STOP using UV filters ❌ DO this... 

Know what's cheaper than replacing a $2000 lens? Replacing a high quality UV filter

When I shoot on different kinds of events, some dirt or even a small stone may hit my lens and the lens hood would not help. So I keep on using filters and I use them for more than two decades. I never had any problem removing a filter and I had already a situation when the filter got damaged instead of the lens.

Just use both, the UV filter, is for protecting the lens from flying particles, and the lens hood will protect the filter and the threads.

I don't think anyone using a filter for protection is expecting an extra pane of glass to cushion the impact. It does however protect against scratches and my own greasy, clumsy fingers.

I think its best if you use both. In my case I don´t see any difference on the picture with or without uv filter.

I think UV filters are more compact and protecting lens surfaces from degrading better.

Filters for dust and rocks. Hoods for drip and knock protection. I use both when not in the studio

I use a clear, multi-coated, high-quality-glass B+W filter to protect all of my lenses. Also, when I sell a lens, I've never had a buyer complain about the pristine quality of my protected front element!

All my lenses are equipped with the best quality glass UV filters. I’m a (mostly) landscape photographer and I have done this since I tripped and fell on a trail in the Grand Tetons in the mid 80’s and the filter was shattered by a tree root and rock I bounced off of but the glass was intact afterwards. $100 filter VS a $1000 lens… simple math.

Ok sure but use both?

I use Clear master filters from B+W. My main concern is air pollution (smokers, car exhaust, etc) and small abrasions from cleaning it. Plus the filters are flat and easy to clean while some front elements have shapes that make them harder to clean.

Sometimes there’s salt water mist from the ocean, or you’re in a dust storm. It’s easier to wipe clean a flat filter. And less likely to scratch the lens also. But generally I think you make a great point. Thank you for sharing. 💁🏻‍♀️

It’s not the lens shattering the main issue, it’s to protect from dirt and debris.

Given the choice between a cheap UV filter and a lens hood, i'd go with the cheap UV filter.

There are photographers I know who will only buy B+W brass ring filters precisely because the brass filter ring will deform rather than mangle the thread on the lens. In many cases, the lenses they use are also on the order of magnitudes more expensive than a B+W filter with a matching repair fee. Even with the front 'element' on these lenses being an actual protective filter, the cost of replacing the front filter on the lens would cost more than a B+W filter.

I agree. The only reason why I would use a UV filter would be in harsh environments where the coatings could get damaged.

I shoot on the water and deal with salt spray regularly, a uv is a must to keep the salt deposits from getting on the front element. It’s much easier to wipe off the flat filter rather than the curved front element.

I prefer have both, filter and hood. Filter makes zero difference in image quality.

To protect your lens, use the LENS CAP that came with your lens. Lens hoods are used for blocking ambient loght froms sides. UV filters are used to cut the UV rays. But can also double up as a flat easy to wipe barrier against contaminants and minor damages to the glass.

This may protect lens but Incase if water spilled on it and any dust may occur if u use hood instead filter but if picture is taken with raw format then no point of reducing quality of picture.

On the beach, UV filter its an option to consider . The sand and wind can damage the front glass element

The problem with just using a lens hood is that it won't protect the front lens element from splatters, droplets or just simple dust. This means you'll be cleaning your front lens element every now and then. Every cleaning adds slight damage to the coatings and over the years you'll see scratches on your front lens element. Get a high quality UV filter. Keep that on your lens. If it gets dirty clean it and after a couple of years just replace it with new one. High quality lenses are a long-term investment and you want to keep them in good condition for as long as possible. Lenses should not really be dropped and if they are will most likely go for repair anyway. So that argument is really a non-starter.

Hoods and filters serve different purposes. Filter protects from small projectiles (sand, dirt, ice, etc) and hoods protect from bumps and drops, keeps rain off the lens, as well as obviously unwanted light flares. Both are good.

I’ve used UV filters for years (quality ones) with no noticeable image degradation and always have a lens fitted. I once stupidly damaged a lens without a filter, so protect that expensive glass!

what are most people using to protect the lens (and sensor) from light damage?

Always use lens hoods prevents scratches dust, helps pictures on subject

Same here...lens hood only. I keep my glass clean anyways...so not a problem. The front of the lens can take a lot of abuse and never show up in the images. I just use common sense when out shooting.

