Hi Christine
You don't have to use a filter if you don't want to, however, if you think anything about your lenses you'll use one to protect the front element. It's easier to clean fingerprints and dust from a filter, they're also cheaper to replace than a scratched front element. They're also very useful in cutting down the effects of haze, as in a UV or a 1B, a must in mountainous or hilly terrain. Don't even venture near the sea with your expensive lenses if you don't have a filter fitted, sea spray makes an awful sticky mess on a front element. An 81A or 81B can be useful to warm up a landscape and although not particularly necessary, gives a pleasant overall effect which is generally more acceptable to the eye than a plain without filter shot, (although not always). As I said earlier, I always have one on my lenses unless physical size and cost prohibit one. The glass from which modern filters are made is now probably as good if not better than the lenses they're fitted to, image degregation is no longer a problem providing the filter is kept clean, the same applies to camera lenses. Filters from the likes of Hoya, Sigma etc are very good, some of the multicoated ones are better corrected than the lenses. Remember, you can always take the filter off if you think it really necessary.
nirofo.
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