I didn’t use a lens hood here due to my GND filter kit. To arrive at the “half the cost” figure you have improperly added together the cost for buying good, expensive filters for ALL your lenses and compared that cost to ONE expensive lens. It might make sense to occasionally put a $100 filter on a $2000 lens that becomes sealed with the addition of the filter if you use the lens in an extremely hostile environment – e.g. While there are objective answers to some of these questions, for others the answers are relative to your personal approach to photography. Better yet, ask an unbiased observer to inspect them. Are you able to absorb the costs of filters for all of your lenses, but unable to cover the cost of repairing or replacing one damaged lens? (When I get stuff on the lens that doesn’t come off with normal cleaning with a clean cloth I might use my breath or a bit of lens cleaning fluid to help loosen it. A couple of quick comments. Along with those three main reasons, some photographers remove their lens hood for more specialized photographs, too. In general, the Canon filters, while no doubt competent in many ways, are not regarded as being among the best filters. } Lens Hood ET-60 2. A $30 filter netted about $25 in profit – often more than the sale of the lens did! Anton, you bring up two of the general sorts of concerns often mentioned by those who believe that using a “protective” UV filter is worthwhile: that salt spray is an issue when shooting along the seashore and that stuff (spilled wine, greasy fingers, etc) might get on the front element of the lens. The hood of my 17-40L is a bit painful to manage because of its size. If you use a crop sensor camera, you might be able to get away with using a different hood. It is a non-issue for me in almost all cases since I tend to store/carry lenses with hoods already in place when possible, or else I leave them on the lens in reverse position. color: #000; border: dashed 2px #27C110; I can even fit second lens and some filters, etc into the bag, so everything is easily and quickly accessible without have to get into the backpack… and well protected. With four lenses in your kit you’ll spend between about $350 and $600 for good UV filters. Very costly and I noticed a small scratch on my Canon 24-70 ll lens which was a years old. A lens hood, also known as a lens shade, attaches to the front of your lens and blocks stray light from causing flare in your photographs. I wrote that I “don’t own any UV filters” near the beginning of this post. If a light source is in the lens' angle of view, a lens hood will hardly have any effect, but the light does not have to cause lens flare. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/357729-REG/Kinetronics_KSDSK_Digital_Scanner_Glass_Cleaning.html I have read on the net that Nikon advises not to use your breath as it contains chemicals that may damage the lens coatings, not sure if this is true? This set offers both popular lens hood styles. $11.99 $ 11. The ULHoriginal is the large in the range. Dan, I’m glad that your filter seems to have been the only thing damaged. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon. Stephen, you are correct that some (but not all) Canon L lenses are said to become “weather sealed” with the addition of a screw-in filter, though what that means is somewhat open to interpretation. I think the UV filter is totally a personal choice. Dan; A better analogy would be the seat covers, bonnet and headlight protectors that most people put on their cars. Veatree 52mm Lens Hood Set, Collapsible Rubber Lens Hood with Filter Thread + Reversible Tulip Flower Lens Hood + Center Pinch Lens Cap + Microfiber Lens Cleaning Cloth. There are a few things to consider here. The filter ring bent, but the glass did not break. I don’t worry about dust either. The new lens hood is priced at AU$99. Six months ago I replace a front element on my Canon 70-200 lens through the CPS program. Using the UV filter to keep dust off turns out to be not all that useful – you still get dust on the filter! Sometimes I exhale on the lens to add a bit of moisture, or I might use a lens cleaning fluid in extreme cases. A remaining question: “Does a UV filter degrade my images in any way?” From what I’ve read, a few things are clear, while others are less so. Compared to the small likelihood that I’ll suffer a $800 loss from front element damage that might have been prevented by a filter, this cost doesn’t look so attractive as an insurance benefit. There is virtually no risk to the lens from cleaning it – lens glass is very tough material and won’t be damaged by normal cleaning. You repeat some of the oft-repeated reasons that people say they choose to use UV filters: that dust might eventually damage the lens or that you had a situation in which you dropped a lens that had a UV filter attached. … While I understand that individual photographers are going to come to different conclusions – and that there are certain extreme situations where I might make a different choice – I stand by my analysis. I keep a hood mounted even when using a polarizer. (It is easy to test this. BTW: In financial terms, it would be better to invest that $800 