I’ve been using UV/Haze/skylight filters for 30 years and will attest to the image quality drop if using cheap ones when shooting. However, using high quality ones when shooting and then switching to cheap ones for lens storage or transportation has served me well and prevented glass damage countless times. Yes, it’s a bit of a hassle to switch them frequently, but once the process is part of the workflow, it becomes second nature. I usually put a piece of tape on the “protective” ones so I don’t accidentally shoot through them. In certain situations, a good UV filter will enhance the image.

I know UV filters degrade picture quality but i cant stop buying them for my lenses. Mainly because i either shoot on a boat at sea or in dry dusty places

Any change in image quality is negligible!but tiny little sketches on my canon UV lens is a lot better than scratches on my actual prime lens. I’ll just buy another canon UV lens and sleep well at night. Knowing that the coatings on my prime lens are well protected and my image quality is still excellent.

About 6 years ago I accidentally knocked my canon 24-70 lens. It got a tiny nick on the front element. Over the following year that mark grew as it naturally wore the protective cover off the front of the lens to the point the lens was unusable (both IQ and autofocus was borked). I sold the £2k lens for scrap at £400 Had I had a UV filter on, it may have bent the filter thread but would have saved the lens. If you care about protecting lenses, always put on a filter. Even if it costs you a tiny amount of IQ loss. Buy a decent filter with low transmission loss and just leave it on the front element. It’s worth it in the event you have an accident

lately , planning to travel to a desert area in which sand dusty condition ,no lens hood can help . I get hold of an old filter & notice a lot of pits outside on the lens & I now i know where they had been .To tell if the filter is clean or clear , shine a flash light around on the surface & u will see

I switched over to uv filters 24/7 (ones with hd glass and multi coating) just for dust and scratch protection reasons (i tend to use vintage collector lenses). I often dont use a lens hood. It makes me play around with flares and buff a weak composition (as long as the contrast stays acceptable). When i started photography i left the filters in my bag but then got mad as the coatings of my lens got damaged. Its often better to just put a 20-30$ filter on the front, than to loose 100$ in lens value due to scratches

I used to work for a camera store and had so many people come in with a filter stuck on their lens. As someone who has had to do some serious surgery on lenses I can say to be careful if you get one stuck on your lens but do not stop using quality UV filters . Can’t tell you how many times I’ve had someone drop a $2-3k lens and only the filter ended up needing a replacement . Which I wouldn’t charge for labor as long as they promised to but a new UV filter that I would personally install on their lens .

I use both a filter is important. And image quality loss is absolutely nonsense. I tested that out but no loss of image quality.

The cheapest filter won't ruin the picture much, just a little less contrast and more glare

I use B+W clear filters for all my expensive GM and Tamron 35-150 lenses. Piece of mind from sand at the beach or in-climate environments. Zero effect on image quality.

That debate ended years ago for me. Why buy cheap plastic to cover your expensive glass.

Lens hood does protect from lens thread to be damaged but uv-filter has a number of usefulness to use it despite the fact that the extra glass degrades the quality of the picture! UV-filter goes a long way to drive the atmospheric haze away without giving any compensation for the exposure to be made and a good quality uv-filter protects the front element of the expensive lens from dirts floating in the air and static charges on the lens catches them to degrade your picture a lot and a filter gives you the freedom to wipe it whenever you think it's time to do so protecting your expensive lens to be wiped with dangers of lens coating to be damaged! Lens coating once damaged cannot be re-coated like the first coate made in the factory! Superfast lenses are highly expensive and always to be taken care of with close inspection on it because everyone isn't buying lenses costing $2000- $5000 every day even if they are highly professional photographers! Lens hood instead is required to protect light coming into the lens to scatter giving flares to the images but your idea is definitely an useful one in case of inadvertent falling of the lens damaging the thread of the lens!

I photograph dogs, meaning I lay down on the floor and have dogs sprinting towards and besides me. The chances of sand and rocks hitting the front of the lens even with a hood on (which I always do) is just too big to not use a filter.

I use only B+W F-Pro/XS UV+Haze MRC filters, never had any issues with them, lenses or image quality

everything is a trade-off. a lens Hood adds enough physical size to the camera that it makes it more difficult to carry and to fit into a bag. if that makes you less likely to take the camera along and to use it, then that is bad.

Yes, don't buy cheap glass. Use a hood as well for added protection and stray light. And most importantly don't bite click bait.

I agree cheap ones are no good, but buying a good UV filter will reduce chromatic aberration.

