What kind of filter?

[mahsleb]

Hi All
I'm new to DSLR and have recently purchased
an EOS 400d and 100-400L lens
I gather I need some sort of filter to protect
the lens but have no idea what to buy
Any ideas or advice on which make and type would be
greatly appreciated
Thanks
Tony

[Birdsnapper]

A UV filter is ideal for protecting lens - will give some image improvement and you won't loose light.

[Canis Vulpes]

As Mike suggests a UV filter will have very little effect on your photography if anything it may slightly warm the image. UV filters are used as lens protectors because of their negligible effect. Perhaps DSLR's auto white balance will negate any colour change if TTL sampling is employed. I use these filters on most of my lenses and its worth it, during a car journey with kit in a heavily loaded boot the lens cap off one of my lenses became detached and scratched all the filter. If no filter was used then these scratches would have been on the front lens element - totally ruining it.

[yelvertoft]

Tony,

A UV filter will help protect the front element as others have said. I would advise against buying a cheap UV filter as these WILL reduce image quality. Buy a high quality one, such as the Hoya Pro range. There's lots of cheap filters out there, I used to use them for years. Taking them off made my photos a lot sharper instantly. Now, I don't use any filters, I just take a lot of care whilst handling lenses.

Expect to pay between £40 and £50 for a filter worth using on a big lens like that.

Duncan

[Canis Vulpes]

Originally Posted by yelvertoft

Tony,

A UV filter will help protect the front element as others have said. I would advise against buying a cheap UV filter as these WILL reduce image quality. Buy a high quality one, such as the Hoya Pro range. There's lots of cheap filters out there, I used to use them for years. Taking them off made my photos a lot sharper instantly. Now, I don't use any filters, I just take a lot of care whilst handling lenses.

Expect to pay between £40 and £50 for a filter worth using on a big lens like that.

Duncan

Duncan makes a good point here, anything in the optical path could degrade the image, fitting a poor filter on a good Canon L series lens is like running a Ferrari on remolds!

I use the Nikon L37 range which would fit all lenses as screw thread is universal.

[yelvertoft]

Originally Posted by yelvertoft

Expect to pay between £40 and £50 for a filter worth using on a big lens like that.

Just checked prices. You may have to pay more than £50. An 82mm Nikon L37C is about £100. What filter size is your 100-400L? 77mm?

Later edit again: Yup, you'll definitely have to pay more than £50 for a good filter. About £75-£100 seems quite typical for B+W or Nikon, though the Nikon doesn't seem to be widely available in 77mm.

I see you can get specific clear glass protection filters now, rather than the UV filters traditionally used for this job. At these prices you'll end up buying a protective filter to protect your filter.

I don't use them, but then I don't own lenses in the kind of price bracket you do. Think of it as an insurance premium.

Duncan

[mahsleb]

Thanks everyone for your help and advice

But what a bewildering choice there is!
Does anyone have any experience using this filter?
Hoya Pro-1 Super HMC (UV or Skylight) £55 at Jessops
but only £20 ish from Digitalrev (Tempting, but I'm wary
of buying from HongKong)

or suggest a better buy? or make?

Cheers
Tony

[Roy C]

I put a Hoya Pro1 digital on my 400mm f5.6 and it definitely degraded the IQ - the same filter on my 17-40 f4 is not noticeable. I have read loads of threads that support the theory that filters are not a good idea on a long lens. I would never use a filter again on a long lens but I always shoot with the Hood in place as some kind of protection.
I would advise anyone to do some testing with and without a filter when using a long lens - say a bar code on a detergent pack from around 10-15 metres, use a tripod and remote release and then compare the unprocessed image. If you cannot see any degrading of the image with a filter, then great, carrying on using it but I suspect most people would see a difference.

P.S I have bought loads of stuff from Hong Kong (URGALAXY) with no problems whatsoever.

[mahsleb]

Thanks for your advice Roy
much appreciated
cheers
Tony

[henryp]

Originally Posted by Stephen Fox

As Mike suggests a UV filter will have very little effect on your photography if anything it may slightly warm the image.

Not in my experience. A sky (1A) filter may impart slight warming but UV filters should be neutral.