UV Filters.....

[just me]

For years I always had on any lens an UV good qualitative filter.....then about a year ago, I took them all off, as I started to think, why put a piece of glass on a expensive lens ?

Only some days ago, I had on a lens quite a smear, which while out, I had a bit of trouble to remove, so I thought better put a filter back on the lens, which I did........but I cannot help me to wonder if a filter on the lens is not degrading a bit the photo qualitative, as I had the impression, after using the filter on the lens again....so now the filter is off again.......

What are your thoughts please ?

Griddi.......

[Manfred M]

Yes, another optical surface will degrade lens performance. That point is not up for debate.

Whether you will notice the degradation in performance, well that is another issue. A high quality, multi-coated filter should show no noticeable performance degradation, but put on some cheap glass and all bets are off. I have a filter somewhere that is creates wonderful flare if it gets hit from any bright light source. Like anything else, quality is not inexpensive, so stick with one of the name brands.

[just me]

Yes, another optical surface will degrade lens performance. That point is not up for debate.

Whether you will notice the degradation in performance, well that is another issue. A high quality, multi-coated filter should show no noticeable performance degradation, but put on some cheap glass and all bets are off. I have a filter somewhere that is creates wonderful flare if it gets hit from any bright light source. Like anything else, quality is not inexpensive, so stick with one of the name brands.

Manfred....thank you for your reply......

I used the Hoya HMC filter ( s) and also on the macro lens a XS -Pro Digital, made in Germany, and this filter cost's me $A 85.00, so not necessary cheap.....

I noticed mainly less sharpness, and a bit less in brilliant colour, when using the filter ( s ).......

[Manfred M]

Very strange. I have not noticed any difference when using filters with the exception of night-time shots. Here I have noticed some strange effects and I do remove my filters when I shoot at night. I personally like both B+W and Heliopan and use both brands on my "pro" lenses. I also have some less expensive brands (Sigma, Nikon, Tiffen), but all are multi-coated.

You might find this article interesting:

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2011...th-bad-filters

[lukaswerth]

For what it's worth, I resolved not to use filters, as I like backlit subjects, and good, expensive filters are, well, expensive.
It is true, sometimes a lens' front element gets dirty. I particularly hate the experience when I want to remove a lens cap which I had already removed: beautiful fingerprints! There is also the issue of protecting the front element from physical impact, but I never got this kind of damage in decades of photography.
The thing is: if I would equip each of my lenses with a filter (except the one which doesn't accept one anyway), I'd spend hundreds of (in my case) €. For this money, I could eventually replace a front element if this should turn out necessary once.
For the time being, I take care of my lenses, clean them as little as possible, and if I have to, then with as little physical impact and as careful as possible, removing any dust with a blower and brush before coming near to it with a cleaning tissue.

Lukas

[rpcrowe]

Sometimes I use a filter and sometimes I don't. It depends on the lens I am using as well as the conditions in whichI am using the lens.

I am most likely to use a protective filter when I am using a lens with a large front element and a correspondingly shallow lens hood. I will frequently use the protective filter with my 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens and infrequently use it with my 70-200mm f/4L IS lens.

However, I always use a lens hood which in many cases will provide physical protection as well as flare protection...

[just me]

Very strange. I have not noticed any difference when using filters with the exception of night-time shots. Here I have noticed some strange effects and I do remove my filters when I shoot at night. I personally like both B+W and Heliopan and use both brands on my "pro" lenses. I also have some less expensive brands (Sigma, Nikon, Tiffen), but all are multi-coated.

You might find this article interesting:

http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2011...th-bad-filters

Thank you Manfred, quite interesting article.......perhaps I was just biased regarding the filter putting on again, and thinking the photos came out less sharp as usually without filter....

On the other hand, I always use a lens hood, care for my lenses, and so far all over the years, apart from a smear recently, all my lenses never got damaged.......

So for the time being, I have made up my mind to keep the filters off, but keep them in my bag when out shooting, and put them on when very windy / dusty or on the beach etc.......

Griddi...

[just me]

For what it's worth, I resolved not to use filters, as I like backlit subjects, and good, expensive filters are, well, expensive.
It is true, sometimes a lens' front element gets dirty. I particularly hate the experience when I want to remove a lens cap which I had already removed: beautiful fingerprints! There is also the issue of protecting the front element from physical impact, but I never got this kind of damage in decades of photography.
The thing is: if I would equip each of my lenses with a filter (except the one which doesn't accept one anyway), I'd spend hundreds of (in my case) €. For this money, I could eventually replace a front element if this should turn out necessary once.
For the time being, I take care of my lenses, clean them as little as possible, and if I have to, then with as little physical impact and as careful as possible, removing any dust with a blower and brush before coming near to it with a cleaning tissue.

