Skylight Filters For Digital Capture

[Dismayed]

It seems that the latest Internet advice is that skylight filters are not needed because digital cameras filter out UV light. That may be true, but that wasn't the only reason that I used skylight filters when shooting color film. It was to correct for mixed lighting. Objects in direct daylight are illuminated by the sun, while those in the shade are illuminated by the blue sky. Skylight filters remove the excess blue from objects in the shade. So it would seem that they would confer the same benefit when shooting digital - because visible blue light is not filtered by digital camera sensor filters.

So, do you use a skylight filter on digital cameras?

 

[benjiboy]

I don't have digital cames, but they can't do any harm and do provide protection from dirt and scratches.

 

[Disappointed_Horse]

Skylight filters and UV filters are not the same. Skylight filters are intended for use on color film and have a very mild pink/magenta tint to make photos shot outdoors under natural light look more natural/color accurate, while UV filters are completely clear. I keep a UV filter on all of my lenses (unless using another more specialized filter) to keep out dust. I don't recall ever noticing any difference from using a UV filter on a digital camera, but it has been a LONG time since I've done any kind of side-by-side testing. Recently, however, I accidentally used a skylight filter on my digital camera thinking it was a UV filter. It gave the photos a very noticeable magenta tint that was difficult to correct in post. (I'm not very skilled or experienced with digital image manipulation, so YMMV.)