Could anyone out there please suggest to me a very good brand of polarizing and neutral density filter for my Canon 24-70 F2.8L and 70-200 F2.8L IS lenses?
THANKS.

Killer Angel

Try Singh-Ray, B + W and Heliopan (no specific order in that list). Note that these filters are expensive but with lenses such as your 24-70 and 70-200, cutting on quality filters is not something you want to do.
For polarizers, be sure to get circular polarizers and not linear filters.

I agree with Francois' recommendations. I'd like to note that Singh-Ray has what they call a LB (lighter and brighter) warming polarizer. It lets in 2/3rds of a stop more light than the typical CP and also adds a little warmth to the shadows (which can go blue-ish).

The advantages are a brighter viewfinder and somewhat faster shutter speeds. The disadvantages are you can't get as slow a shutter speed (if you are using the CP as a neutral density filter substitute) and, of course, it is quite expensive.

Paul

Why not B&W? B&W makes their "Kaesemann" Polfilters from
Schott Glass, the same thing Zeiss lenses were (are?) made
off. They are also sealed against dust and moisture, have a
brass mount (means it doesnt stick on your lens like the cheap
aluminum ones from hoya etc) and are very (very) scratch resistant.

In regards to the BX Kaeserman polarizer filters,they come in 2 versions,regular glass filters and slim glass filters.Which among the 2 would you advice that I get?
THANKS.

Killer Angel

PS.In regards to UV Multicoated filters for protection of the front glass of my lenses,what brand would you suggest that I get?
THANKS.

Well, slim glass filter or wide-angle slim filter is for use with - you already guessed - wide-angle lenses. If you are using a full frame camera such as a Canon 5D or 1Ds, you'll probalby need one of these from 24mm (or even 26mm) and wider lenses. The drawback is that slim filters don't have front threads and therefore you cannot attach conventional lens caps.

See photo below to see the difference...
You also may want to read this discussion as well as this one.

I usually don't use filters for protection except when weather/conditions are really bad (sand, sea spray etc.). Try to stay with a good brand (B&W and others mentionned above) but I have a friend who claims that Hoya HMC (???) is OK.

You can get very good ones from B&W but if you
stay with the top brands mentioned somewhere
above you can't really go wrong. I think the
priceings is also very similar across brands.

One more thing about B&W, if you buy a filter
with "F-Pro" mount it means the filter has a
brass mount. To my knowledge all MRC filters
have that from B&W.

When I first started out in photography with my Nikon F, all the common lenses were 52 mm diameter and I needed only one set of filters for all my lenses, but now with zoom lenses and many telephotos, one has to have other diameters such as 67 and 77 mm. To some extent one can use adapters to reduce the thread size of the filter, but the reverse may cause vignetting.

Also, the thin filters are necessary with some wide angle lenses to avoid vignetting, and this may apple to some wide to tele zooms. These thin filters are more expensive. I have a a regular 67 mm B + W filter for my 18-70 mm Nikkor DX and it seems to work OK (the lens has vignetting wide open anyway).

It really looks strange to have a 77 mm filter on a 52 mm filter diameter lens, but it does work.

Bill

The only problem is that using a hood is often impossible... I must admit that I use 77mm filters and adapter rings for the smaller diameters.

I find B&W to be pretty damage resistant too - my other filters (mentioning no names) seem to mark especially as I shoot around the marine environment a lot, and the salt laden air means that I do use filters for protection and I do have to clean them (selvyt cloths are great). Since switching to B&W I've found that filters are cleanable and don't mark as much.

Unless you add/take off your filters between every shot, be careful to read the features of the filters before you order. I ordered a thin circular polarizer for my 77's and it turned out that (on this one) you could not put a lens cap on it, and I was restricted to using the cheap plastic covering that was prone to falling off.