UV filter

[Sirius Glass]

No, but it makes sense to say there is no need for a filter if you use a lens cap.

I use a lens cap when the camera is in the camera bag or at home, but when I walk around I do not keep lens caps on the camera. I have in the past many photographs of the inside of lens caps, so I learned my lesson and use a UV filter. I stopped using Skylight 1A filters when I stopped shooting slides and moved to color negative film.

 

[Pieter12]

Try putting a UV filter on this puppy.

 

[DREW WILEY]

A skylight filter can be even more important for hue accuracy when shooting certain color neg films (specifically Ektar) than chromes.

But with black and white films especially, routinely keeping a filter over a lens equates to the inconvenience of needing to remove it first in order to install a different contrast filter. But analogously, the same applies to switching out color film filters when encountering significantly different color temperature illumination conditions. Anyone who thinks they can fully correct the symptoms of serious color temp errors post-exposure, digitally, is apt to be full of BS, probably having never seen a truly optimized color neg print.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Try putting a UV filter on this puppy.
View attachment 328227

The 13mm/15mm/16mm use a rear mounted UV filter as does the Hasselblad Fisheye. Very wide angle lenses and fisheye lenses cannot take front filters and need the lens caps attached between uses.

 

[Rick A]

I think I have a filter that fits the OP's camera, Hoya Skylight 1B (43.5mm) new in box. Just pay postage and it's yours.

 

[Bwbuff]

I think I have a filter that fits the OP's camera, Hoya Skylight 1B (43.5mm) new in box. Just pay postage and it's yours.

Thank you for your offer, I had ordered and received the 43.5 to 49 adapter, so now I can use the 49mm filters that I already have.
Thanks again.

 

[benveniste]

Here's an oddity. Few digital cameras benefit from UV filtration at all, because there are UV filters built into the sensors. In addition, modern lens coatings and optical cements also absorb UV. So a "digital UV filter" is about 99.44% hype. That's why Nikon stopped selling UV filters years ago.

Your application is different. Many black and white films can benefit from UV filtration, and the simple lens of your Pen allows a significant amount of UV to pass. So a multi-coated quality UV filter, badged "digital" or not, is a reasonable choice.

As for "protection," I don't think there's a photographic subject where more has been written to less effect. I only use protective filters under adverse environmental conditions, such as sea spray or races on dirt, but it's a subjective call based on your own weighing of risk. When I do use a protective filter, it's often a B+W 010 MRC that I've held onto from the "film era."

 

[xkaes]

Thank you for your offer, I had ordered and received the 43.5 to 49 adapter, so now I can use the 49mm filters that I already have.
Thanks again.

I'd be cautious using a 49mm filter on a setup ring on a PEN EE. That MIGHT cut off some of the light hitting the surrounding selenum metering cell -- leading to over-exposures.

 

[xkaes]

But with black and white films especially, routinely keeping a filter over a lens equates to the inconvenience of needing to remove it first in order to install a different contrast filter.

Is having more than one filter on a lens "sacrilege" in your book? Seems rather limiting in mine.

 

[Bwbuff]

I'd be cautious using a 49mm filter on a setup ring on a PEN EE. That MIGHT cut off some of the light hitting the surrounding selenum metering cell -- leading to over-exposures.

How much will the light being cut off ? by 1 stop ? I can lower the iso by 1 stop if that's the case. Thanks.

 

[xkaes]

I don't know how much would get cut off. Maybe not enough to make a difference. But you must be covering up around 3mm of the cell, so I'm thinking it MIGHT have some impact. How much, I don't know. But there's one way to avoid the question entirely -- take Rick up on his generous offer. That way you won't spend time swapping the filter between cameras, and the lens will always be protected.

 

[Rick A]

I'd be cautious using a 49mm filter on a setup ring on a PEN EE. That MIGHT cut off some of the light hitting the surrounding selenum metering cell -- leading to over-exposures.

No, it won't cover the cell. The flange is outside the diameter of the lens. I always put larger filters on lenses using step up rings, especially wide angle lenses to avoid vignetting, you can also stack filters without getting the same effect.

 

[xkaes]

You're right. I was thinking of the earlier Pen EE cameras that used the 22.5mm filters that only covered the lens -- not the meter cell. Since the EE-2 and EE-3 have the larger 43.5 filter thread that covers the whole meter cell, using a step-up ring won't impact the meter reading at all -- it will only create a POSSIBLE problem of blocking the viewfinder or the lens/flash settings.

