Protection filters on your lenses - do you really need them?

[Overread]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzOLbMPe0u8[/ame]

So there you have it folks - a clear case that, for canon at least, you really don't need a filter unless you're a builder

 

[Phranquey]

Anybody comes near my lenses with a claw hammer, they will be sh!tting pieces of it the next day!!

 

[tasman]

Yes I do all of the time.

 

[anuarD]

yes.... always attached filter~

 

[supraman215]

just because you can't break it with a claw hammer doesn't mean it won't get scratched. Maybe if a protection filter was $150 this would make sense. But since they are $20-$30 each it's cheap insurance. Lenses also have coatings that can wear off over time that a hammer wouldn't remove.

fun video though. I also noticed he's not doing it on a 70-200 f/2.8 :er:

 

[Fedaykin]

Ahaha that was quite enjoyable and painful at the same time. I would never put a $30-40 filter(that what you have to pay for a filter that won't degrade the IQ of thens noticeably) on a $100 or even $300 lens. But I would consider it on a $600 or $1,200 lens.

 

[MattxMosh]

I NEVER put a filter on for "protection".

I find that absurd.

 

[Dmitri]

lol funny stuff Overread. A shame some people replied without watching the video

 

[KmH]

just because you can't break it with a claw hammer doesn't mean it won't get scratched. Maybe if a protection filter was $150 this would make sense. But since they are $20-$30 each it's cheap insurance. Lenses also have coatings that can wear off over time that a hammer wouldn't remove.

fun video though. I also noticed he's not doing it on a 70-200 f/2.8 :er:

Insurance, hardly. I have seen 'protective' filters cause damage.

A $20 or $30 filter will undoubtedly adversly effect image quality (IQ). Of course if IQ is not a concern.....Add in loss of contrast, and additional problems with lens flare caused by the added air gap.

Scratches, nicks and dings on the front of a lens rarely show up in an image. LensRentals.com - Front Element Scratches

Filters are much thinner than the front element of lenses and are actually very easily broken. usually the broken shargds of filter glass are thrust inwards towards the lens front objective.

Further, being thrust inwards when the thin glass shattered the part of the filter that holds the edge of the filter gets bent so when you turn the filter body to remove it from the lens, all those nice sharp shards cut nice circular grooves in the front element.

But, a lens at that point is not a total loss, only the front element needs to be replaced.

Another thing to note is that front lens elements are usually just one of a group of lens elements that are right up against each other making the group quite thick.

I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. Subject to disclaimers.

 

[anuarD]

lol funny stuff Overread. A shame some people replied without watching the video

:lmao:

 

[ifi]

Very interesting video. I may not try that at home

 

[NateS]

I do use a S-HMC Hoya UV on the front of my macro...but there's a couple reasons why....

1. The lens is so sharp that even if there is a slight degradation in quality (though I don't think there is) it doesn't seem to be noticable.

2. When approaching a subject so close with my eye in the viewfinder, it would be easy to smack the front element on a branch. I haven't done it yet, but have come close.


Of course all this will be moot point once I get a Canon 500d as it will replace the Hoya S-HMC on the front of my lens.

 

[Dmitri]

As always, there is no real degradation when using a decent filter. Anyone who says otherwise is full of *ahem*. I say, test yourself. Take a shot without, and one with. Nada.

 

[D-B-J]

this piece of glass is like two inches in diameter, much different from a few inch in diameter peice of pro glasss. Lets see that beaten up.