For those of you who know about filters.

[Helen B]

I was under the impression that the Leica M8 (what Iron Flatline is referring to) does have a bandpass filter, but it doesn't have the same degree of attenuation of wavelengths beyond the visible as those on other cameras. The straight images from an M8 do not look like those taken with a camera that has no bandpass filter at all.

Best,
Helen

 

[dipstick]

Garbz: I see the point of UV being more available, and extra UV filtration would never hurt as long as the filter is high quality, but I've also seen some pretty bad filters that both softens and tints the image. I only have Nikons NC filters, but they don't stay on my lenses all the time.

Payt: I only put filters on when I know my lens will be exposed to debris of some sort. I see the point of always protecting the lens, but after 10 years in photography, I still haven't scratched a lens or a filter sitting on one.

I just don't like the idea of putting extra glass in front of my lenses unless I have a reason to. Maybe I'm just weird that way.

 

[usayit]

You are right Helen.

Us Leica M8 users like to say that the "lack" of a stronger filter actually "adds" to the final quality of the image.

 

[Garbz]

In reality each filter needs to be tailored to the lens. The Nikon D80 I wouldn't say has horrible image quality compared to the D200 (especially on a bright day at ISO100 they are very very similar), but the D80's filter lets through about 5 stops more IR light around the 800nm wavelength. Probably similar to the Leica case. It's not like they take bad photos.

dipstick: Yeah you are 100% right. Availability is the only key to the UV. It's the most produced filter by far and thus you do get a bit of bang for your buck, not saying you shouldn't spend the extra bucks. I am sure there are reasonably crap quality NC filters floating around as well.