A Filter is Worth its Weight in Gold…
Ok, well maybe not gold, but for something so inexpensive it can be an invaluable purchase. Check out Luann’s story and you’ll see what I mean. You should spend some time checking out her blog and Flickr photostream. She’s a super talented photographer who I follow regularly.
This is what she said:
I teach a little community photo class, which reminds me, it’s time to set a date for another meeting. Anyway, a few months ago I advised the other photographers in the group to get a UV filter for their lenses and keep it on at all times. The only exception would be to temporarily remove it if they needed to use a different kind of filter.
A UV filter helps a little with image quality by absorbing ultraviolet rays and cutting through some haze in outdoor photos, but the main reason I gave them this advice was to protect their lenses. A cheap $10 filter can be your first line of defense against scratches, curious babies with slimy fingers, dust, dirt and any number of other every day hazards that may threaten an expensive SLR lens.
Occasionally a more dramatic accident will occur, like what happened to me last Saturday. The short version is that my camera fell from a height of about 3 feet and landed face first on the concrete, jamming the lens cap down into the front of my favorite lens. When I picked it up I could hear the sickening sound of rattling shards of glass under the cap. With the help of my auto mechanic father-in-law, we eventually got the UV filter unstuck from the lens and this is what we found underneath.
The lens cap and filter, laying to the right, are still jammed together and all the broken glass you see on top of the lens is from the filter. I used dry canned air to very gently remove all the pulverized glass from the lens before I tested it. It looks like my little filter did its job and absorbed most of the impact from the fall because thankfully, I haven’t been able to find any problems with my $500 camera or my $200 lens. First chance I got, I was happy to shell out another $10 at my local camera shop for a new UV filter. It’s my little hero.
Seriously, after reading that story how could you not rush out and buy yourself a filter if you don’t already have one?!? All my lenses have filters on them and I highly recommend you doing the same thing if you haven’t already.
There are many different types of filters that you can buy. Some filters filter out the UV light and some filters are polarized making your colors a bit more vibrant. You can also find filters in colors like blue, red, green, etc. that can add a fun tint to your photos if you are feeling a bit bold. There are lots of different options. You can find them at any camera store and also at my favorite online haunt, B&H Photo and Video.
Fitting a filter to your lens is really simple. Look at the end of your lens and there is a number like 52mm (the size of my 18-55mm kit lens and my 50mm lens), or 62mm (the size of my 60mm macro lens), and many other sizes. You just screw the filter on and you are set. You never have to take it off again.
Hopefully you will never have to test out the protecting power of your filter like Luann did, but if that day comes you will be so thankful that you spent the few extra bucks and got a filter!
