On Sat, 24 Jan 2004 07:32:11 GMT, "Mark Hammerschmidt"
wrote:

Actually you are wrong. UV does not degrade your image. Although it also
will not help you indoors. It is a filter to block UV natural light for out
door shots in sunlight. Cuts an insignificant amount of light, but cuts a
specific temperature of light. The gentleman who suggested using tungsten
film is correct. If his photos are turning out orange it is because of
tungsten light. If it were fluorescent it would be turning out green. Your
slow shutter speed can be compensated for by using a faster speed film. You
will get more grain but less blur. Tungsten film for negative film will be
hard to find, much more common in positive (slide) film. But if you are
shooting it often it may be worth the search. On the other hand, if you are
shooting it often you should find a way to get closer to the action so you
don't have to waste your shutter speed on long focal lengths. IE Zoom
lenses.

So-called "UV" filters do little more than the glass of the lenses
they are used on, but of course they at least afford innocuous
protection to the front element. Haze filters are another matter,
they can effectively cut the light off at near UV, or even the more
extreme ones (like the 2A) will eliminate UV altogether (even UVA).

I've always believed that a test is worth 1000 opinions. Take your
"UV" filter and interpose it between a fluorescent sample and a common
blacklight, then see how much good it does. Then do the same thing
with a haze filter and let us know.

When shooting fluorescent mineral specimens, a very aggressive UV cut
is needed to prevent the high ambient ultraviolet from creating a
strong bluish cast and fouling up the color. This is the case also
for digital cameras. For this application a Kodak 2A haze (also
Vivitar made these) is ideal, and the slight yellowish cast it imparts
can easily be adjusted out in postprocessing if desired. No other
filter I'm aware of is as effective in eliminating unwanted UV.

Older cameras with simple uncoated lenses were relatively transparent
to near UV, and for these some form of "UV" filter might show a
visible improvement.