in real camera/lens insurance or even to put it in the bank to cover all or part of the cost in the unlikely event of catastrophic lens damage. It’s just now policy and standard practice to pitch it for protection as you could easily get $5-10 in commission per filter sold. That is one of the primary reasons the whole “UV Filter use for protection” came about … it was an easy way to boost your commission on the sale. You’re using filters and the filter holder prevents you from attaching a lens hood. They were damaged, scratched not by cleaning but when hiking through bush and scrub, over rocks etc getting to waterfalls and other interisting places, mostly inaccessable places. Total ₹ 9,304. Since I am often using a polarizing filter that is my “UV” filter replacement. And while dust on the lens is not likely to be visible in a photograph (in fact, some people worry way too much about this), if it would be visible it would be more so on a filter that places it a bit further in front to the lens and closer to the focus point.”, thanks Dan i really aprreciate it it helped me a lot. You don’t have to worry about vignetting with longer lenses, only the wide angle ones. I always use a lens hood. Reply. On the cheapest filters, optical distortions in the glass can impact image quality, poor quality coatings can lead to contrast reduction and to reflections and excessive lens flare. I don’t own any UV filters* and I can think of darned few situations in which I’d want to use one. Now make a second exposure of the same scene with the same settings. Learn how your comment data is processed. Longer focal length lenses use the longer, tube-shaped lens hoods. Using lens filters can be a bit tricky when using a lens hood. The 17-40 hood is a bit of a problem, as is the case with hoods on ultra wide lenses in general. (One possible exception being the use of some of Canon’s sealed lenses on which the seal is completed by adding a front filter – and here only if I were to use the lens in an extremely hostile environment, and with a fully environmentally sealed camera body such as that of the Canon 1 series.) With the camera on the tripod, go ahead and clean the lens. Many were wildlife/outdoor photographers: Tom Mangelson, Jim Elder, and Wolfgang Bayer to name a few. Shaoxing Shangyu Lida Digital Video Equipment Factory, Experts in Manufacturing and Exporting filter,lens hood and 136 more Products. Regarding dust under the front element or elsewhere inside the lens, if you look closely at just about any lens you will likely spot some “stuff” inside. In other situations I would not keep the filter on. Many Canon L lens are not weather shielded without a filter. First, some photographers become obsessive about the cleanliness of the front elements of their lenses – or, in your case, filters – and they really overdo it in two ways. A lens hood that screws into the threads of your camera lens will more than likely not support a polarizing filter—the threads will be in use, thereby giving your filter nowhere to screw into. On a few occasions, I’ve been able to shoot them from inside my vehicle, setting up my shot with the windows closed, rolling a window down partway to make the shot, and then quickly closing up again. The lens hood will reduce or eliminate this, and at the same time keep a lot of dust & dirt from directly impacting the front element. Have always put filters on my lens once I bought them. Get it as soon as Tue, Dec 29. The other thing you might try on testing for lens and sensor dust is take a wide open shot of blue sky without any clouds in the middle of the day. (There are quite a few reports of reflected “ghost images” in night photography, for example.). There are plenty of different types. I had good success using the hood from the 24-105 on the 17-40. On the other hand, a hood somewhat compensates for this to the extent that it extends in front of and to the sides of the lens. I wondered if the camera had itself broken. If I had a filter on the lens, I’d have to clean it just as frequently and in exactly the same way. I’d guess that the answer is no. Now see if you or anyone else can actually detect any difference. I addressed that to some extent in my original post – both in regards to what a filter can and cannot protect for, the cost/benefit analysis of buying high quality filters for all of your lenses, the potential that shards from a smashed filter itself could damage the front end, the advisability of using lens hoods, and the choice to invest funds that might be spent on a filter on actual insurance that covers a wider range of possible losses instead. However, a bright, sunny beach day would lend itself to the use of a polarizing filter. One final thing about the protective filters. 4.2 out of 5 stars 12,029 ₹ 299.00 Tiffen 67mm UV Protection Filter (Black) 4.6 out of 5 stars … 1,533. I’m always worried about dust or worse creating a scratch or dislodging a coating… So the next topic is: “cleaning your front (and rear) elements – when, how and why?”, Steve wrote: “So the next topic is: “cleaning your front (and rear) elements – when, how and why?””. And another example. 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