lens filters?

When I did a bit of research on this recently, the concensus seemed to be that there's not much point using a UV filter but that a circular polarising filter was a useful too, especially if you take landscape shots - it helps bring out more vivid colours and adds contrast.

I paid around £13 for one from one of the big camera places on Amazon marketplace.
 
It's always good practice to keep a clear / UV filter affixed to the front of any lens from day one - this is because it offers valuable protection to the front element of the lens (ie replacing a broken filter is much cheaper than replacing a broken front element).
 
I disagree with fitting a UV filter for the sake of it. They degrade picture quality and serve no real purpose on a DSLR. A lot put them on for protection but I see no need unless you are shooting in a sand storm. Just use a lens hood for protection (in 4 years I've never scratched a front lens element, with out without a lens hood, which takes some doing anyway!!). At the end of the day, you are fitting cheap glass in front of expensive glass, reducing your lens quality to that of a relatively cheap UV filter.

A circular polarizing filter however is very useful under a lot of circumstances, as said above, increases saturation and produces some lovely effects which cannot be achieved by PP'ing, especially for landscape shooting. Buy a good quality one though.
 
mavron said:
I`m sure you will probably know , It`s worth buying a skylight filter anyway to protect you`re main lens`s. www.crookedimaging.co.uk
Hope this helps . Take care .Ron
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DazzGreen said:
It's always good practice to keep a clear / UV filter affixed to the front of any lens from day one - this is because it offers valuable protection to the front element of the lens (ie replacing a broken filter is much cheaper than replacing a broken front element).
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why stick a £20 filter infront of a £1000 piece of amazing optics?

use a hood for protection - it serves to improve the image not degrade it like a UV/skylight filter would do
 
odd jim said:
I disagree with fitting a UV filter for the sake of it. They degrade picture quality and serve no real purpose on a DSLR. A lot put them on for protection but I see no need unless you are shooting in a sand storm. Just use a lens hood for protection (in 4 years I've never scratched a front lens element, with out without a lens hood, which takes some doing anyway!!). At the end of the day, you are fitting cheap glass in front of expensive glass, reducing your lens quality to that of a relatively cheap UV filter.

A circular polarizing filter however is very useful under a lot of circumstances, as said above, increases saturation and produces some lovely effects which cannot be achieved by PP'ing, especially for landscape shooting. Buy a good quality one though.
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reducing your lens quality to that of a relatively cheap polarizing filter?

In 50+ years I have never scratched a front element, I always fit a UV filter and take it off if the conditions are OK. Saves scratches, fingerprints etc if the lens cap comes off.
 
i can see this thread has some mixed opinions so i will take it that it will be upto the individual to use filters or not i think that this is only fair to say? :thumbs:
 
Suvv said:
reducing your lens quality to that of a relatively cheap polarizing filter?

In 50+ years I have never scratched a front element, I always fit a UV filter and take it off if the conditions are OK. Saves scratches, fingerprints etc if the lens cap comes off.
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I only say 'relatively cheap' as on the whole, when people buy a UV filter just to protect the lens, they dont want to spend too much money (never heard of anyone spending £100 plus on good UV filter glass, though I'm sure you can), whereas people are happy to spend that little bit more on polarizers (in general) as they buy them for the optical enhancements they give, rather than just buying it to protect the lens.
 
shell said:
i can see this thread has some mixed opinions so i will take it that it will be upto the individual to use filters or not i think that this is only fair to say? :thumbs:
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Indeed! :)

I only buy filters for the effect they give!
 
All my lenses have filters on them, being reletively new to photography I thought I was doing the safe thing. I even bought a £30 clear protector for my £50 nifty fifty :lol:

I now realise that I'm so careful with my gear that it is very unlikely I will ever scratch or damage the front element of my lenses in normal use. I still use them because I don't think they degrade the images and I find it easier to clean them rather than dig into the front of the lens with a cloth.

My canon 10-22 always has a CP filter on it though simply because I like the effect :)
 
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