Using filters to protect the lens does also ensure that the lens is protected against dust and water - in case the lens is weathersealed. Weathersealed lenses are never tight at the front element. Using filters close this gap of weathersealing.

What a UV does while lens hood doesn't is dust, scratches and moisture, so that's why sometimes I use both

I use high quality filters like zeiss or b+w on all my lenses for more than a decade. Easier to clean it than having dirt or smudge on the front element. Prevention is better than regret.

I’d rather a high quality UV than the lens hood. Especially since I’m so often using VNDs and other filters as well

Lens hoods are the way to go - we had a accident once where a lad sat on the motorised slider remote which made it go completely off balance 😅😂 it ended up falling and smashing into a wall If we didn’t have the lens hood on we would’ve lost a £500+ lens and possibly more damage to the camera as well but instead the hood too the damage and we got a new one for £7 🎉

I've cracked 2 Hoya Evo UV filters while shooting auto sports. Stray rocks, dirt, etc. can and does hit me all the time. Both times I had a lens hood on and both times the UV filter came off and other than some glass dust the from the UV filter the lens behind it was 100% perfect. Whether or not you use a UV filter depends on the environment and risk your shooting in. You'll never catch me out on the racetrack without a good multi coated uv filter

Would love to see a comparison between the Brightin Star 35mm f0.95 and the TTArtisans 35mm f0.95 lens (or a shootout among all the 35mm f0.95 lenses, TTArtisans, 7artisans, Meike, Brightin Star, etc)

Using a lens hood doesn’t protect from flying debris. I’ve always used a lens hood and on a windy day on a safari, blowing sand scratched my last lens. This video is for clicks. If you buy a high quality UV filter like B+W, you won’t lose any image quality.

Ive always used UV filters. I don't always have a lens shade on, sometimes they are so big, especially indoors i hardly ever put them on. When I shoot film I put UV filters on since a lot of vintage lenses don't have multi coating. If I use a colored filter for my black-and-white, I usually take the UV off.

ALWAYS lens hood on! my RF 28-70 f2 fell from almost 2 meters (arround 6 feet) and the lens hood blowed in few pieces, but the lens, was completely perfect, 0 problems and that happened one year ago. Didn't used UV filters in years and I won't in the future (but I did other kind of filters as ND/polarizer/promist)

Never found them degrade quality to be honest, i use both. Better break the filter then the lens

Seriously... You can put uv filter and lens hood together. Both has different purposes. Lenshood cuts lens glare.. uv protects from dust

I dont think even cheap filters would degrade image quality. It's a bit of glass that isn't even focused on. Its protecting the lens from scratches and damage.

In my case and that of many people... UV filter has no substitute, my lens does not have lens hood support

Lens hood doesn't protect from some damage types. After a helicopter on a shoot threw a handful of small rocks during takeoff with the air stream, hit my face and glasses and broke an expensive b+w protective filter but didn't damage the lens, I find any extra protective glass very very very useful. Especially on my face😂😂😂

Still using UV filter despite using lens hood. They do different kind of protection.

Except, you use a Lens with a screw mounted hood. A drop will cold fuse the Lens with the hood for good.

I shoot a lot on the coast and on boats. Sand and salt spray is bad for everything. Get through quite a few lens filters.

I've dropped a brand new (5 day old) A7M4 with the Gmaster 24-70 2.8 and the lens hood saved me a heartattack

I keep my filter uv on. If there is oil from accident finger touch just wipe without thinking about scratch from the main lens. I love flare, lens hood keeping me away from flare, so I'll stick with uv filter.

I use a kenko filter with the lens hood no problems encountered.

The lens hood isnt gonna stop sand, dust, moisture ext from spalshing itself onto your lens..

The lens hood is a good idea, but will not protect your lens from sea water droplets or sand flying in...

It's quite hard to find replacement lens hoods for some of my lenses where you can get your hands on a decent filter pretty easily

Having once worked in a camera shop for 5 years, these things have saved people a lot of money. Seen so many cracked ans broken uv filters but the glass on the lens left intact

If you drop your lens from high enough to damage the filter threads I feel like you have a bigger problem than the damaged filter threads.

When shooting anything where I know particulates will be slamming into my lens, I use a glass filter. No UV needed, just beautiful, clear glass. And I always runs a hood just in case but haven’t yet dropped my camera ❤😂

Lens hood is not that useful if u wanna protect you lens from scratches, i'm using both

Sooooo what about the UV of the sun shining on your sensor? It's called a UV filter for something

I have a lens with a crack in it that I Only see literally in the bokeh. I'm not scared of cleaning marks. Only filters I have at the moment are nd and cpl filters.

for me the minimal effects on photo will be alright for protecting. unless you shoot in direct sunlight it will give more effects. but still be ok tbh.

