Skylight or UV filter? Which do you use?

teddyt72

teddyt72

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Eddie
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Hi,

Which of the above do people tend to use as a "protective" filter which they keep on the lens all the time? Being a newbie I'm not certain what the difference is... other than UV also blocks UV light but I'm not sure what the benefit/ draw back would be against using a skylight...
 
Any decent modern lens has multiple coatings on the element surfaces to reduce flare and increase the ability of the lens to transmit light. One of the coatings will certainly be for UV, so you don't actually need a UV filter at all. People do tend to fit them though to prevent the front lens element getting dirty or damaged, and it will serve no other real purpose. Just remember a real cheapo bit of glass in front of an expensive lens is bound to have an effect on image quality. I never use protective filters, but if I was out in wet or dusty conditions a lot I probably would. I always use a lens hood though which is all the protection I find I need.

A skylight filter is to reduce the blue cast you get in the shadows on sunny overcast days - very noticeable on skin tones - you've probably seen this on colour snap shots with film where skin looks a bit blue? It's very debatable if you need one with digital and RAW processing anyway.

Short answer- of the two use the UV filter as it will do nothing to your shots and protect the lens. :)
 
UV filters for me, good quality ones though, as CT mentions above. I can't see any point in putting a cheap filter on a quality lens
 
When you say quality - do you class, say Hoya HMC as quality? Or would you fork out the extra 7 quid for a genuine Canon one (it's for a canon prime lens!)
 
Skylight filters have a slight pinky colour cast, I have this on my 50mm lens as its great for portraits. If your camera is on auto white balance it wont make any difference.
A UV is a better all round protector.
 
Grendel said:
UV filters for me, good quality ones though, as CT mentions above. I can't see any point in putting a cheap filter on a quality lens
Click to expand...

Same. I use B&W F-Pro UV filters. Good quality, and not too expensive if you get them from Hong Kong.:)
 
Got a Hoya Pro1 UV DMC on my Sigma 17-70 atm, primarily for protection. Put it on about 3 seconds after taking the lens out of the box :)
 
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