Photography Essentials by Kent Weakley Blog » Photography Tips, Tutorials, How To, Inspiration

Good points. I completely agree with your rant about UV, color and goofy special effects filters. They are a thing of the past when using digital processing. One thing I have never seen recreated properly in Photoshop however, no matter how close some of my geekiest friends have come, is the exact same quality of image that you got with infrared film and an infrared filter. That is a bit of a past technology that just is not well represented in the digital realm. However, another topic entirely.

I really wrote to add a few words in support of the clear filters. A good quality clear filter (b+w for example, which are not cheap!) is very important for location/sports photography. I take my camera hiking and skiing in the mountains and love to photograph action sports with dirt, snow, rain etc. flying around.

I often use a backpack to store my camera (because on a multi-day trek I am not going to carry a special camera bag too) and need easy access, so I often keep it wrapped in a thick studio cloth “taco shell” to protect it, and the lens cap will not necessarily be on it either. I often change lenses on the fly in very rocky or windy areas. In general, I grew up as a photojournalist and as a result I am rather abusive to my equipment (which is why I buy sturdy stuff – high end Canon EOS with all metal bodies which never let me down).

But no matter what, lens glass is not sturdy. I have accidentally had my lens slide onto a granite rock face while changing lenses and was left with a nice gash on my b+w filter a few years ago. Cost around €90 to replace but saved me the price of a new 70-200mm L series lens.

Even without such unhappy accidents my filters esp. on my wide angles do get little micro scratches on them over time. I go by the old press photographer’s rule that when you are around action, a lens cap is pointless – always be ready to shoot. I use lens hoods, but on a wide angle a hood is just not very protective and the glass protrudes more.

So, for all of that, I prefer to change a b+w clear filter once a year rather than to buy a new L series lens if something bad happens, but hey that is just me and my crackling avocado sofa you are hearing.

That said, for the moment I have been keeping a filter off of my new 100mm macro “L” lens, as the lens hood is huge and sturdy … but it is making me nervous. I have so far not taken it hiking on a multi-day trip and if I do, it will get a filter beforehand if only for the duration of the trip.