Anyone here do not use a protective filter on their zeiss lens?

I put a b and w filter on a lens the moment I receive it. I hate wiping the front element. Over the years it may lead to some damage
Nik
 
Maybe it is just my preference not to put a filter on lenses, but I do not use any filters.
In the past, I read many times that using poor quality filters with high quality optics does not make much sense.
 
People who use long lenses on DSLRs encounter image degradation when using filters. The Canon 100-400 seems particularly prone. With that lens for me it was a case of "what on earth is wrong with my pictures?" and tracking it down to the filter. Others, of course, have reported no ill effects. I have never seen it with short rangefinder lenses, but never really looked.

I used to attach a UV filter when I wanted to filter UV, but that seems unnecessary these days.

Front elements are pretty tough these days. I find it hard to imagine a physical blow hard enough to damage a lens that would not go straight through a filter and add glass shards to the potential attack on the front element.

Salt and sand are compelling reasons to use a filter. Except for those and for visual effects, I'm with Bob Michaels with needing compelling reasons and finding none.
 
Double Negative said:
I've seen that review quoted a lot since it came out. I wasn't convinced then, and I'm still not convinced about the results from the Heliopans. I've used them for about a dozen years now and in my experience - they're just like B+Ws. Even today, between UV/IR filters - same performance. :confused:
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Sure, under normal conditions there's no difference for practical photography. But spectral transmission curves are relatively easy to obtain (much easier than resolution data), and they don't lie.

I've used Heliopan, too. But why pay premium prices for merely very good filters? Heliopans are not bad filters. They are just not a great value.
 
The very first thing I did when I got my two ZM lenses was to slap BW UV filters on them and that will happen to the 85 mm tele tessar as well (if I ever find a shop which has got it in stock).
 
semilog said:
Heliopan are a relatively poor value [link].

I do keep a Hoya or B+W on most of my lenses, most of the time. I'd be pretty unhappy if a piece of grit got on the microfiber cloth or the lenspen and trashed the front element on a nice lens. And it rains a lot here so I wipe the front elements a lot. If you're using good UV filters they'll almost never have any detectable effect on what the film or sensor see, anyway — as Ctein's tests and the tests run by Lenstip (linked above) show.
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Hi Semi;

I've never noticed a difference with a quality filter..

But a question: I was always led to believe that Hoya was the OEM for Nikon's filters. I think Hoyas come in a couple of quality grades. And - I'm not sure - but isn't Hoya the parent Co. for Pentax as of a couple of years ago. I think they are the largest (camera) optical glass foundry in Japan?

I remember hearing the Hoya story from a couple of camera store owners - separate sources.
 
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I don't use one on my C-Sonnar. I like the rendering of the lens so much I don't want to degrade the image at all, even with a little UV filter. In addition I like using it in low light and I like to keep from getting the ghosting that can happen with a filter. I learned this nighttime shooting lesson with my Noct.

When I do use filters it's a Heliopan or a B+W.
 
Used to use filters all the time. Now: only when in an inclement environment (or when using the M8). I have experienced flare and loss of contrast from using UV filters. Around the time I started using both a Leica and LF cameras, I stopped using filters religiously. I was happier with the results and so "no-filter" has been my default practice for the last 20 years or so.

Ben Marks
 
One of the best features of Zeiss lenses is their flare resistance, and therefore, unless I need to use a colour filter to darken the skies, I avoid filters, because I often place naked sun in the frame. With a filter, you get sometimes internal reflections. In general, I always use lens hoods, and I only use filters for colour correction.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59177039@N00/4237008715/sizes/l/in/photostream/
 
Double Negative said:
LOL! Seriously. Zeiss really dropped the ball on those caps.
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Better to have dropped a brick on them... Or a 3-ton Monty Python style weight.

But as I said earlier, Hood Hats are the answer. The bigger pinch-caps (e.g. on the 38/4.5) are nothing like as bad as the smaller ones.

Cheers,

R.
 
No never. I use filters when I need to but never for protection. It's a scam started by retailers to boost profits. Ask yourself how many times has your filter actually protected your lens. In 40 years of photgraphy, I've never had a lens damaged by anything that a filter would have prevented.
 
monopix said:
No never. I use filters when I need to but never for protection. It's a scam started by retailers to boost profits. Ask yourself how many times has your filter actually protected your lens. In 40 years of photgraphy, I've never had a lens damaged by anything that a filter would have prevented.
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I have. A 35/2.8 PC-Nikkor we'd had for 3 months. When you see that big, star-shaped crack in the glass, you're REALLY glad it was a filter. Of course there was no shade on the PC-Nikkor. The other time was on a 200/3 Vivitar Series 1 with a retractable hood. With fixed hoods, I'm not so worried, but without...

Cheers,

R.
 
Roger Hicks said:
I have. A 35/2.8 PC-Nikkor we'd had for 3 months. When you see that big, star-shaped crack in the glass, you're REALLY glad it was a filter. Of course there was no shade on the PC-Nikkor. The other time was on a 200/3 Vivitar Series 1 with a retractable hood. With fixed hoods, I'm not so worried, but without...

Cheers,

R.
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But I don't mollycoddle my gear by any means. It's there to be used and I have had accidents that have written off lenses. But a filter would never have helped.


So who the **** is 'Doug' and why have you edited my post? There was nothing offensive in it. And it was completely pointless editing it and then including the removed text in the reason for editing. Twat!
 
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Even the B+W mrc will cause the flare like this, this is my ZM50 planar with B+W MRC, and with some horrible flare.

5808188945_bcd3f6d35f.jpg

5808200761_6fbbe6f1d6.jpg


I normally won't use any filters, but sometime if you want to shoot with a yellow filter or something like that, you won't have a choice isn't it?
 
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Regarding a dangerous environment. A while back I was shooting with a Leica 90mm f/2.0 apo asph. I then placed the camera and strap over my shoulder and had the camera sitting behind me. The long and short is that I backed into the birthday cake and completely buried the lens in the cake. I was happy that I had the lens cap, but the hood area was really hard to clean. B+W on all my lenses, including Zeiss.
 
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