Are filters necessary ?

[pgriz]

Excellent advice from Buckster.

I've used UV filters for years when I shot film/slide. Carried that habit over when I went to digital. Found out that with my new super-sharp lenses and high resolutions, I was getting visible artifacts with filters, expecially if shooting into a light source. Even without that, I was able to pixel-peep and see that the filters degraded the image. So broke the long 30-year habit and stopped using protective UV filters. Like Buckster, I don't baby my equipment, but I have yet to have any kind of damage on the lens. So if image quality is important to you, get rid of all the obstructions in the optical path that you can, and use filters only when they add to the image. In my case, there are three filters: circular polarizing, graduated neutral density and 8-stop neutral density.

 

[Tuffythepug]

I seem to be alone in my beliefs about the protective / non harmful properties of uv filters. Just because I have been using them for 40 years doesn't mean I can't still learn a thing or two. I will defer to those who seem to know better. I'll take off my uv filters for awhile. I'd hate to be getting less than optimum performance from my lenses because of an old habit.