Well said, Mick. Steel and glass haven't changed much since the sixties, it's just a question of wanting to put in the engineering effort to truly leverage their strengths (pun intended?).
I've always looked at UV filters as just another air-glass interface to cause flare and contrast loss. Not worth it IMHO.
To paraphrase the old maxim, would you rather own a sharp contrasty $80 lens or a flare-prone $90 one? And don't drop either one! ^_^
Well - if you can "plan" your drops - I guess this is a wise thought.
But, "drops" are "accidents" and, as such, unplanned.
But, more importantly, I see you've just joined us.
Welcome to APUG,
We have a special "Intro" forum set up so new members can introduce themselves.
Oh, and, BTW, if you do a search of this site, you'll find that the Filter v. No-Filter argument has been beaten to death many times.
It really come down to a simple solution: Do whatever you want to do - but you are no more right than you are wrong. Those of us who prefer to use prophylactic filters will continue to do so, not matter what you say - and vice versa.
So, don't worry about it.
Just intro yourself on the Intro thread and welcome to APUG....
Oh, just in case you haven't realized that this is a "geezer site", I too have been shooting since "way back then". My first camera was a Nikkormat FT-2 with a 50/2.0 lens. And, yes, I put a filter on it.