In Iceland last week a familiar question resurfaced…should I use a protective UV filter on the front of my lens? My answer for this question is it depends on the shooting situation.
I have seen numerous times on workshops and assignments where a protective filter saved the day when a lens was dropped. The filter cracks, but the front element of the lens survives. I just sent in my 24-70mm F2.8 lens to Nikon to replace the front element due to scratches. These occurred when the lens was in my bag without a cap on…this happens frequently on assignments and quick moving shoots where I drop my lens into my bag and grab another before the action is over. One side note…I have had many front elements replaced through the years, the cost isn’t too bad but it depends on how big the front element is.
So why not have a UV filter on all the time? One reason is often the filter is not near the same quality as the glass in your lens, and using a filter will degrade the final photograph. For that reason I always buy high quality optical glass filters for the front of my lenses (I use Singh-Ray). But adding a protective filter can cause some issues. First, if you photograph aurora, you might see Newton rings in your final image. These rings are concentric circles and hard to remove in photoshop. Take off your filter, and you will not have this problem.
In Iceland we wanted to photograph sunstars behind waterfalls. The issue was we were getting soaked trying to create the shot. With the protective filter on the sunstars had a lot more reflected highlights and flare. So I took it off and quickly got a few shots before my lens got soaked. For sunstar images I take the filter off to reduce flare. Another situation I remove my UV filter is when I am putting on another filter like a polarizer or ND. Don’t stack filters, this will reduce image quality.
I use UV protection filters a lot, but I also will take them off for many shoots…it just depends. If I am in a remote area on a long trip, I’ll keep the filters on to protect my lens. But if I am shooting locally or in more controlled situations, I often take them off. Don’t forget to always use your lens hood, this protects the front element as well.