To Filter or NOT to Filter - That is the question

To Filter or NOT to Filter - That is the question

  • Yes I use UV / Protection Filters

    Votes: 421 58.0%

  • No, I love to shoot naked !!

    Votes: 305 42.0%
  • Total voters
    726
I don't generally use filters except for CPL, ND, and color filters for B&W. UV filters are used only for when the weather or local calls for one.
 
A filter will normally protect the lens filter ring, even if it has no glass, i.e. a step ring will be even better as there is more metal.
A hood has even more metal than a step ring, if the hood is badly damaged the lens may still be mechanically intact.
Be lucky or use a hood
Noel

P.S. Vince confirmed he J9 is 49mm
 
I like an 81A often for color, and a light yellow or light orange for b&w. The yellow has been getting lighter as I get older.

I also like a filter on there so I don't have to clean the actual lens so often- hardly ever if ever. A brush every now and then if I'm switching a lot from color to b&w, but I clean the cheaper filter rather than the pricey lens.

And I always use a hood excepting some indoor work, so flare is not much of a concern.
 
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I remeber reading in a magazine where one of the "experts" recommended against using a 1A filter as a lens protector. He had his reasons and they seemed sound. Then the next month someone wrote in and argued the point, also making what seemed to be a logical point. The expert retorted saying that he'd been a professional photographer for the past 30years and didn't appreciate being questioned. Hmmm. I've actually been a fairly successful professional musician for the past 30 years and have colleagues who do things differently than I do. My reaction? It's okay! You need to do what you feel comfortable doing to produce your best results. On paper, you might be able to make an objective argument one way or another, however, what does the final print look like?
 
Before I got hooked on RFF and became more informed three years ago, I read K. Rockwell's comments on filters and bought as ton in 49 and 55mm but never used them. Now, I doubt their usefulness/ logic the more I read here. I've never used a skylight filter--that seems totally unnecessary to me.

Maybe someday I'll use the yellow, orange and red one w/ B&W film.

Would anyone like to buy some (unused) Hoya filters?

Bill
 
This is kind of like the helmet threads on cycling sites, though less heated. I often use a protective filter, because I'd rather put the cleaning marks on the cheap glass instead of the expensive and painstakingly designed glass.
 
Another of those no-one is right threads that tend to get some folks worked up into a frenzied lather. Some of the lather is rather fun.
Just pm'ed on a Yellow-Green 39mm for some play with this summer. I've never had a light green filter before. Will lighten up foliage come summer, and should buzz up the grass. Might be nice. If it looks good on paper I'll use it a lot, if not, I'll save it for those times when I need to lighten green.
 
This topic often brings a lot of deeply held ideas and a lot of ire.
Has anyone made side by side tests on a few scenes with say, no filter, a cheap clear filter, a multicoated clear filter?
To really settle the thing, the tests would have to be made for the lens in question, and under a variety of scenes. Preferrably at least one with very bright point light sources.
 
You would not believe how much goop I have to take off my filters
after a few hours at the beach or in San Francisco ....

Plus fast lenses are for short DOF, fast film is for speed ! So I never leave
the house without ND filters.

Put's once had a comparison somewhere. And once on RFF I saw somebody
demonstrating flare with a fast Canon lens and filter on an Epson.

Roland.
 
I'm a fan of the CP (can't use the hood with that one). Otherwise, when I don't want to use a hood, I'll put a BW UV filter or some yellowish filters for B&W film. Since I tend to be reckless, I often bump my cameras and lens...
 
I feel so honoured that this poll is still going on.. it's like "the little poll that could" or something ;)

Dave
 
I always keep a yellow-green (X0) filter on my rangefinder's lens
and a polarizer (PL) on my SLR's lens. Who needs a UV filter? ;)

Chris
 
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dcsang said:
I feel so honoured that this poll is still going on.. it's like "the little poll that could" or something ;)
Click to expand...

Maybe it's the "shooting naked" option :)
 
So I am curious, do you use filters as protective measures or do you simply use them to enhance/alter/adjust your images that you take.

Yes.
 
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