UV vs UV(0)

Valethar · Dec 30, 2009

Greetings,

Is there any difference between a filter marked UV and one marked UV (0)?

There seems to be a small amount of overlap with certain terminology, so I'm trying to determine if they're the same animal, or two different beasts.

Thanks!

Pgeobc · Dec 31, 2009

There are filters with different amounts of UV filtering, hence UV(0), UV(1), etc. I doubt that when a cheap filter is marked simply as "UV," that it is more effective than a true UV(1); it may be less.

Having written that, I am reminded that each manufacturer seems to have his own standards for filters, unless the filter is labeled as "Wratten." Kodak has established strict standards for the Wratten series filters. The same can be said for Color Compensating (CC) filters; true CC filters are invariably well-made.

Buy a really good filter from a really good manufacturer. One recent test seemed to indicate that Hoya HMC was, by a small margin, a little better than some more expensive brands. However, B+W, Heliopan, Zeiss, Hoya, and some others all make good filters.

Valethar · Dec 31, 2009

So if you had ordered several UV(0) filters, and most of them arrived marked simply UV, would you bother taking that up with the shop, or is there no real difference in terms of cost?

They ran less than $10 each, and were meant to keep the front element of the lenses protected from minor mishaps, etc. If there isn't a big cost difference overall on the lot, it's probably not worth smacking them over the head with it. (IE: 2 or 3 bucks vs 5 or 10 on half a dozen filters...)

Thanks!

Gaerek · Dec 31, 2009

Valethar said:
They ran less than $10 each, and were meant to keep the front element of the lenses protected from minor mishaps, etc. If there isn't a big cost difference overall on the lot, it's probably not worth smacking them over the head with it. (IE: 2 or 3 bucks vs 5 or 10 on half a dozen filters...)

Thanks!

Just something to think about here: Your lens is a highly engineered piece of equipment. The glass, and lens elements are designed to work with each other, and aren't designed with having more glass in front of it. UV filters, at best, won't add anything noticeable to your shot, but at worst can introduce flare, vignetting or other harmful artifacts into your shot. A lot of the cheap filters (like the ones you seem to be mentioning) aren't even glass at all.

My opinion is it's better to just keep the lens cap on when you're not shooting if you want to protect the front element. If you insist on using a UV filter to 'protect' your lens, you should probably buy a higher quality filter.

In the end, it's all up to you. But this is my opinion. I've been shooting for over 10 years now, and I have never once scratched or damaged the front element of my lens, and I've almost never used a UV filter.