So you're OK with using filters on your lenses?

[adan]

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LensRentals.com - Good Times with Bad Filters

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EXCELLENT!!!!!

 

Now anyone with any camera/lens can get that 'Leica Glow' by using 50 assorted UV filters

 

Very interesting, proves as always you get what you pay for, although I doubt any difference would be visible with just one filter of any brand.

[masjah]

An entertainng and enjoyable read.

 

But a serious point seems to be that a UV filter might have a more deleterious effect on a wider angle lens, because of the greater proportion of oblique rays. This would accord with my experience using my 28/2.8 PC Super Angulon R shift lens, with the oversize filter mounted in the lens hood. I might be kidding myself seeing what I want to see, but I think I get better results at maximum shift (with very oblique rays in a particular direction) without the filter. But apart from this example, I don't see a any problem with one high quality (B+W MRC) UV filter.

[Washington]

Andy,

I really don’t get what this proves. (Absolutely nothing you don’t know already)

One good quality UV filter will not effect the photo in any way one can see. Gee, I knew

this 40 years ago.

[250swb]

If using a good filter on a lens is enough cause to negatively question the impact and quality of an image, well lets face it, it can't have been a very good photograph in the first place can it?

 

Steve

[pico]

When quality really matters, off come the B+W UV filters. Almost all my lenses are Summilux and I feel they are best without filters when used wide-open. I wonder if Leica agrees.

[mby]

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I'm subscribed to the no-filter-if-not-absolutely-necessary camp, use a filter less than .1% of the time; see some interesting points from LFI here: Leica FAQ; Need a UV filter?

 

Best regards,

Michael

[Tietje]

I felt an awful lot happier when a Leica UV filter was safely screwed onto my Digilux 2. Always worry about losing lens caps. Rather wipe the rain off my filter than my Summicron. I use a hood as well !

[M. Valdemar]

If I feel the shooting environment might include situations with extreme flare, I take off the filter.

 

Otherwise, I always leave on the UV filters. I do not think a filter makes any perceptible difference in the final image.

[andybarton]

See some interesting points from LFI here: Leica FAQ; Need a UV filter?

 

Best regards,

Michael

 

That's not a link from LFI. Much as I respect, Andrew Nemeth.

[Washington]

You are right because the filter is at the very end of the lens and can catch reflection

easier than the average front element which in most cases is inset some ways into

the lens. This is the only off-side to a high quality UV filter I know of. Cheers.

[sm23221]

When quality really matters, off come the B+W UV filters. Almost all my lenses are Summilux and I feel they are best without filters when used wide-open. I wonder if Leica agrees.

 

They must or else they would have built a filter (perhaps removable) into their lenses.

[segedi]

Leica does sell filters too, no?

[Washington]

Sure Leica sells filters. But, this subject is something that I have been reading about since

the sixties. You are not going to see any practical difference in this ‘’quality’’ stuff

with a filter. Maybe if you look at side by side 300% images on the computer you

may imagine something…. but, this IS not representative of the final result. Searching for

problem is a guarantee you’ll find something to worry about.

[mby]

That's not a link from LFI. Much as I respect, Andrew Nemeth.

 

He's quoting Leica Fotografie International, Sept 6/99, p37 at this link:

"High mechanical resistance and chemical permanence (as well as maintenance of the optical qualities ) is achieved by means of a special plasma deposition technology. The resistance and adhesive power of the outer layer is so good that there is little likelihood of damage by environmental influences or persistant cleaning on the part of the user.

 

Numerous abrasion tests have been carried out. There is one that uses a rubber eraser which contains up to 50% pumice-stone grains. The standard test is to rub backwards and forwards 20 times with a pressure of 1 kg. Afterwards, no scratches should be visible on the lens surface."

[ho_co]

Leica has always recommended against the use of filters.

 

It's obvious that putting any piece of glass in front of a lens can't improve the optical properties of the lens, since the lens design is complete without that extra piece of glass.

 

My practice (up to the M8's requisite filters) was to buy and carry a UVa for every lens but never to mount it unless needed--say, on the beach or in a windy rain.

 

 

What surprises me is that Nikon's lens instructions recommend putting a filter on every lens (where possible) and leaving it there. That's a real difference in philosophies between the two companies.

[Washington]

Howard,

It’s again a personal preference. There is no question that adding another glass

interface has an effect…. but you have to some sorta technical device to measure

the difference. (By the buy, didn’t I see Tiffen advertising a new special filter with

something like 99% transmission?)

Personally, I’d rather clean a filter then a lens front element.

[ho_co]

When quality really matters, off come the B+W UV filters....

Remember that the B+W filters are less expensively constructed than Leica's.

 

I don't think anyone other than Leica still makes filters the old-fashioned way, using a spring to hold the glass in place stress-free, as compared to the mass-production method used by most (all?) other manufacturers, in which a retainer is screwed down to hold the glass in the mount.

 

The screw-down method can be automated, of course, and reduce construction costs--but at the expense of the possibility of stressing the glass.

 

AFAIK, the spring assembly method can only be done by hand.

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[Washington]

Howard,

I did not know this so I’m glad you mentioned it. However, having used hundreds

of cheap and expensive filters over all these years I have never had a filter break for any reason.

[masjah]

Remember that the B+W filters are less expensively constructed than Leica's.

 

I don't think anyone other than Leica still makes filters the old-fashioned way, using a spring to hold the glass in place stress-free, as compared to the mass-production method used by most (all?) other manufacturers, in which a retainer is screwed down to hold the glass in the mount.

 

The screw-down method can be automated, of course, and reduce construction costs--but at the expense of the possibility of stressing the glass.

 

AFAIK, the spring assembly method can only be done by hand.

 

Howard, I think I would say "differently", rather than "less expensively". One difference is the compliant mounting. Another difference is probably in the coatings (with the B+W MRC coatings this time giving them the edge). Conventional wisdom has it that B+W make the Leica filters on an OEM basis! I've always found B+W filters to be superb, and beautifully made.