I think the most impressive thing I saw at PMA this year was Hoya’s new HD filter demo. “HD” in this case stands for “hardened,” not high definition. The glass is made to withstand the impact of steel balls dropped from a height of 50 inches. So the filter is impressive in and of itself. But the demo surprised the hell out of me and I had to make a video. I’ll leave it at that and let the video say the rest.

For what it’s worth, and for full disclosure, the filters aren’t actually indestructable. But if you watched the video, you know what kind of punishment they can take. They did show me one that broke. It didn’t completely shatter, though. It just cracked, sort of like safety glass in a car windshield. And only because it had come loose from the filter ring and sort of twisted on impact. The bottom line is, these filters offer unheard of protection for camera lenses. If you’re the kind of photographer who doesn’t like to use lens caps, get these filters and never worry about a lens cap again.

Official Hoya HD Filter Web Page >>

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2009 PMA Tradeshow Coverage
All Hoya User Reviews
Hoya Web Site