TTArtisan Square Lens Hood & Tianya XS Pro 1 UV filter – Review

I know there are pros and cons to hoods and filters.
So, why do I use a lens hood and a filter on the TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 lens ?
Well, the main reason is protection.
I spend a lot of time in the woods, and on my bike, then I have my camera around my neck ready to take a picture – so without a lens cap.
Especially on the bike, the lens suffers a lot from small flies, dust and sand, and it can also unexpectedly hit the handlebars.
In the woods you have tree branches, and so on…
Hence: a filter and a lens hood – no lens cap.

One more little note,
Some people say that inferior glass from cheap filters will degrade the image quality of your expensive lens.
Well, yes and no:

• it could affect the quality of your lens, but then that filter must be really, really horably bad – think of a previous writing of mine about scratches on a lens surface, and how they are invisible in a photo.
• no, having a reasonably good filter will certainly benefit the lens, because even after frequent and careless use of your lens, the front glass will still be flawless and new. A plus if you ever want to sell the lens.

TTArtisan Square Lens hood – Aluminium Alloy – 43mm screw thread with adjustable ring -Dimensions : 65 x 52 x 24 – 17 gram – Delivery in a nice cardboard box

Not much to say really.
Beautiful “Classic” lens hood.
Gives the TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 lens a very nice classic look, but would do that with any lens with 43mm thread.
Extreme light and sturdy (box weighs more)
Does what it’s supposed to do, protect against unwanted light, protect against impact.
Bought from TTArtisan Photology Store

Original description:
The lens hood minimizes flare and ghosting and protects the lens from impact

Price : € 12 online CN or ebay – € 50 local EU

The Tianya XS-Pro MC UV 43mm – Delivery in a nice plastic box with foam insert – outside cardboard box

These filters were sold at the same online store where I got the TTArtisan lens hood, namely the TTArtisan Photology Store.
Had never heard of the brand Tianya, so I thought I’d look up a review, and so I ended up on the forum of DPReview.com.
It is a review from 2014. I also recognise the mentioned coating problems with the Hoya HMC, so his review seems to be correct.
You can find the review of Tianya XS Pro 1 here : https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/54668653

After reading this, and knowing the price of the Tianya XS Pro 1 UV 43mm filter, namely € 7.10 – for example a Hoya HMC XS UV 43mm costs € 27.95 local store – I thought, you can’t go wrong at that price!
So I ordered the filter too.
Result: cleaning is indeed better than the Hoya – not so rough. The coating has a very slight contrast-enhancing effect on the subject, which I personally found to be pleasing. I have not find any distortions, light spots, flares, dull spots or any other problem. So I think I can safely say that this was a very good buy.
Ultimately, my intention is simply to protect the lens optic from dust, sand and bugs, and this filter certainly does !

Remark,
When using the Tianya filter on the TTArtisan 23mm f1.4 lens – and probably any filter for that matter – the original aluminum TTArtisan lens cap no longer fits – or is very loose.
I must also say that the lens cap is in any case better removed and replaced by a clickable plastic lens cap.

Original description:
TIANYA Slim XS-Pro1 Digital MC-UV Filter 43mm
Super High Quality Optical Glass UV filter Multi Coated with 18 Layers
Protects your camera lens from dust, moisture, scratches and fingerprints
Reduces haziness or fogginess created by ultraviolet light
Specifications:
-Ultra thin Glass: 1mm ( Japanese optical glass, Light Transmittance:99.5% )
-Filter frames: 3mm
-Material: Optical glasses and Anodized Aluminum Metal

Price : € 7.10 online CN or ebay

I hope you enjoyed this short review, and thank you for visiting OSP !

Marc.

La Gallerie

The photo gallery of Open Source Photography, Olympus micro 4/3 system, Vintage Lens Photograpy, Film Simulation, PictureFX, HDR – Photographer : Marc R.