Lukas

Ditto.........

Griddi.......

[just me]

Sometimes I use a filter and sometimes I don't. It depends on the lens I am using as well as the conditions in whichI am using the lens.

I am most likely to use a protective filter when I am using a lens with a large front element and a correspondingly shallow lens hood. I will frequently use the protective filter with my 17-55mm f/2.8 IS lens and infrequently use it with my 70-200mm f/4L IS lens.

However, I always use a lens hood which in many cases will provide physical protection as well as flare protection...

Richard........I think I will perhaps put a filter on my 55-200mm lens, as I use this lens mainly when visiting the zoo, and it will be there sometimes more dusty, but I also have all the time and on every lens a lens hood anyway.......

Griddi.....

[Glenn NK]

My approach to these type of matters isn't "does in degrade the image"; yes it does.

But more importantly, is the degradation significant.

Remember, the light is going through ten or even more pieces of optical glass in the lens - I find it hard to believe that a a high quality UV filter will make a significant difference.

No one seems to have this conversation when using an extender (which has more pieces of glass than a filter).

I think we worry too much about meaningless things.

Glenn

[jcuknz]

I am glad Griddi that you have a lens hood for each of your lenses and keep them on... I was quite shocked to find a Nikon bridge camera had no provision to mount either filters or lens hood. In due course I organised an adapter to hold a screw-in filter but never got around to organizing a hood ... but I frequently hid the sun behind something or shielded the lens from the sun with my hand, usually quite easy to do with an digital camera which really only needs the right hand to work the trigger.

The only time I take my hood off is when I am using the on-board flash as the hood is likely to cause a shadow if I do not.

IMO most hoods these days of the petal type are pretty useless in protecting the lens from light sources but mine never come off even when away in each camera's case, in fact I modified one case with a supermarket pottle to give room for the hood, and with reasonable care my lenses rarely get much dirt on them, certainly not finger smudges, and rarely get cleaned ... but I was brought up in the days when lens had quite soft coatings and the advice was "more lens get spoilt by cleaning than a LITTLE bit of dirt". A concept reinforced when I saw the article where a guy took a hammer to his lens and gradually destroyed it and only towards the very end was there any noticeable effect on the results

I am also quite certain that being aware of your surroundings, such as when shooting waves breaking over the promenade, and hiding the camera lens as the spray comes over you etc, is a good habit to cultivate.

[William W]

What are your thoughts please ?

I have lots of thoughts here are some of them:

Protection

> Always buy good quality ‘protection’

> Plonk good quality 'protection' on each lens and leave it there until the situation requires that it be removed

> Know when are the times that protection needs to be removed - as a general guide take protection off when the need for protection is low and you are: shooting at night time; shooting into bright light generally; shooting into small bright lights

> Never think less of any Photographer who shoots without Protection - that's their prerogative to choose how they conduct their affairs, even if they are wrong

> Understand that that not using a REAR LENS CAP on idle Lenses is about ten gazillion times worse than not using protection on the front of your lens – so if your neighbour doesn’t use protection then really have a silent chuckle if they don’t use rear caps, that is unless he is a well known, prize winning (retired) but still quite famous Sports Photographer, whose (infamous) duffel bag contained three L Series Zooms sans all caps & filters and a few bananas and opened coke cans with residual fluid. No, I will not name him he is still a friend and I like it that way.


Others

> Never ever stack filters unless it is absolutely necessary

> Be mindful of the aluminium threads (that’s aluminum in USA speak) if you are using protection for or near salt water – those filters have a nasty habit of welding themselves tight

> Make a filter wrench and carry it in your kit – if you are not a DIY person then buy one – if you use filters then you’ll need a filter wrench eventually and always you’ll need one when you either don’t know what one is and you’ll have to get to a computer and ask a forum question “My Filter is stuck how to I get it off?”, or you will know what it is and you won’t have yours with you

> Don’t be up-sold because the salesman says you ‘need it’, understand that for digital cameras and for MOSTLY ALL GENERAL photography one or maybe two specialty filters will provide all that you need for your whole photography lifetime

> Buy smart, use step-up rings for the really expensive and/or specialty filters


Other stuff

> Always use a lens hood unless it is positively impossible so to do

> Know which way the lens hood faces when the lens is being used and when the lens is being stored (hint: the answers are different)

> Giggle silently, but relentlessly, at those Photographers who think it is ‘cool’ to use the Lens Hood in its reversed position, when shooting inside a building or at night-time (if you have read this far then you will know the answer to the question above)

WW

[Manfred M]

Nice summary in thread # 12 Bill. Let me add a couple of "clarifications" that you may or may not agree with.

