Filters/Protecting lenses in general

I am going to order a Canon Eos 10D and a lens and i am curious about whether or not i should purchase some kind of clear filter that protects

the front of the lens ? Is it worth it ? Does it compromise the optical quality ?
I have a small APO refactor that i use that has very high quality optics
and when i spoke with the manufacturer they said its better to avoid
putting anything in front of the lens. Having said that a small telescope is
not going to get the same abuse that a camera/lens will i will use very
frequently.

Any advice much appreciated.

Cheers
David.

deleted23 said:

the front of the lens ? Is it worth it ? Does it compromise the
optical quality ?

Click to expand...

Well, ultimately it's going to have to compromise the optical quality. It's another piece of glass, and two glass-to-air surfaces. On the other hand, if you're worried about a UV filter hurting your image quality, hopefully that implies that you're only using the best lenses ... because of course a poor lens is going to have a lot more impact on photo quality than anything else ( except your technique! ). If you're using good lenses, they're so much better than your 10D that even when they're hurt by a UV filter ( or a teleconverter for that matter ) they'll still outresolve your CMOS chip.

On the other hand, if you're going to venture out into the real world ( ie not just shoot pets in the living room ), at some point you're going to want to use your camera and lens either at the beach, around some sand, in heavy winds, or some kind of situation where it could get scratched, or corroded. I can't imagine not keeping filters on any of my lenses, after what I paid for them, and the respect they've earned looking at their photos.

Two good filters ( if you scratch one and have to replace it ) will cost about as much as the most basic lens repair, but you won't have to wait for the lens to ship to Canon, get fixed, and then come back to you in the mail. You can go buy another filter, and still use your lens.

Using lens hoods will help protect the lens, somewhat, and being very dilligent with the lens cap will help, too. But salt spray, blowing sand, or anything like that is just a bad idea without a UV filter.

Please try a search for UV filters or filters. There have been hundreds of questions on this. I like using a high quality UV and the hoods for the lens myself. Other's say different things.

I am a newspaper photographer and have been one for about 30 years. I have a filter on every lens I own, except my fisheye, which won't take one. If you do not have a filter on a lens it is just a matter of time until the front surface of the lens is damaged. I am using Leica lenses I've had since the 60s. The glass surfaces are perfect. Sometimes in really critical situations I might remove the filter, but that is rare.

Lots of engineer types sitting in cubicals have great arguments for not using filters. My position is based on practical experience.

Zidar
Alaska
--
It's not about stuff.
http://www.pbase.com/zidar

zidar said:

I am a newspaper photographer and have been one for about 30 years.
I have a filter on every lens I own, except my fisheye, which won't
take one. If you do not have a filter on a lens it is just a matter
of time until the front surface of the lens is damaged. I am using
Leica lenses I've had since the 60s. The glass surfaces are
perfect. Sometimes in really critical situations I might remove the
filter, but that is rare.

Lots of engineer types sitting in cubicals have great arguments for
not using filters. My position is based on practical experience.

Zidar
Alaska
--
It's not about stuff.
http://www.pbase.com/zidar

Click to expand...

--
Troponin (Trop)

Think about it this way. A good lense could cost you $500.00 and up. A multi-coated decent filter cost $20.00. Which one would you rather scratch? Buy a UV filter and leave it on the lense for protection. It is when you least expect it that you would damage your lense. I know this first hand!

David McHarg said:

I am going to order a Canon Eos 10D and a lens and i am curious
about whether or not i should purchase some kind of clear filter
that protects
the front of the lens ? Is it worth it ? Does it compromise the
optical quality ?
I have a small APO refactor that i use that has very high quality
optics
and when i spoke with the manufacturer they said its better to avoid
putting anything in front of the lens. Having said that a small
telescope is
not going to get the same abuse that a camera/lens will i will use
very
frequently.

Any advice much appreciated.

Cheers
David.

Click to expand...

If the retailer sells them for $20 and filters are known to be high-margin items, what do you think manufacturer sells them for? Perhaps, 2-3 bucks a pop.

Lens elements are grinded and polished from solid blocks of special optical glass, then checked for tolerances.

I doubt a round cutout from sheet glass is even polished, let alone checked for surfaces being parallel and deviations from flat being less than 1/4 of the wavelength, for 2-3 bucks.

AFAIK, B&W claims that their filters undergo the same process as lens elements.

I bought B&W UV filter once for 70-200IS, dropped it (it's easier to drop filters than lenses), so almost $100 was spent for nothing.

Don't bother with protective filters. Just be careful with lens, that's all. You don't drop a 1-month old baby, right?

DO buy a cheap filter for those occasions when there's a lot of dirt, salt spray, or you give your camera to someone less careful.

Buddy Brande said:

David McHarg said:

I am going to order a Canon Eos 10D and a lens and i am curious
about whether or not i should purchase some kind of clear filter
that protects
the front of the lens ? Is it worth it ? Does it compromise the
optical quality ?
I have a small APO refactor that i use that has very high quality
optics
and when i spoke with the manufacturer they said its better to avoid
putting anything in front of the lens. Having said that a small
telescope is
not going to get the same abuse that a camera/lens will i will use
very
frequently.

Any advice much appreciated.

Cheers
David.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
Mishkin

David McHarg said:

not going to get the same abuse that a camera/lens will i will use
very frequently.

Click to expand...

Abuse ? How do you abuse a lens by using it ? If you are in a very dusty or wet enviornment sure put a filter on it.

Main thing is DONT CLEAN IT. Never touch a lens. The coatings are important and fragile. Blow dust off with a bulb (never your breath). EXCEPT - if you touch the lens, even slightly - you will deposit a combination of sweat and skin oil. (In time this can "etch" the lens if not removed).Breathe on it. In the fog, if you can see a mark, breathe on it again, and wipe the mark off gently with a real cotton ball (get any big drugstore) important real cotton not synthetic.

Otherwise the lens should never need to be touched.

GBear said:

Abuse ? How do you abuse a lens by using it ? If you are in a
very dusty or wet enviornment sure put a filter on it.

Main thing is DONT CLEAN IT. Never touch a lens. The coatings are
important and fragile. Blow dust off with a bulb (never your
breath). EXCEPT - if you touch the lens, even slightly - you will
deposit a combination of sweat and skin oil. (In time this can
"etch" the lens if not removed).Breathe on it. In the fog, if you
can see a mark, breathe on it again, and wipe the mark off gently
with a real cotton ball (get any big drugstore) important real
cotton not synthetic.

Otherwise the lens should never need to be touched.

Click to expand...

I agree too. Check my recently post:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=4994292

Alen

yes and no...

it's like that. Some like them, others hate them.

I have clear glass on the end of all my lenses (that can take it)...

cannot help myself... paranoid I guess... lol

David McHarg said:

I am going to order a Canon Eos 10D and a lens and i am curious
about whether or not i should purchase some kind of clear filter
that protects
the front of the lens ? Is it worth it ? Does it compromise the
optical quality ?
I have a small APO refactor that i use that has very high quality
optics
and when i spoke with the manufacturer they said its better to avoid
putting anything in front of the lens. Having said that a small
telescope is
not going to get the same abuse that a camera/lens will i will use
very
frequently.

Any advice much appreciated.

Cheers
David.

Click to expand...

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