How do you protect your front lens elment?

[IK13]

I'll use a filter only if I'm after the effect this filter provides. With color that pretty much limits the set to a polarizer, ND (and gradual).

I find it not very logical to spend bunch of money on a lens, just to put a flat piece of glass in front of it...

 

[Roger Hicks]

I have tripped and I have fallen. So far, I have managed to not get my camera equipment in between a rock and a hard place.

Dear Bill,

You have been lucky. So have I. But Frances's lens was a 35/2,8 PC-Nikkor we had had for maybe a year -- and without that filter, she would not have been lucky.

That's why I normally keep either a cap or a filter over the lens. Or at the least, a hood.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Bob Michaels]

When you live/shoot close to the ocean with expensive lenses you need a protective filter, period. 🙄

gosh, I spent six months shooting a series on the Daytona Beach Boardwalk with a Mamiya 7 using the 50mm and 80mm lenses and never used a filter. I did have to clean the salt spray off the lenses every time, but there is no impact on the lenses. I look at the prints, some made in potential high flare situations, and know I'd never use a filter in that situation.

 

[Silva Lining]

I normally have a yellow or orange filter on my rf lenses as I shoot almost exclusively in PanF and love the effect.

I have Heliopan filters for my Canon 'L' Lenses, but otherwise don't really bother. I use hoods on the lenses I have that are prone to flare (90/4 col. Elmarit being the worst culprit 🙄 ) otherwise I find they get in the way a bit.

 

[sepiareverb]

I generally use a hood, and generally have a filter on, but do work 'naked' often. Depends on the situation. When I'm going for compact, no hood. Filters for effect most often. I don't ever use a UV filter.

 

[GeneW]

I pop on a UV filter if I'm shooting in snow or rain. Otherwise just a hood.

Gene

 

[back alley]

the most effective method for protection that i have found so far?
2 very large men, walking in front of me at all times shoving people out of my way!
it also helps to get places quicker...😉

joe

 

[rogue_designer]

whoops!

I use lens hoods - but I accidentally chose "I use nothing" - I think the "i like to live dangerously" threw me off, cause that's my default mode

;P

Ok not really...

 

[bmattock]

Dear Bill,

You have been lucky. So have I. But Frances's lens was a 35/2,8 PC-Nikkor we had had for maybe a year -- and without that filter, she would not have been lucky.

That's why I normally keep either a cap or a filter over the lens. Or at the least, a hood.

Cheers,

R.

I take your point. But with a Sears 135mm f/2.8 on a five-year-old Pentax *ist DS at a Maple Syrup Festival in Michigan versus a trip to the matzevah in high mufti carrying lenses made of purest unobtainium, I've got a bit less to protect.

"Oh darn, I ruined a perfectly good $5 lens by dripping pancake syrup on it!"

Barring the lottery (my retirement plan, now that I've quit smoking), I shan't be leapin' from peak to peak in the Swiss Alps, dangling a jewel-encrusted, leather-covered, three-handled family M8 from one wrist anytime soon.

 

[David Goldfarb]

I usually use a hood. It's always beneficial to limit the image circle, even if there is no concern about stray light reflecting off the lens elements.

I only use a filter when I need a filter for photographic reasons, unless there is an obvious hazard that would call for a protective filter like sea spray, sand, or crowds.

 

[maddoc]

I just recently started mounting UV filter on all my lenses again. The hoods are permanently attached as some kind of mechanical protection. (It is amazing how many bags and handbags hit me on average in one subway ride in Tokyo or Sapporo ...)

Filters are more easy to clean after a heavy snow storm or rain shower. Additionally, the cold front element tends to adsorb a lot of smoke and moisture, when entering a restaurant or bar in winter... Unfortunately, the original Leica UV filter for the Noctilux makes the lens quite prone to flare but so would a scratched / dirty front element ....

 

[Roger Hicks]

Barring the lottery (my retirement plan, now that I've quit smoking), I shan't be leapin' from peak to peak in the Swiss Alps, dangling a jewel-encrusted, leather-covered, three-handled family M8 from one wrist anytime soon.

Dear Bill,

That is indeed a difference. I'm hoping to be in ther Pyrenees again next week, photographing my favourite abandoned village (access by 4WD or on foot only), probably with my Alpa...

Cheers,

roger

 

[minoltist7]

It depends from lens construction.
My SLR lenses have large front element (67mm, 72mm or even 82mm filter thread). It's easy to touch by fingers or foreign object by accident, so I always use UV/protective filters on them.
But on rangefinder, all my lenses are small (39mm filter) , and have small front element deeply inside the lens barrel (or metal hood). So there is no such need fro protection, as in case of SLR.

 

[Silva Lining]

Dear Bill,

That is indeed a difference. I'm hoping to be in ther Pyrenees again next week, photographing my favourite abandoned village (access by 4WD or on foot only), probably with my Alpa...

Cheers,

roger

Does this mean that you have abandoned villages that you are not so keen on? 🙂

 

[dll927]

I've posed this question before, but have never gotten an answer:

In this debate about filters, there is always somebody who claims that filters "degrade image quality". I have a Leica M4-2 and three lenses for it. All three lenses have a 39mm Leitz filter on them. Now my question:

If filters degrade image quality, why does Leitz, of all people, make filters for their lenses????? And notice, I didn't say Hoya, Tiffen, or somebody else. I said LEITZ.

 

[caffeineshutter]

Being careful..and cleaning with...

Being careful..and cleaning with...

Windex. I understand this to be effective and cheap in comparison to alternatives.