1. Step up rings tend to be made of aluminum and all those nasty comments about aluminum filter fittings apply to them as well. Because they are relatively thin, it can be quite difficult to separate a filter from the filter ring. Filter wrenches are likely the best solution...

2. Most modern lenses use lens caps with a petal design. These are designed so as to minimize vignetting at the shortest focal length that the lens is designed for. This tradeoff means that they are less effective than we might want and additional shielding (for instance, using your hand or something else to block stray light) may be warranted at longer focal lengths.

Lens hoods are also useful in keeping rain off your front element.

3. Lens hoods are a real pain when using polarizing filters. There are some solutions out there that let the photographer adjust them through a slit, but these also introduce another light path for stray light to hit your lens. I believe there are some designs that have a sliding cover. Unless these are an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) design for your lens, they could introduce vignetting or reduced efficiency in blocking stray light.

[Donald]

First thing I do when I buy a new lens is fit a good quality filter on the front. It then never comes off. No-one has complained about poorer quality prints.

[Thlayle]

I have always used a UV filter on my camera.

Does it noticeably affect performance? Mostly no, but I do believe it is generating lens flare under some conditions.

Time for me to look for a better quality filter. For my purposes, the protective benefit outweighs the small difference in quality. So I will first try out some shooting without a filter and then add a better quality filter back in and test the differences.

Thanks to Griddi for the OP and to everyone else for your comments. This has got me thinking about that added little piece of glass I have always had attached to the front of my lens.

[William W]

. . . Let me add a couple of "clarifications" that you may or may not agree with. . .

Agree with all >>>

. . . .1. Step up rings tend to be made of aluminum . . .

Totally agree. Another pain in the butt.

2. Most modern lenses use lens caps with a petal design. These are designed so as to minimize vignetting at the shortest focal length that the lens is designed for. . .

I think that you mean Lens Hoods?
Yes, 'Petal Design' are more of a pain than Aluminium Step Up Rings.
My solution is not to buy Zoom Lenses. Just use Primes. Using Prime Lenses is better, anyway. (we should discuss that next week)

Lens hoods are also useful in keeping rain off your front element. . .

Elegant. Very good use indeed.
But I have protection on my front element so the Lens Hood is good for keeping the rain off that (and especially the Aluminium of the protection that I use).

3. Lens hoods are a real pain when using polarizing filters.

Indeed.
This one really drives me nuts.
Need to get RPCrowe on this issue - I think it is he who has the picture of the slitted hood.

WW

[DanK]

hich I did........but I cannot help me to wonder if a filter on the lens is not degrading a bit the photo qualitative, as I had the impression, after using the filter on the lens again....so now the filter is off again.......

>snip

I agree with what some of the others wrote: the degradation of the image from using a good filter is negligible under most conditions. After all, you don't see people arguing that you should never buy IS/VC lenses because they have more elements than lenses without IS/VC.

Some years ago, when I read yet another iteration of the Great Filter Wars on another photo site, I did a simple test. I set up my camera on a tripod and took identical photos with and without a Hoya multicoated UV filter. I couldn't tell the difference.

I leave a protective filter on most of the time. I take it off under two conditions: under controlled conditions, when nothing is going to touch the lens (e.g., indoor tripod mounted macro work) and when lights are likely to be in front of the camera (e.g., night photography). The latter I do because even a good filter can cause an increase in flare if you have a point source in front of you.

Re what filters to buy: there is no particular reason to buy UV filters, given that the UV filtration is irrelevant with most digital cameras. (I don't know if this is true of some that have no filter in front of the sensor.) Therefore, I have started saving money by buying high-quality multicoated protective filters rather than UV filters.

I agree about the aluminum threads, but only a few expensive brands use brass, if I recall correctly, so I am just careful with them.

[Krawuntzel]

Could I suggest that you use punctuation, please? In a short post like yours, it isn't a big deal, but longer ones are a pain to read without punctuation.

I would like to suggest, that (correct) punctuation is not the essence of this forum. We (at least me) are not in an English Grammar School and we are not all in mother/native tongue.

As to the question of the original poster: I use expensive, multiple-coated, protective filters on all my lenses and additionally a lens hood, if feasible.

Erwin

[DanK]

I would like to suggest, that (correct) punctuation is not the essence of this forum. We (at least me) are not in an English Grammar School and we are not all in mother/native tongue.

I agree, and I was not trying to offend. Sorry if I did. I will edit the post to remove this. It is the case, however, that we have had some longer posts written that way that were hard to read.