I used to use a skylight filter on the front of every lens I owned. After 20 years of never bashing a lens (except for the time my 100-300 rolled off the dining table, when the inclusion of a filter didn't make a ha'peth of difference), I decided not to buy a filter for my dSLR kit lens. The images were sharper that I used to get from any of my film SLR lenses which made me think. I put a reel of film through the z-50p using the truly awful 35-80 kit lens it came with, some shots with filter, some without. This lens is bad anyway, but the filter really made things a lot worse.
I'm highly unlikely to ever use a filter purely for protection again. I'm careful with my kit, don't bash it around, and I don't possess mega-buck lenses anyway.
It also fits into my kit-bag easier (it's a tight fit with everything in there), that few mm less makes all the difference.
Duncan
|