Camera Labs

The purpose of getting a good filter, the aforementioned Hoya, would be so that you don't need to remove the filter in high performance situations. I agree with your comments on the hood thou, I just assumed he had one. If you don't have one dude, get one.

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Trevor Harris

Nikon D200
SB-600
YN-560 II
YN RF 603 x 4
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
Nikon 50mm f/1.8

What effect does a UV filter have on night shots if i may ask? To me it's just UV protected glass.

I prefer to use B+W only. Expenive but good.

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Nikon D90, 18-105mm kit Lens
Nikon 10 mm - 24 mm - f/3.5-4.5 G ED AF-S DX
Nikon macro 105 mm - f/2.8 G ED-IF AF-S VR
Nikon 35mm f/1.8 DX
Nikon 50mm f/1.4G
Manfrotto Tripod + Ballring
B+W Pol Filter 67mm & B+W Käsemann MRC Pollfilter 77mm, Step up rings

UV filters is a relic of the good old film days when film was affected by UV light and degraded the image.

UV filters for DSLRs now do the following.

1) It protects the lens from damage, scaratches and completes weather sealing on some camera lenses
2) If its a good quality UV filter it may help prevent flaring according to some companies and it does NOT degrade your image, basically it tries to be invisible.
3) Cheap UV filters can degrade images, making them unsharp and sometimes cause abberations and in some cases also cause effects like an "oil drop in water" effect beucase the coating wasnt applied properly.

Basically, get a decent filter, stick it on, make sure it doesnt degrade your photos sharpness, and then forget it until you need to clean or replace it. Thats all it does now, UV doesnt matter anymore to Digital.

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1) Olympus OM1 [Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8]
2) Pentax MZ-60 [Sigma 28-90 & 100-300]
3) Canon 7D [EF-S 15-85 & 70-200mm f/4 IS]

Leo's Flickr Page

hurrah, a voice of reason in the "let's stick another element in the way" crowd!

I cannot believe the amount of money some people spend on gear, then stick a crappy filter over the front to protect something that the serious amateur handles with kid gloves anyway...

a hood will do more for protection and contrast.

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A multi-coated filter, of high quality, will mitigate ghost and flaring when shooting at night, but I prefer no filter at all when using my 50mm 1.8 lens. I do have a metal Canon hood threaded onto my 50mm 1.8, which is a pre-Mark II lens.

When I was new to DSLR photography, and shot images at night with a cheap UV filter, there were multiple ghosts, and flaring. Removing the filter solved the problem. When I do use a UV filter, it is multi-coated, Heliopan or B+W.

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Canon 7D/5D/40D/1D2N; Nikon F6, FM3A, & Coolpix A; Canon 40mm Pancake, 135L, 50L, 35L, pre-II 50mm 1.8, 100mm 2.8L Macro, 10-22mm EF-S, 28-135 EF, 400mm 5.6L; Nikkor 50mm 1.2 AI-S, 50mm 1.4G, 50mm 1.8D, 16mm 2.8D Fisheye, 180mm 2.8D, 100-300mm 5.6 AI-S; Tokina 17mm & 100mm 2.8 Macro