UV Filter vs. Skylight

I was going to buy a filter to protect my lens & was wondering whether I
should get a UV/Haze Filter or a Skylight 1-A. They look very similar. Are
there any advantages of one or the other? Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

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In article P3Zrf.22032$mz2.5965@trnddc08, Rainbow Girl Sue
wrote:

I was going to buy a filter to protect my lens & was wondering whether I
should get a UV/Haze Filter or a Skylight 1-A. They look very similar. Are
there any advantages of one or the other? Any info would be appreciated.

You need neither.

Precisely what must you protect your lens from? Neither filter will stop a
bullet.

Rob

---------------------------------------

"Rainbow Girl Sue" wrote ...
I was going to buy a filter to protect my lens & was wondering whether I
should get a UV/Haze Filter or a Skylight 1-A. They look very similar. Are
there any advantages of one or the other? Any info would be appreciated.

In message ,
Bill wrote:

A skylight filter adds a
slight warming to your images, which you usually want to avoid under
many circumstances.

I'm not advocating ewither, but the slight difference in whiteness is
moot with digital, unless you are using a fixed WB preset. A filter
that is slightly red will actually bring the mnatural WB of most
digitals a little closer to white, anyway, as they tend to capture
everything greenish-cyan at the RAW level.
--


John P Sheehy

Rainbow Girl Sue wrote:
I was going to buy a filter to protect my lens & was wondering whether I
should get a UV/Haze Filter or a Skylight 1-A. They look very similar. Are
there any advantages of one or the other? Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.


If you're into beach scenes go for the 1A perhaps even a 1B. If you're
into general scenics go for the UV. If you're into street shooting or
indoor shooting, you don't need either one. One of the best ways to
protect your lens is to use a lens hood .... all the time.

Rainbow Girl Sue wrote:
I was going to buy a filter to protect my lens

A lens cap is much more sturdy.

& was wondering whether I
should get a UV/Haze Filter or a Skylight 1-A.

There are also protection filters which are completely
neutral, optically. Buy a high quality coated one.

-Wolfgang

In article P3Zrf.22032$mz2.5965@trnddc08, "Rainbow Girl Sue"
wrote:

I was going to buy a filter to protect my lens & was wondering whether I
should get a UV/Haze Filter or a Skylight 1-A. They look very similar. Are
there any advantages of one or the other? Any info would be appreciated.

Sue-

The need for such protection is often suggested by dealers who want to
scare you into spending more money. Neither UV, Haze nor Skylight will
hurt your lens, so it doesn't need to be protected from them.

The use of a filter will degrade your images slightly. If you happen to
be using the cheap kit lens that comes with Canon, go ahead. You won't be
able to tell the difference!

Fred

Fred McKenzie wrote:

In article P3Zrf.22032$mz2.5965@trnddc08, "Rainbow Girl Sue"
wrote:


I was going to buy a filter to protect my lens & was wondering whether I
should get a UV/Haze Filter or a Skylight 1-A. They look very similar. Are
there any advantages of one or the other? Any info would be appreciated.


Sue-

The need for such protection is often suggested by dealers who want to
scare you into spending more money. Neither UV, Haze nor Skylight will
hurt your lens, so it doesn't need to be protected from them.

The use of a filter will degrade your images slightly. If you happen to
be using the cheap kit lens that comes with Canon, go ahead. You won't be
able to tell the difference!

Fred

I strongly disagree that 1) that it's the dealer who wants to scare you,
and 2) that there is any image degradation, at least with
reasonable quality filters.

I use Hoya super coated UV filters on my lenses. I used to
use tiffen. I have never seen an issue with degradation of
image quality, except for the following: Some 35mm lenses
have a pretty flat front element. This can result in a reflection
between the front lens element and the filter (any filter).
I have found reflections in images with highly transmitting filters.
(I have not seen the problem with circular polarizers).
The Hoya super coated filters do not have this problem, and their
optical quality is high.

The advantage of a filter is that it protects the front lens element.
For example, when you work outdoors you will get dust on the optical
surface then humidity/water spray/rain moistens the dust and
glues it to the optical surface. Water and/or humidity
partially dissolves the minerals/chemicals in the dust, which
if not completely removed, will later precipitate onto the
optical surface as the surface dries, cementing the dust particle
to the surface. You can clean it carefully, but over
time the optical surface and coatings degrade. One can simply
throw away the filter an put on a new one when you get to that
point. High humidity environments will do the same.

Examples: Hiking in the mountains: dust gets on the camera, you
approach a waterfall and spray wets the dust. Ocean spray
of salt water is very damaging. Snowy day: snow wets the lens,
gluing the dust down. etc.

If all your work is in a clean room, you don't need a filter.

While a lens hood protects against some of the dirt problems,
wide angle lenses are more of a problem because the hood
can't provide a tight opening. My 500 f/4 L IS lens has a great
hood and does a very good job of protecting against dust,
and I do not use a filter on it (they are not made that big).

For my smaller lenses, I use step up rings to bring most lenses
to a common size. That way I only need a couple of filter sizes.
For example, my largest lens (excluding the 500 mm) uses 77 mm filters.
But most of my lenses use 72 and smaller filters. So I bought step-up
rings to bring those lenses to 72 mm. I use 72 and 77 Hoya super
coated filters on my lenses and with digital I only carry 72 and 77
mm circular polarizers. On my large format system, I also use
72 mm filters, and use Hoya super coated UV filters on them and carry
72 mm circular polarizers and 81A and 81B filters.

Roger
Photos at: http://www.clarkvision.com

Rainbow Girl Sue wrote:

I was going to buy a filter to protect my lens & was wondering whether I
should get a UV/Haze Filter or a Skylight 1-A. They look very similar. Are
there any advantages of one or the other? Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.


I only use filters for protection on my 28-70, 20mm and 300mm f/2.8 as
they have a large front area and little 'depth' of lensshade to protect
the front element. At that, once shooting I often remove the filter
unless there's a lot of rain/mist/dust/children's fingers/ etc.

If you insist, then the UV. Or the Skylight if you're above 5000 ft ASL
most of the time.

Cheers,
Alan



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"Alan Browne" wrote in message
...
Rainbow Girl Sue wrote:

I was going to buy a filter to protect my lens & was wondering whether I
should get a UV/Haze Filter or a Skylight 1-A. They look very similar.
Are
there any advantages of one or the other? Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.


I only use filters for protection on my 28-70, 20mm and 300mm f/2.8 as
they have a large front area and little 'depth' of lensshade to protect
the front element. At that, once shooting I often remove the filter
unless there's a lot of rain/mist/dust/children's fingers/ etc.

If you insist, then the UV. Or the Skylight if you're above 5000 ft ASL
most of the time.

Cheers,
Alan


Don't you have that backwards? The UV becomes effective at altitude, the
skylight just adds a little red to counteract the blue of the sky for photos
in open shade, etc.

--
Regards,
Matt Clara
www.mattclara.com