posted Wednesday, 24 December 2008, 11:20 (+0800), by Martin
There are two schools of thought on having a UV filter on the front of your lens.
Some people saying it's definitely worthwhile, as it'll protect the lens, while
other people claim it's a waste of time, that the UV filter just serves
to provide a false sense of security, and will degrade the quality of your images.
I have always had a UV filter on each of my lenses, to provide some protection to the front lens element from scratches, fingerprints, and other damage.
Earlier this week, the camera bag containing my Canon 350D and 17-85mm IS lens was dropped. I didn't think much of it at the time, and it was only later that I noticed the damage. The UV filter on the front of the lens had completely shattered.
However, after carefully unscrewing the broken UV filter, and using a blower to remove the tiny shards of glass on the front of the lens, an inspection of the lens' front element indicated no damage to the glass element, or to the filter thread on the front of the lens.
The UV filter had protected the lens from any damage. In addition to protecting the glass front element of the lens, the filter also provided protection of the filter thread on the front of the lens. If the glass element had been scratched, it would result in artifacts in any photos taken with that lens, and if the lens' filter thread had been damaged, I wouldn't be able to mount any filters to the front of the lens (ie, circular polarising filter, Cokin Z-Pro ND Grads, etc).
It's much cheaper to replace a UV filter, than it is to replace the front element on a lens! I certainly intend to keep a UV filter on the front of each of my lenses after this incident.
I have always had a UV filter on each of my lenses, to provide some protection to the front lens element from scratches, fingerprints, and other damage.
58mm Hoya UV filter on Canon 100mm f/2.8 macro lens
Earlier this week, the camera bag containing my Canon 350D and 17-85mm IS lens was dropped. I didn't think much of it at the time, and it was only later that I noticed the damage. The UV filter on the front of the lens had completely shattered.
However, after carefully unscrewing the broken UV filter, and using a blower to remove the tiny shards of glass on the front of the lens, an inspection of the lens' front element indicated no damage to the glass element, or to the filter thread on the front of the lens.
The UV filter had protected the lens from any damage. In addition to protecting the glass front element of the lens, the filter also provided protection of the filter thread on the front of the lens. If the glass element had been scratched, it would result in artifacts in any photos taken with that lens, and if the lens' filter thread had been damaged, I wouldn't be able to mount any filters to the front of the lens (ie, circular polarising filter, Cokin Z-Pro ND Grads, etc).
It's much cheaper to replace a UV filter, than it is to replace the front element on a lens! I certainly intend to keep a UV filter on the front of each of my lenses after this incident.
It's amazing how sometimes something so simple (and cheap) can have such a huge benefit, think of how many UV filters you can by with the money you saved by not having to replace that lens :)