50mm summilux lens protection

[IkarusJohn]

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Does anyone think that even the Leica UV filter for the 50 lux would degrade the image? I was just able to locate a chrome one for my new chrome 50 lux and its not cheap so if it degrades image quality, Im not sure its worth the extra cost.

 

I have this filter on my 50 Lux, and I haven't noticed a problem (fair to say, I haven't been looking for one).

 

Cheers

John

[salim]

Thanks all, I got myself UV filters is the B+W clear and I am happy with it

 

The lens cap is just a problem with me, several time I missed a shot because I had the cap on, and also, it just a headache to put it on and off everytime I want to shoot. thanks for the advice you all

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[koruki]

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[teids]

Hi

 

I have recently purchased a 50mm Summilux and wanted to know if there is a way to remove the hood for cleaning purposes?

 

Thanks in advance

[peterbengtson]

I was once told that one of the first rules of lens design and what designers spend a lot of time and money designing for is "no parallel surfaces in the optical path". So we spend $5000 on a lens and immediately hang 2 parallel surfaces (filter) on the front of it for protection and to violate the above rule.

[rramesh]

If you are looking for an inexpensive metal hood for 46mm lenses, try this Metal Hood Cap Set 4 Contax Replace GG1 GG 2 GG 3 Black | eBay

This set works well for my lenses - 28 Cron, 50 Lux and 90 Elmarit-M.

[philipus]

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Hi

 

I have recently purchased a 50mm Summilux and wanted to know if there is a way to remove the hood for cleaning purposes?

 

Thanks in advance

 

Afaik, the hoods on the Summilux Asph and on the Summilux-M (III) are not user-removable. I have both and can't see that that would be possible.

 

But why would you need to clean "under the hood", to use a motoring term?

[luigi bertolotti]

Does anyone think that even the Leica UV filter for the 50 lux would degrade the image? I was just able to locate a chrome one for my new chrome 50 lux and its not cheap so if it degrades image quality, Im not sure its worth the extra cost.

 

As other have said, the "degradation" of an image due to a filter can be practically unappreciable : imho, the advantage that an UV can give in some color pictures can easily override the intrinsic optical degradation due to the presence of one more glass element (I remember that for a top optical design - a Telyt - Leica ADDED a front filter that was part of the optical computation); the real issue with filters is only when you have significative light sources in the frame.

And yes, Leica filters aren't cheap... it's like car navigators... you pay for branding (they are outsourced) and for integration : in my E43 Summilux 50, the Leica UV filter does allow the mount of reversed hood with cap... the B+W UVIR filter I bought for M8 does not (you can mount the hood for use, but not the reversed hood+cap): in terms of optical quality (coating and planarity) probably there is no difference between Leica filters and the other top brands.

[Guest borge]

I accidentaly dropped my camera with a 1.4/50 Summilux ASPH on it and it hit the tarmac with the lens first... The B+W MRC F-Pro filter I had on it saved it from a lot of damage as the brass ring on these filters are soft compared to the material that the lenses are made of. Thanks to this a lot of the shock damage was absorbed by the filter itself.

 

I am using a Monochrom as well, so I often use a yellow or orange filter, and some times an 3 or 6 stop ND filter when I want to shoot wide open during bright daylight.

 

But even with the best B+W MRC filters (UV or other filters, doesnt matter, it's the same coating) you can easily get ghosting and odd spots of light in difficult lighting situations. For night photography on the streets for example you basically HAVE to remove even the best UV filter to avoid getting ghosting and flare spots. The same applies to sunset and situations where the sun is very very low, or, you are in a tricky artificially lit situation.

 

Even though my lens was spared a lot of damage thanks to the filter I almost don't want to use filters on it. The occasional ghosting and flaring in tricky situations can destroy potentially good photographs.