UV filter saves my Leica lens

[mark_goode]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

To anyone who has ever wondered: "Why should I put a piece of glass in front of my beautiful Leica lens?" Here's one reason: UV filter saves my Leica lens | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[cornellfrancis]

Wow! That was a close one... You got very lucky there.

[philipus]

Luck was on your side there Mark.

 

But why three cameras around your neck

[wildlightphoto]

Once the broken filter is removed check very carefully for bits of broken glass on the lens' front element. An empty filter ring would have absorbed the impact just as well and would not have left any broken glass on the front element.

[mark_goode]

Luck was on your side there Mark.

 

But why three cameras around your neck

 

Well, there's my MP (film), my Fuji GF670 (medium format film), and my Lumix GH1 (affordable quality digital :-) )

[mark_goode]

Once the broken filter is removed check very carefully for bits of broken glass on the lens' front element. An empty filter ring would have absorbed the impact just as well and would not have left any broken glass on the front element.

 

Thanks for the tip. No broken glass on the lens's front element or in the lens' filter threads. It's a good filter (Hoya) . . . all is well.

[farnz]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Now that's what I call a piece of Goode luck!

 

(Well someone had to say it.)

 

Pete.

[mark_goode]

Now that's what I call a piece of Goode luck!

 

(Well someone had to say it.)

 

Pete.

 

It WAS Goode luck. Goode living, Goode loving, Goode luck . . . as my youngest son likes to say, "It's all Goode." :-)

[01af]

A serious hood would have protected your lens from the impact at least as effectively, if not even better. So I still see no reason to put some surplus glass in front of my Leica lenses. By the way, a serious hood is a snap-on or screw-in hood, not the ridiculous built-in pull-out caricatures of a hood of modern Leica lenses.

[maddog88]

Luck was on your side there Mark.

 

But why three cameras around your neck

 

Three cameras means he will take three times better pictures...Especially

if all three are Leicas!

[bocaburger]

As for hood protecting against impact, I would propose that would all depend on what material the hood is made from and how it is affixed to the lens. The idea I believe, is that the hood would provide a "crumple zone" (borrowing from automotive use), absorbing the impact and if need be sacrificing itself. A plastic hood, or a softer aluminum one that clips on; or a telescoping hood (provided it has reasonable friction) would seem like the best. Leica's latest lenses have strong metal screw-on hoods, and I can see where a hard impact could cause collateral damage to the lens as well.

 

As for filters, I never saw them as protecting against impact so much as cleaning marks. Twice I managed to scratch the front coating on recent-vintage Leica lenses, once I was in a hurry to clean off a smudge and would have lost the shot if I took time to get out my blower brush so I just blew breath on it, and the other time it was to wipe off raindrops. Both times a clean microfiber cloth I keep in a ziplock bag in my camera case. I had a helluva time trying to sell those lenses later, and ended up having to have both front elements replaced. Never had the issue that badly with Nikkors. Seems more Leica owners make a big noise about not putting filters on their precious lenses but then turn their noses up at even a tiny mark on the glass...and I mean the ones on mine were so small you'd need a magnifying glass and bright light to see them.

[Jay66]

Lady Luck was on your side. I always have a UV filter on every Leica lens I own. Better safe than sorry.

[Giacomo.B]

I always have a UV filter on every Leica lens I own.

 

+1

 

On my Leica Lens there are always UV LEICA FILTERS....

 

Ciao

 

Giacomo

[jaapv]

From experience I can tell you that the Summilux 24 hood dents but prevents visible damage to the lens. However, after impact any lens needs to be inspected for adjustment of the lens elements. My Summilux, though undamaged, turned out to have some internal parts knocked out of tolerance, probably by a few hundreth of a mm.

That kind of damage will happen irrespective of any "protection". You should have your lens and camera ( the sensor is vulnarable to being knocked out of kilter as well) inspected by Leica in cases like this.

As for hood protecting against impact, I would propose that would all depend on what material the hood is made from and how it is affixed to the lens. The idea I believe, is that the hood would provide a "crumple zone" (borrowing from automotive use), absorbing the impact and if need be sacrificing itself. A plastic hood, or a softer aluminum one that clips on; or a telescoping hood (provided it has reasonable friction) would seem like the best. Leica's latest lenses have strong metal screw-on hoods, and I can see where a hard impact could cause collateral damage to the lens as well.

