Ruthlessrider

I’m sure it has been said before, but I just want to reiterate and reinforce that if you think that the filters that you put on the end of your expensive lenses (between about $20-$140) are too expensive, guess again. Yesterday, getting ready for a trip to Europe I had my R5 and 16-35mm lens sitting on the granite top of the island in our kitchen. I also had a carrying strap attached to it, and when I walked away from it I didn’t notice that the strap fell off the countertop. When our Bernese came in from outside, he came in, as he usually does, very excited with his tail wagging near the speed of light and it came in contact with the strap pulling the camera and lens to the stone tile floor. CRASH! As my heart sunk to the level of the camera, I reached down and picked it up noticing that the edge of the filter took the hit and was bent inward, and the glass was shattered. To make a long story short, after I was able, with the help of a Dremil drill, to cut the filter’s ring loose without damaging the lens’ edge, I remounted the lens to the camera, and much to my relief, lens and camera work fine. Wew. Spend the money.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Always place your camera on top of the strap, folded and safe. Place the camera far away from the edge of a drop. Practice this action before you learn the cost of not following these best practices.

User ID

Shoot the dog.


He is guilty of the heinous crime of provoking yet another filter thread.

In more civilized cultures, the dogs master is buried alongside his dog.

Ruthlessrider

Lesson learned.

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

One trick I use for the filter that have shallow threads is to get a low cost plastic filter and remove the glass which give me deeper threads and also plastic that is easy to remove after it takes a shock. The good filter screws into that plastic. Plastic does not stick to the camera lens threads.

You were lucky and now you are a protective filter evangelizes

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Lesson learned.
I don't use protective filters at all. Even the best degrade the image by a small % and two more surfaces for lens flare etc. And I am a detail freak, esp. on bird feathers and insects. Every lens I own has a hood and when ever I use them that hood is on it.
I have replaced some hoods from knocks etc. but the only time the camera got damaged I tripped on something and knocked over the tripod with 7Dii, 100-400L on it. The metal lens hood was bent on one edge, the lens was OK (built like a tank) but the mount on the body was bent, so one edge of each image was a bit out of focus and the little metal cap with the markings in the center of a dial popped off. The Canon service center is a 30-minute drive away (if the traffic is good) and it cost me $500 to replace the mount and fix the dial cap and adjust and clean everything while they had it. Plus two trips there, they were busy so it took two days before they called me to pick it up.

Ruthlessrider

How could I do that to such handsome boy.

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Such a beauty 🖤🤎🤍🤎🖤

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

He IS a great looking pup!

The Aardvark Is Ready

Maybe I've been lucky, but I've never, ever, worried about the lens gremlins out there that are just waiting to scratch or ruin my thousand dollar lens. I'm basically a landscape photographer, so I've been around so many craggy shores and limb infested forests that were just waiting to attack my lenses and the glass is still pristine.
All joking aside, the main reason i don't use a protective filter is they're a PITA. I am often stacking filters with specific system designs that wouldn't accommodate one and it would be a pain to always remove it. Also the more filters , the more chance of vignetting.

gwilliams6

I will wade into this endless debate and quagmire topic, that never dies. In my four decades as a professional photojournalist covering everything from pro sports to war conflict, I have always protected my vast lens investment with top optical quality filters, most nano-coated , with full anti-glare properties.

I have never lost optical quality with the best top optical quality filters, and there has never been an MTF-standard optical test that has proved otherwise, never. . I have made literally millions of images around the world, and never lost an assignment, never lost a publication, never lost a client, or ever lost an award by using the best top optical quality filters over my lenses, ever.

And these top optical quality filters (I prefer B+W nano-coated) have saved countless lens front elements from flying debris, grit, sand, mud, water, oil, chemicals, and accidental intrusions, over excited kids, fellow packs of competitive photographers at events, accidental trips, falls, and attacks from angry mobs and even angry mobsters, and even an angry crooked judge being photographed, all true happenings. Many a filter has sacrificed its life and saved one of my lenses, just a fact.

Lens hoods I also use, but lens hoods alone will do nothing for direct intrusion. I know this from vast real-world experiences.

And when I go to trade or sell any of my lenses, I remove the filter and I have a pristine front element to sell, giving me more value every time.

As far as bird feathers, and insect wings, here are just a couple of many shots I could show you, all made with top optical quality filters over my lenses.

1-2) Full frame and a tight crop of same shot; A great White Egret bends its neck to clean its feathers on the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten/St. Martin. Sony A1, Sony 200-600mm lens (with a B+W top optical protective filter), 591 mm, ISO 1600, f6.3, 1/2000 sec., handheld. All natural sunlight.

3) A dragonfly in Manistee National Forest, USA. Sony A7III, Sigma Art 70mm f2.8 Macro DG lens (with a protective B+W filter), 70mm, ISO 6400, f22, 1/1000 second, handheld, all natural sunlight only.

Click on download to see better quality of the images.

This pro will continue to use top optical quality protective filters on all my lenses. Do what you want with your lenses.

Cheers and best to you all.

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User ID

Oh OK. Mebbe just shoot the owner ....

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Lens hoods are for Disneyland, filters are for life.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

No thanks. I prefer my lenses and many other things naked.