How do you protect your front lens elment?

[john341]

I use a see-through lens cap

 

[BTMarcais]

I put hoods and filters...although the filter isn't always a given. If i'm in inclement weather conditons, rain, snow, sand storm, tornado, volcanic eruption, etc... then a filter will definitely be on my lens. Also if it's one of my older soft-coating lenses that are easily scratched ( collapsible summicron 50). But I pretty much always have a hood on, since I have been known to walk into things from time to time. And the hood is even more important with a filter, just because of the added chance of flare from the extra glass.
If i'm using a filter.... Heliopan or B+W.

 

[muser53]

Living in the SF bay area there is often an early morning mist and or fog and so I generally use a UV (multi-coated) filter and pack along the appropriate hoods for when the (bright Cal) sun finally breaks thru.

Paul

"To arrive at what is simple is a difficult process."
Rasheeed bin Fouad

 

[Michael Markey]

Glad of that lense hood today. My M3 took a fall onto my driveway from my Landover because I was stupid and did not fasten my bag . The hood has a dent and the lever on the baseplate refuses to lie flush but the rangefinder is working and there appears to be no other damage.

 

[TomN]

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 😱

i find the best and most durable is a lens cap. of course, when I shoot, i don't need protection.

 

[januaryman]

I voted "nothing/dangerously" but for the two lenses that cost more than usual, I do use a UV filter. I have hoods for most of my lenses, but don't bother using them for the most part. I'm just too lazy or don't want the camera to stand out and draw attention to itself when street shooting.

 

[Merkin]

About three hours ago, I had a reaffirmation of the importance of using a good quality UV filter on your lenses. I was in a 'target rich environment,' switching from a 90mm to a 50mm lens. In the process, the back cap fell off of the fifty, and in the process of snatching it, I accidentally grazed my thumb across the filter, leaving a lovely mark across it. I didn't want to take the time to clean it right then, so I just unscrewed it, put it in the filter case I keep with me, and kept shooting without it. If I hadn't had the filter on, I would have had to take several minutes cleaning the front element, and i would have missed a shot that I am pretty sure will be a 'keeper.' When i got back a while ago, i carefully cleaned both the filter and the front element, and reinstalled the filter. Yes, technically, the filter does degrade the image quality, but it has never been noticeable whatsoever for me, and I would rather have my image quality degraded a tiny tiny amount on average for the ability to keep shooting when I would otherwise have to stop, like today.

 

[Leighgion]

I use hoods the majority of the time, but I somehow don't think of them as physical protection on anything but my lenses with the widest front elements. To me, it's the UV filter that's physical protection. My filters have blocked salt spray, freshwater spray and unidentified goopy substances. Like Merkin, I'm more than willing to accept whatever small image degradation the filter might bring in exchange for the comfort and convenience of cleaning a filter rather than my front element.

 

[sanmich]

A multi coated B&W to protect the lens.
and then a Hoya filter to protect the expensive B&W filter.
and then...
.
.

and then a hood.

I wander How I manage to have vignetting on a tele??

 

[eleskin]

I always use a skylight filter on all my Lenses. A friend of mine had a Hassy 501C with a 75mm Planar lens. His camera was on a tripod in his studio. He tripped on a mop, and the mop handle hit you know where. He did not have a protective filter on the lens, guess what happened to the lens? PAPERWEIGHT!!! I remembered the phone call, he had a shoot and wanted to borrow my Pentax 645N with the 75mm Lens (He said it was sharper than the Planar Ha, Ha, I only paid $245 at Adoroma, Used). He never told me how much he paid to repair his lens.

 

[flip]

Depends. But I always keep the cap on if I don't have a hood in the way.

 

[italy74]

Actually, I use more hoods than filters.
If any, only when necessary, a cir polarizing one.

 

[JohnTF]

I always use a skylight filter on all my Lenses. A friend of mine had a Hassy 501C with a 75mm Planar lens. His camera was on a tripod in his studio. He tripped on a mop, and the mop handle hit you know where. He did not have a protective filter on the lens, guess what happened to the lens? PAPERWEIGHT!!! I remembered the phone call, he had a shoot and wanted to borrow my Pentax 645N with the 75mm Lens (He said it was sharper than the Planar Ha, Ha, I only paid $245 at Adoroma, Used). He never told me how much he paid to repair his lens.

I think that is how "parts" lenses get sold. Outer element on a 28-200? Tamron zoom was $100 from the factory.

I know someone who just sold some Hassy lenses which had excellent glass, but the shutters and diaphragms were totally shot, am pretty sure he would have sold them for $100 each?

Regards, John