I'd still opt for a different filter to avoid the filter swapping nuisance.

 

[eli griggs]

No, but it makes sense to say there is no need for a filter if you use a lens cap.

A filter on a capped lens will still adsorb/divert excess energy from a fall or hit, so keep one on the lens, always, unless you need to remove it for shooting.

My opinion and experience only.

Cheers!

 

[Pieter12]

A filter on a capped lens will still adsorb/divert excess energy from a fall or hit, so keep one on the lens, always, unless you need to remove it for shooting.

My opinion and experience only.

Cheers!

My experience: I have never dropped a camera or a lens. I did take a spill on a motorcycle once while carrying a camera in a bag across my chest. The only damage there was the 1/8th second shutter speed stopped working. Otherwise, I once had a cheap Vivitar lens get scratched by the meter coupling prongs of a Nikon lens in the camera bag--because I failed to put a cap on it. I continued to use it until I could afford something else. If you leave a filter on so you'll be ready to shoot at any time, you should still take a look at the filter to see if had gathered some dust or fingerprints. Cleaning or removing the filter (should that be the case) will take more time than you think you're saving by having the camera ready to shoot. It is far easier to quickly remove a cap to take the shot and put it back when you're done. Just remember where you put the cap.

Another advantage of using lens caps if you're organized or compulsive enough is to label each cap clearly on the top with the focal length of the lens. That way you can quickly identify and grab the lens you want from your bag if you stow the lenses vertically.

 

[Sirius Glass]

My experience: I have never dropped a camera or a lens. I did take a spill on a motorcycle once while carrying a camera in a bag across my chest. The only damage there was the 1/8th second shutter speed stopped working. Otherwise, I once had a cheap Vivitar lens get scratched by the meter coupling prongs of a Nikon lens in the camera bag--because I failed to put a cap on it. I continued to use it until I could afford something else. If you leave a filter on so you'll be ready to shoot at any time, you should still take a look at the filter to see if had gathered some dust or fingerprints. Cleaning or removing the filter (should that be the case) will take more time than you think you're saving by having the camera ready to shoot. It is far easier to quickly remove a cap to take the shot and put it back when you're done. Just remember where you put the cap.

Another advantage of using lens caps if you're organized or compulsive enough is to label each cap clearly on the top with the focal length of the lens. That way you can quickly identify and grab the lens you want from your bag if you stow the lenses vertically.

I tripped over an upedged sidewalk and fell with a face plant on my Hasselblad 903 SWC with a filter and the lens hood. The bottom of the lens hood was abrated, but I did not do as well.

 

[xkaes]

My experience: I have never dropped a camera or a lens.

I've never met a "photographer" -- i.e., someone who uses their camera(s) and lens(es) quite a bit -- to make that statement, or something similar.

And I can't think of any "photographer" who doesn't use a protective filter AND a lens cap on the front of their lenses. They are not mutually exclusive / either-or items. Most of them do it because they learned the hard way -- like me. The rest learned from others' experience -- or are just plain smart.

 

[Pieter12]

I've never met a "photographer" -- i.e., someone who uses their camera(s) and lens(es) quite a bit -- to make that statement, or something similar.

And I can't think of any "photographer" who doesn't use a protective filter AND a lens cap on the front of their lenses. They are not mutually exclusive / either-or items. Most of them do it because they learned the hard way -- like me. The rest learned from others' experience -- or are just plain smart.

My experience working with professional, commercial photographers on location is that a filter was never regularly used just for protection. In adverse conditions, yes.

 

[DREW WILEY]

xkaes -Yes, stacking filters, more than one at once, is not ideal practice for several reasons. You're adding more air/glass interfaces and therefore potentially degrading image quality, as well as increasing flare. With wide angle-lenses especially, or very wide taking apertures, you're more at risk of mechanical vignetting of the corners of the image. Otherwise, I kinda gotta agree with Pieter. I've never known a pro to leave filters on cameras, cause which one are you supposed to leave on there?, when you might need to decide that by a color temp reading first! Heck, for precise color results, I have at four different intensity level of "UV or Skylight" filter in each needed size.

So unless it's for some rapid shooting journalistic reason amidst dust and storm or combat, leaving filters on lenses is more an amateur thing. Well, I backpacked for four decades in the mountains and deserts with large format gear, blizzards n' all. and never left a filter on a lens. Those lenses are still fine.