Importance of U/V Filters: I have, despite being mocked and criticized, always had a minimum of a U/V filter on each and every lens I use. Regardless of camera platform, DSLR or...

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Importance of U/V Filters

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May 25, 2022 22:25:57 #

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

I have, despite being mocked and criticized, always had a minimum of a U/V filter on each and every lens I use. Regardless of camera platform, DSLR or Mirrorless. I felt it was far less expensive to replace a broken U/V filter vs the front element of a lens.

I was out shooting with my Photo BFF last week, and my camera strap broke, sending my Fuji XT-4 with the Fuji 10-24 wide-angle lens. It fell 3' onto a concrete floor. The Lens hood broke, and so did the 72 mm Breakthrough Photography X2 U/V filter. Not the front element of a $1000 lens, but a $49 filter.

Lesson learned.

(Download)

May 25, 2022 22:47:40 #

fredpnm Loc: Corrales, NM

rgrenaderphoto wrote:

I have, despite being mocked and criticized, alway... (show quote)

I'm with you - every lens I have has a UV filter installed. If I suffer image degradation, then so be.

May 25, 2022 22:48:53 #

bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

In that split second it took for the camera hit the floor, I bet your butt puckered up like slamming a screen door.

May 25, 2022 22:53:11 #

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

The last thing a valuable lens needs is less protection.

May 25, 2022 23:41:57 #

whatdat Loc: Del Valle, Tx.

fredpnm wrote:

I'm with you - every lens I have has a UV filter installed. If I suffer image degradation, then so be.

Ditto. 👍👍

May 25, 2022 23:49:11 #

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Trouble is, the protection is cosmetic. How about the internal elements? Is the mechanism working properly? Are the lens elements'groups still set as they should be?

THAT is something you should check before anything.

May 26, 2022 01:28:15 #

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

Thank the Fuji Gods, the lens and camera are working perfectly.

When the camera hit the floor, about 10 people around me went, "ohhhh."

May 26, 2022 02:22:31 #

zug55 Loc: Naivasha, Kenya, and Austin, Texas

Rongnongno wrote:

Trouble is, the protection is cosmetic. How about the internal elements? Is the mechanism working properly? Are the lens elements'groups still set as they should be?

I agree that the real question is what happens to the internal elements when a lens drops. In this case, it looks like the lens hood absorbed most of the energy of the fall and did the job it was supposed to do. The filter breaking probably did little to protect the lens.

That said, I am still sitting on the fence on whether a UV filter really adds significant protection for the lens. My concern is a pointed object scratching or cracking the front element. I actually took off the filter on the lens I use most often, the Sony 24-105mm. So far so good.

May 26, 2022 02:59:49 #

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

The lens almost certainly would have survived just as well without the filter. The filter didn't "protect" anything. Your just out $49 for the broken filter (plus the cost of the lens hood, which is far better, actual protection for the lens).

But don't take my word for it... Steve Perry actually tested it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0CLPTd6Bds

Still, if it makes you happy... buy another filter to slap on that lens.

May 26, 2022 05:24:25 #