 

As for filters, I never saw them as protecting against impact so much as cleaning marks. Twice I managed to scratch the front coating on recent-vintage Leica lenses, once I was in a hurry to clean off a smudge and would have lost the shot if I took time to get out my blower brush so I just blew breath on it, and the other time it was to wipe off raindrops. Both times a clean microfiber cloth I keep in a ziplock bag in my camera case. I had a helluva time trying to sell those lenses later, and ended up having to have both front elements replaced. Never had the issue that badly with Nikkors. Seems more Leica owners make a big noise about not putting filters on their precious lenses but then turn their noses up at even a tiny mark on the glass...and I mean the ones on mine were so small you'd need a magnifying glass and bright light to see them.

[pgk]

I'd agree with jaapv. I had a similar filter - totally shattered but with no visible damage to the lens (50/1.4 pre-asph) however the focus did seem slightly stiffer than before and Solms had to repair the focus system which was not cheap (insured fortunately). I have no doubt though that the filter saved the front lens element and a far costlier repair or even replacement lens. I'd suggest that the brass filter ring deforms relatively easily and may take up some of the impact energy. I'm not so sure that some hoods would do so.

[bocaburger]

From experience I can tell you that the Summilux 24 hood dents but prevents visible damage to the lens.

 

The fact that one lens failed to sustain visible damage in one instance does not change the laws of physics, which say that the more rigid the system, the more completely the force of impact is transferred from the point of impact throughout that system. That, as I alluded to before, is the basis of crumple-zone engineering which has become the norm in automotive safety design. However, I think the primary criteria in lens hood design is their ability shield the lens maximally from oblique light (in Leica M case, weighed against viewfinder intrusion), followed by ease of mounting/dismounting. In fact I would be surprised if impact protection is given more than passing consideration, though admittedly I've never been an insider at a lens planning session at Leica.

[desmocrat]

To anyone who has ever wondered: "Why should I put a piece of glass in front of my beautiful Leica lens?"

 

Have you looked at the price of some of the Leica filters? At those prices, they should be as beautiful as the lens.

[wda]

Mark, how many cameras you carry around your neck is a very personal choice. For me, if hiking on rugged terrain, out of your selection I would have had the compact digital accessible with the other two stowed securely in a backpack. At a promising location, select the camera most suited to the task in hand. I am pleased that the filter bore the brunt of the fall!

[mgreernz]

A serious hood would have protected your lens from the impact at least as effectively, if not even better.....

 

I wish it had been so for me. A brand spanking new 75mm Summicron ASPH - a slip on loose gravel when trarmping at Mt Cook - and hey presto, a pointy rock, straight into the front element. Not a mark on the barrel, the hood, or the M9. Just that darn front element and my trousers. A 900+ bucks repair bill from Solms and they didn't even provide new trousers.

 

50 years or more I'd stubbornly resisted using UV filters. Dang.

 

But to put the record straight: for the same reason as 01af, I still don't use them (UV filters on the front of a lens - not the trousers). Surely lightning can't strike twice on the same backside?

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[bocaburger]

A brand spanking new 75mm Summicron ASPH - a slip on loose gravel when trarmping at Mt Cook - and hey presto, a pointy rock, straight into the front element. Not a mark on the barrel, the hood, or the M9. Just that darn front element and my trousers. A 900+ bucks repair bill from Solms and they didn't even provide new trousers.

 

50 years or more I'd stubbornly resisted using UV filters. Dang.

 

I wouldn't beat myself up. Just as likely such a directed impact would have driven the shattered filter glass into the front element, causing at least some damage to the coating if not worse.

 

As I said previously, filters are primarily protective against the smudges and various airborne contaminants that necessitate cleaning, and the permanent cleaning marks in the coating that result from dragging around a tiny speck of something abrasive that often resists being blown off prior to wiping. Unlike freak accidents, the need for wiping the front element is a much more routine occurance. Some say not to clean a lens often, because a few smudges and dusts have no degrading affect on the image...but I tend to believe they have more degrading affect than a good multi-coated filter.