UV Filters and Image Quality

[Guest Overview]

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Rather than bore y'all with my opinion this piece from "Luminous Landscape" (2005)

says it better than I can. It is indeed something to consider. Cheers.

 

The Filter Flare Factor

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[jaapv]

Ah- the battle banners will be hoisted by the factions.

[bocaburger]

That battle has been waging for at least as long as internet photo forums, and probably before that although thankfully it wasn't as constant (nor as ugly, when it was face-to-face).

 

In recent years filters have become available that are game-changing. Made from the same quality glass as high-end lenses, kept to high standards of manufacture, and coated to pass virtually 100% of incoming light and reflect 0, they obsolete the old arguments. Not that all filters are that good, but there are some that are.

 

For us Leica guys in particular, the replacement cost of our lenses has skyrocketed in recent years, well beyond the others. And of course, with the M8 we all (including Leica themselves) have had to change our tune w/respect to using filters permanently

 

Those are my findings and criteria, but I'm not trying to convince anybody to follow my lead.

 

Much of the filter/no filter arguments on the internet seem to quickly devolve into ego fests ("My photography can't abide putting a filter on my lens...if you don't care enough about your photography then go ahead and use one"). My resolution is that it's a simple matter for each person to take a few shots with and without a filter and decide for themselves. I just don't get why people feel the need to turn this issue into a crusade.

[Guest Overview]

Ah- the battle banners will be hoisted by the factions.

 

Indeed they will! But, as is said: you are welcome to your own opinions but not your own

facts. Cheers.

[jaapv]

I agree - the B&W 007 filters are much better than the UV filters used before. Heliopan has a similar product in the "protective"series.

[J_Thompson]

In recent years filters have become available that are game-changing. Made from the same quality glass as high-end lenses....

 

My resolution is that it's a simple matter for each person to take a few shots with and without a filter and decide for themselves. I just don't get why people feel the need to turn this issue into a crusade.

 

Agreed!

[earleygallery]

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Yes, thank you, we all know that filter can sometimes cause reflections with lights in a darker scence/night photography.

 

This does not mean that one should never use a filter for effect (for B&W photography, colour correction, special effect or polarisers) or indeed simply as protection.

 

Can you really see a difference if you take a photo with and without a UV filter under daylight conditions?

 

It's a free world and a free choice, I've saved a lens by having a UV filter fitted.

[rsh]

I am in my 41st year using Leicas and the only lens that I have not put a UV filter on is the 19 Elmarit R which will not take one.

[Nicoleica]

My personal view is that more image quality is lost by not using an effective lens hood than is lost by using filters. I always use a filter on my lenses, for protection if nothing else. But I also use an appropriate lens hood. I know that there are circumstances where a filter will still have the potential for unwanted reflections etc., but in my opinion, these circumstances are far less common than the problems caused by lack of a suitable lens hood.

[farnz]

Another benefit of using filters is that the lens coating will protected during cleaning. Rather change a filter with cleaning marks than a lens with cleaning marks.

 

Pete.

[adli]

Another benefit of using filters is that the lens coating will protected during cleaning. Rather change a filter with cleaning marks than a lens with cleaning marks.

 

Pete.

 

What do you use for lens cleaning? I have never seen a modern lens with cleaning marks. The coating on todays lenses is hard as rock.

[Guest Overview]

I was interested in what folks would have to say on this subject. Personally,

I use UV filters on my lenses for all the reason the rest of you do (or don't)

I agree about a good hood generally being more important than a filter but

many hoods are just a joke. The times I remove the filter are when I am shooting

something almost against the sun and the lens front element set-back assists the

hood in shading the optic. Naturally, all lenses don't have any depth into the lens

and in this case I shade the lens with a magazine or such and shoot with one hand.

Yes, modern ultra-high transmission coatings are amazing.

Protective filters were a must in the dirt, dust, soaking rice paddies of Vietnam.

Those days I used a rugged double stroke M-3. Cheers.

[farnz]

What do you use for lens cleaning? I have never seen a modern lens with cleaning marks. The coating on todays lenses is hard as rock.

Medium grade sandpaper of course - doesn't everyone?! (joking)

 

I use some older lenses as well that have softer coatings.

 

Pete.

[bocaburger]

What do you use for lens cleaning? I have never seen a modern lens with cleaning marks. The coating on todays lenses is hard as rock.

 

Would you count a 4th-generation 28 Elmarit-M as a modern lens? If so I have one with a scratch in the coating. Had the previous owner used a filter, it wouldn't be there. I don't know what transpired to get the scratch so I won't speculate, other than to say it's probably not from too-vigorous cleaning because there's only one scratch and it's hairline and only about 4mm long. And no, it doesn't affect the pictures in any way I can tell, however it certainly affected the price. I paid little more than half what an otherwise mint-condition lens would have cost. So in a way, I suppose I should be championing the cause for no-filters...I'd spring $6K for an f/0.95 Noct-ASPH with the same little scratch

[wildlightphoto]

Would you count a 4th-generation 28 Elmarit-M as a modern lens? If so I have one with a scratch in the coating. Had the previous owner used a filter, it wouldn't be there. I don't know what transpired to get the scratch so I won't speculate, other than to say it's probably not from too-vigorous cleaning because there's only one scratch and it's hairline and only about 4mm long.

 

It's from the shards of a broken UV filter.

[250swb]

I use filters. I started using filters on prime lenses about thirty years ago, the day I realised I was missing images because I was spending far to long looking for lens caps before putting the lens back in the bag or pocket. And besides protecting the lens in the bag they also mean I can give the filter a quick wipe with a lens cloth if it gets dirty or wet without worrying about rubbing grit into the front element. So yes, I'm a filter addict.

 

If I have ever had flare or reflections caused by a filter I haven't known about it. With todays B&W MRC filters the theory of not using a filter because of image degradation is pretty well dead.

 

Steve

[jaapv]

It's from the shards of a broken UV filter.

Happened to me once.:mad:. Apo-telyt R 280-4.0. I dropped the lens, the filter broke and scored the front element badly. Fortunately it was insured. Leica claims the front element is the "cheapest" Hmmm... Not my definition.

That I why I will use those 007 filters now, if needed. That is high-impact resisting glass.

[bocaburger]

It's from the shards of a broken UV filter.

 

The true story is that the previous owner, a fortysomething semi-pro in Los Angeles, was very forthcoming in admitting he'd always been haughty and smug about his aversion to protective filters. He said he'd tried for months to sell this lens and it really surprised him that so many Leica buyers refused to even make him an offer. By the time I bought it (at 40% reduction) he had already put multicoated UV filters on all his other Leica lenses.

 

I can definitely see where a cracked filter could cause a scratch though, and I don't intend belittling your point. But I know I clean my lenses far more often than I drop or bang them hard enough to shatter a tempered-glass filter, and plus the lens shade does mitigate impact, although has no protective value against cleaning marks.

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[pico]

I use protectve filters in snow, rain and heavy mist. I grew up in the ages before coatings were as tough as they are now, and I haven't changed; probably will never change.

[Peter Lea]

I ruined the coating on the front element of an R 35-70 zoom through a combination of dust, sand, and over-zealous cleaning. Now I use filters, almost all B + W MRC's. They are not cheap, but neither is repairing a lens. Peter