My Nikon™ lens cleaner leaves smudges/residue which I'd rather not use elbow grease to remove. I've tried Opticlean™ as well and it now resides in the former liquor cabinet where I keep stuff like that. Sort of 'purgatory' for parts/gadgets that I may never use again.

I'm all for filters; sometimes I just don't want to juggle them. Therefore the lens is on it's own.

BTW, for the first time I noticed a certain name-brand 52mm lens cap which actually HIT (and perhaps scratched/ground) the front element of a telephoto lens I'd recently purchased. Took me a little futzing for about :30 seconds, but by then the damage had been done. :bang: Oh the humanity. Maybe if I got some rubbing compound from the automotive department...


CJ


CJ

I'm curious how many people use hoods/shades vs. filters (principally UV/haze) to protect their lenses. Or do you use nothing at all 😱

 

[JOE1951]

Had a bad experience with a UV filter early on in the hobby, that made me abandon them. Dropped my first camera with a UV filter and no lenshood. The filter shattered and the glass badly scratched the front element. It was cheapo 50mm that I didn't care for, so I didn't feel too bad, just learned from it.

I've been pretty lucky since then, have dropped my Nikon FE2 three times since the mid 80's. Everytime the metal lenshoods took the blow. The built-in lenshood on 105mm was badly damaged, but a pair of pliers fixed it. My 35mm and 24mm both had the lenshoods pop off after they got a good bang, but the lens elements have never been damaged.

As far as keeping the front element clean, well its just a part of the maintance of owning gear. I think lenses are more robust than we generally give them credit for, but my early experience makes me feel UV filters are overrated than practical, unless your shooting in extreme conditions, wet weather, salt spray, high dust and sand, etc. In which case it might be wise to also keep the whole camera in a protective weatherproof case.

Oh yeah...good insurance helps!!!

I think long lenses have the advantage in that scratches and stuff on the front element rarely become apparent unless they are really bad. I had a 300mm Nikkor that had a really bad scuff on the front element, but ever noticed an affect in my photos! I've heard it is better to take a black marker and fill in the scratch on the front element on long lenses to prevent flair, than worry about its affects on sharpness. Anyone heard that before?

 

[Rob-F]

I always have a hood on the lens I'm using or carrying. I may have a filter as well. But I would not use a filter without a hood, for the reason Joe 1951 just mentioned. If it is reasonably convenient, as it is with the 28mm Summicron, I keep a cap on the front of the filter. The soft rubber hood cap for the 35mm Summilux ASPH, I simply lose in no time. The flare Bob Michaels wrote about can be solved by using a B&W filter with MRC coating.

 

[ebolton]

Sort of a related story: I bought an ebay camera awhile ago, and when the box arrived there was a 1/2" hole in it. When I opened the box, I found the hole happened to be exactly in line with the lens mounted on the camera. There was a haze filter and a lens cap on the lens that took the hit from whatever penetrated the box (it looked like it had been shot). The lenscap was potato-chipped and the filter was shattered. I was glad the seller had put it on there, because the filter wasn't mentioned in the listing and I wasn't expecting it. Once I cleaned the broken glass out of everything, I found the camera was OK except for one little nick at the extreme OD of the lens, which I think came from part of the filter. Without that filter, the front element would have been badly damaged.

 

[caffeineshutter]

An addendum to my previous post, and a telling one...

An addendum to my previous post, and a telling one...

My father has always shot with a Nikon F + 85/1.8 and a Vivitar 35ES, (40/1.7) Sometimes a GAF Memo (40mm/something, AE).

He had this hardware with him on every family outing, vacation, (Cape Cod. Every summer.) and sporting event I participated in as I grew up (baseball, swim meets, triathlons & road races).

The front elements of these cameras were never protected over the past 35+ years. The only lens cap he used was on the 35ES to keep the battery from running down. Never used a strap on any of his cameras.

The front elements on these aforementioned cameras are flawless. As a kid I'd see him periodically clean the Nikon or RF glass with the t-shirt he was wearing 😱 . At the beach amid the sand and ocean spray. He never used a camera bag either. I don't think he knows what a CLA is.

I don't understand how he did it.

I keep a Nikon UV filter on my Nikkor 85/1.8, and the Kalimar UV filter NEVER comes off the 35ES (that was one of the RFs he used all the time, mentioned above. I had used it as a kid with him and asked for it back when I got more into photography)

So the conclusion? Heck if I know.

Some people have a natural instinct in handling their cameras I guess. Not I. I ruined a Pentax P3 last week when I fell (back won't stay shut now. Fortunately the SMC-A 50/1.7 had a metal hood. 🙂 )

I've mentioned this before in other threads, but I'm curious to find an article on the methods which AP photographers used in combat zones. THAT would be an interesting read.

Windex. I understand this to be effective and cheap in comparison to alternatives.

My Nikon™ lens cleaner leaves smudges/residue which I'd rather not use elbow grease to remove. I've tried Opticlean™ as well and it now resides in the former liquor cabinet where I keep stuff like that. Sort of 'purgatory' for parts/gadgets that I may never use again.

I'm all for filters; sometimes I just don't want to juggle them. Therefore the lens is on it's own.

BTW, for the first time I noticed a certain name-brand 52mm lens cap which actually HIT (and perhaps scratched/ground) the front element of a telephoto lens I'd recently purchased. Took me a little futzing for about :30 seconds, but by then the damage had been done. :bang: Oh the humanity. Maybe if I got some rubbing compound from the automotive department...



CJ