UV protector

[flyin-lowe]

My camera kit came with 2 Tiffen brand UV protector/filters. I am sure they are the cheapies coming with the kit. Should I use these or not. I am sure it would be more for protection then anything. I am planning on getting lens hoods for my two lenses and figure they will do me more good then these. What do you think?

 

[KmH]

Lens hoods are good. They provide lens protection, improve the contrast of your images, and reduce problems with lens flare.

UV filters when they shatter become shards that can gouge your lens objective. The extra air gap promotes lens flare, they don't add to image contrast and if you prang the filter threading ring with a UV attached it can make removing the UV filter from your lens very difficult.

UV filters are promoted by camera sellers because they are a high profit item, just like fast food places push their french fires and soda pop because they are high profit items.

UV filters don't protect all that much and fries and soda pop aren't good for your health.

 

[kundalini]

Your best bet is to try them out in different lighting conditions. Harsh sunlight is probably the best test for loosing image quality, introducing flare, ghosting, etc.

I rarely use UV filters. I don't even own a UV filter for my 77mm filter size lenses. But I always have the proper hood attached. It's a debatable issue.... half the room uses them, half of them don't and the other half don't know what we're talking about.

 

[SrBiscuit]

im so scared of bumping my glass on the corner of a table or something i use them out of fear.

 

[lockwood81]

UV filters don't protect all that much and fries and soda pop aren't good for your health.

:thumbup:

A lens hood is the way to go. (but thats just me)

 

[patrickt]

I use those lovely devices called lens caps. With digital I never use UV filters. Actually, the only filter I use is a polarizing filter occasionally on my wide-angle lens.

 

[dcclark]

I just spent a couple of weeks playing around with a lens hood instead of a UV filter -- basically so that I could speak with somewhat more authority about their relative merits. I found the hood to be extremely annoying, got in the way, and eventually got lost (I'm hard on my equipment, it was sacrificed to the gods of a 150 year old mine).

On the other hand, UV filters stay put. Yes, a shattered filter can scratch your objective element, but anything that shatters a filter would CERTAINLY scratch your objective element. Flare can be a problem with cheaper ones, but with decent multicoating, I haven't noticed any problems.

As always, experiment and try for yourself. You know your style better than us, and you also know more about how much you care about safety vs. flare vs. all the other problems people have mentioned. My personal, informed, choice is to use UV filters.

 

[Sherman Banks]

I use those lovely devices called lens caps. With digital I never use UV filters. Actually, the only filter I use is a polarizing filter occasionally on my wide-angle lens.

You shoot with a lens cap on? Probably have some underexposure issues huh? J/K. I'm sure you're probably referring to using the caps when not using the camera.

Anyways, I have a UV filter on two of my lenses but they are unnecessary. They don't add anything to the quality of the shot (take away in most cases with low end filters), and you can get better protection from a lens hood which can protect from flare rather than increase it.

 

[bigtwinky]

I'm in the group that uses the filters. But I don't use the cheapy filters that often come with kits. I also don't use the high filters. Maybe if I had high end glass, I'd use high end filters.

I usually stick with a decent multi coated Hoya filter

 

[ANDS!]

A lens hood will provide "contrast" assistance only in the fact that you don't have a ton of light flopping all around your lens. Otherwise, a photograph with and without a lenshood in optimal lighting makes no difference.

I will agree, it does provide a kick ass bit of protection. I have banged and elbowed my lens hood more times than not, and I would much rather it hit the lens hood than the lens.

As for UV filters - theres no reason to not use them. I'd rather the filter crack then the lens should something get close enough to do so. Can a cracked filter scratch your lens element - sure, but the chances of it being a DEEP enough scratch/cut to actually affect anything is minuscule.

 

[Mike1.6]

I will add my vote to the no filter crowd, provided that you are using a hood. Especially in your case where the filters seem rather inexpensive. In that case, the filter can actually degrade the quality of the image.

 

[Sherman Banks]

In that case, the filter can actually degrade the quality of the image.

True, but we're not talking about L glass here either so the degradation would be very minimal. What I would do is take the filters, put them on a white piece of paper and if you see a lot of tint or coloration, consider not using them. If the change is minimal, throw them on and use that as extra protection for the lens. Some cheaper filters have a pinkish grey color to them that is very hard to detect on most consumer grade glass so don't be too swayed by the image degradation issue on your lenses.

 

[musicaleCA]

Okay, by cheap (I'm not up on the world of filters...yet...), what do you guys mean? I know cheap filters won't be multi-coated, but is "cheap" the $10-50 CDN price range, or the $50-100 CDN price range? I've got Kenko "Pro1" UV filters on my lenses (yes, they're multicoated; I haven't had any problems with flaring, expect when shooting into the sun), along with lens hoods (I honestly see no reason not to use a lens hood; it will only help and at worst do nothing at all).

One benefit of a UV filter is that at the very least, on SLRs, it keeps UV rays out of your eyes. Not as good as sunglasses (polarizers), but still, I'm a fan of keeping my eyesight intact.

 

[LarryD]

Put a filter on your lens... Tiffen makes good filters and have for decades.......... keep it there unless the shot calls for it to be removed such as some direct sunlight shots....

replacing a scratched or broken filter is much cheaper than replacing a scratched or broken lens front element.. If your filter glass is clean, you cannot likely measure any degradation in the quality of the photo...

 

[dcclark]

I think that very cheap UV filters run in the $20 range. I've seen them up to $100 or so. Look for Hoya or Tiffen especially, they tend to be good -- any kind of multicoated filter from these guys will be decent.