimes you try to blow dust from the filter and you end up depositing some spit on it!) on the front and rear faces of each polarizer. The Hoya HD MC 8-layer placed 2nd easiest to clean: Five seconds of cleaning with a cloth and it was good as new.
Number 1 winner was the Heliopan polarizer ($153.00): it almost cleaned itself! HOWEVER, it was not a thin-ring mount, and it heavily vignetted the corners of my lens at 24mm.
The number 2 winner, the Hoya HD MC 8-layer is a thin-ring design so any vignetting is a minor problem (it's as good as it's going to get).
In third place was the Hoya DMC PRO1 polarizer.
In fourth place was the Heliopan SH-PMC.
In last place was the B+W Multi-coated which was absolutely terrible (as bad as my previous Nikon polarizers which I returned to Nikon who refunded my purchase price (thank you, Nikon!).
Since the Hoya HD MC 8 layer polarizer is extremely easy to clean, is a thin-mount design, and has front threads, there's no reason to consider any of the others. Unfortunately, this polarizer is the most expensive of all the polarizers I tested (6 including Nikon's); however, unless you lose it or break it it's a one-time purchase, and you need clean glass to make good images.

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HOYA DIGITAL PRO1 77MM CIRCULAR POLARIZER FILTER Light rays which are reflected by any surface can become polarized so polarizing filters are used to select which light rays enter your camera lens. CIRCULAR PL filters allow you to remove unwanted reflections from non-metallic surfaces such as water, glass etc. They also enable colors to become more saturated and appear clearer with better contrast. This effect is often used to increase the contrast and saturation in blue skies and white clouds. HOYA's polarizing filters do not affect the overall color balance of a shot

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