Update / UV Filters
Lot’s of stuff to do at work and I’ve just been generally busy, busy, busy. I don’t seem to spend much time online now… (wah! I don’t believe…)
This will most likely change after my trip to HK, and prepping for some workshops at church, but until then I’ll prob be fairly flat out.
Anyway, after a “robust discussion” with some people, I just want to briefly share a bit about my thoughts on the use of UV filters.
The basic argument for/against the use of UV filters goes something like this:
You buy a decent lens costing $$$$. Hence, you want to protect it somewhat, so a lot of people argue that you should buy a UV filter (and this only costs $$; a lot less than $$$$) so that the front element doesn’t get damaged – only the relatively inexpensive filter.
OK. I agree that this makes some sense. After all, would you rather pay $100 to replace a filter, or $1000+ to replace a lens? You also have the “added bonus” of eliminating “hazy photographs” caused by excessive UV light hitting your sensor.
Sounds like pretty decent advice right? Well, not really.
I know plenty of people who take this advice and head out there and buy your $20 haze/UV filter and slap it in front of their expensive lenses for protection. The only problem with this is that they’ve just instantly reduced the performance of their expensive precision optics to the same level as a cheap toy lens (maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but I wouldn’t be far off).
Cheap filters will cost you a combination of sharpness and light, and increases the chance of flare. Even really, really, ridiculously good quality (read: expensive) filters decrease the performance of the final image somewhat.
“OK, forget about using it for protection. How about for eliminating UV-related haze?”
If you didn’t know, most dSLR cameras out there have a built-in UV filter in front of the sensor already. This stops most of the UV hitting your sensor. Slapping a UV filter in front of your lens isn’t really going to have much more of an effect.
“So how do I protect my lens without a filter then?”
Get a lens hood. If you bought an L lens, you get one included with your lens. If you do decide to bump your lens against something unfriendly, your lens hood will most likely take most of the impact. Lens hoods also have the added benefit of boosting contrast by blocking stray light that enters the lens, but won’t fall on your sensor.
A lens hood is almost certainly going to cost less than decent filters too, if you ever need to replace it.
“Does that mean I shouldn’t buy a UV filter?”
Well, no. There are some times when you’ll want one because the shooting environment is not good for your equipment (e.g., beaches). Some lenses that are not weather-sealed may also require a filter to complete the weather sealing.
They may also be helpful when using wide-angle lenses, since their lens hoods don’t offer as much of a protection due to their shallow nature.
All I’m saying that UV filters should be used sparingly – not every time you take your camera out shooting.