My choice is a B+W UV-Haze filters because of the fact they are manufactured from German Shott Glass. Bar none the best and clearest Nano glass available for filters by B+W and Hoya. They have the best light transmission factors of any brand on the market. We don't need to debate UV effectiveness, since I have said the choice is based on using the clearest glass available on the market in front of my lenses. So light transmissibility factor will be at its highest with filters manufactured from Shott Glass. You will see no degradation of images as you would with cheaper filters. In some cases you need to be sure you are using a Chinese counterfeit that has a glass element that is only plastic. Plus you seem to forget there are still some Purist out in the world that shoot film still. I recently (two days ago) had my Nikon 28-70 f:2.8 roll onto the floor when on packing it, and yes there was damage. The hood was was store on the lens in the backward position to conserve space. However, the filter's glass shattered from a two foot drop. If you own this lens you already know its front heavy as all hell. Needless to say there was no damage to my lens whatsoever. Also, if you are buy glass filters, or for the matter fake glass filters with no coatings you are presenting problems for yourself... Also, you have not even talked about the people that shoot on beaches and sandy areas having sand (glass particles) blown onto their filter's glass.

They protect the expensive lens coating against salt and sand and I challenge you to tell the difference between images with one decent uvfilter vs none

A lens hood protects, sure. But not from particles, sand, pebbles, hitting the front lens when they are (exemple) carried by the wind. Anyone living by the coast or near a dusty or sandy place knows what it's like : after 2 or 3 years wihtout protection, the front element of a photo-lens is full of micro-scratches all over its surface. So... what's the right way to do ? No protection and a front lens damaged within weeks (if not days), or a good protective neutral filter (B&W, Hoya pro, Manfrotto, etc.) so your zoom or prime remains unscathed ? After having a front element broken by a bouncing pebble during a shooting session, some year ago, my choice is obvious !

For me the CPL filter which is always on plus lens hood works fine. Unlike the good for nothing UV filter. Sure you have to take care and dont bump to everything even when all is on the lens.

Fingers trying to touch the glass (not just kids), stray grit from cars, corners of objects, tree branches, etc etc - I’ll stick with my not too cheap filter

if the filter lowers the quality of the photo then should we stop even considering taking photos through glass (i.e. windows of various sorts)?

I use polarizers and light pollution filters for astrophotography but nothing else. UV filters dont make too much since if you have a lens hood and you SHOULD be using a lens hood.

I will still use UV filters due to flying objects,I work sometimes around firearms flying brass towards lenses and flying rubber from motorsports thats isnt gonna be stoped by hoods

0:05 - Do you KNOW cheap UV filters reduce image quality? Do you have a video, with side by side photos showcasing this, or is this simply an assumption? (I'm not a UV filter user.)

I use for my 85mm f1.4 uv filter but the one for $60 is giving me ghosting and sun flares meanwhile on a lens protector that was twice as cheap never gives me ghosting when taking bright lights.

Lens hood is too bulky… I prefer the lens filtre much more discrete.

I just did a wedding with misters. The water was hard, literally left a coat of calcium over the camera lens... And filter 😅

For photo it is good way to just use hood. but for video we have nd filter, mist filter. We can not use hood.

I just use both worked fine

Lens hood and outdoor insurance is the way to go

I got scratches all on my lens work great resale is a different story

i shoot for 20 yrs never dropped i sometimes use clear UV filter so NOT to use Fugly huge hoods

is any type or shape of lens hood is okay to use regardless what type of you lens are?I mean if its a prime or a zoom lens that is not like the telephoto one?

A hood does nothing against dust, dirt, and liquid, I'll stick with my easily cleaned filter

straps of my backpack snapped and my 85mm fell directly on the UV. threads were damaged but before I removed the destroyed filters I used some pliers on the first filter's rim to pull the thread into it's original state. worked perfectly

Come on man. It’s to protect the frontmost lens element If you’re a competent cam op then that lens is NEVER getting dropped

i always buy kodak UV filter and i usually use at outdoor shoots only

My wide angle i use alot a polarizer, there using lens hood is a pain to use 😉

I had a metal hood save me falling tripod. and broke the adapter. but lens was fine

Or… you could do both. And how about a high quality filter?