Do you use a protective filter over your lens or not?

The question is whether or not you put a protective filter on all your lenses. This stops you inadvertently getting fingerprints on the lens, or otherwise damaging it. On one occasion I dropped my camera and, while the filter got bent out of shape and cracked, the camera, incuding the lens, suffered no damage.

Or do you live dangerously, thinking to save money on a piece of glass that might possibly make the image less sharp?

David

Like @ArvoJ no protective filters, I use the sunhoods as a first method in protection. I do see a lot of people not using the sunhood or not mounting it correctly.

(Only use CPL, ND and Grad ND filters)

For me it's 50% yes 50% no 😎

If I want to take a photo of my garden from inside the house, I'll open the window first ;-)

In the same way as @Photobygms I don't use any protective filters, the lens hood provides protection from damage and from flare too.
No damage or fingerprints so far.

Yes, most of the time. (Mainly as protection against sticky fingers or the occasional dog's nose, etc.)

But not always. I take few night photos, but there are some circumstances where the filter may cause annoying flares if there are very bright lights in the frame. This mainly affects night photos taken at full aperture (depends on the lens and the position of the filter).

Yes, so do I! I am also careful to buy filters that are made from optical glass and not window glass.

I presume you are the sort of photographer who carefully looks at the lens construction before you purchase a new lens and don't buy lenses with too many air-glass surfaces - as each leads to a very slight deterioration in image quality (loss of transmitted light and creation of flare and glare).

Oh whenever possible.

Well, before I buy a lens I'll look at the reviews and judge how people have assessed its image quality including it's potential to flaring.
I'll then go on to test it myself if it looks good from the reviews and I've actually bought it.
My tests are certainly not "scientific tests", but if it flares I will hopefullly notice it. And if it looks sub par, I'll send it back.
So without needing to study the lens construiction, I now have a lens that at least works as it was designed.
I feel it is not necessary for me, just for protection purposes, to then put an extra layer of glass in front of that expensive lens.
...As you said all air-glass surfaces will deteriorate the quality a bit.
Of course, anyone that wants to use a filter to protect the lens is quite welcome to do so.

And, if I want to use a Pol filter or ND filter then I'll use a glass filter for those purposes and accept the, mostly desired, changes they make to the image

I do use filters but not because I fear dropping my camera. What concerns me more is dust on the lens to be ground into the glass/coatings while cleaning. Would much rather clean a filter. Any degradation, if any, doesn't matter as I am not selling images to museums. The only time I may not use a filter is on a macro stand indoors where things are more critical and dust is less of an issue. Depends if you live in a very dusty desert environment as I do or if most of your shooting is in a less dry/dusty environment .

Unless your fingers are covered in some acid, touching the glass won't cause any harm and you'll be able to clean the glass. Now if you leave a fingerprint on the protective filter, it still needs cleaning doesn't it... or you'll have to take the filter off and be left without the protection!

I don't use protective filters although I frequently use ND and PL filters on a mount (not screw-on). When I don't, I prefer to have the optical path without any additional glass. The filters reduce sharpness, and they also increase the glare.

Lens hood is good enough for protection. In about 7 years of active landscape photography, I only damaged and lost one lens, and a protective filter wouldn't have helped in that case at all.

[deleted]

I used to when I did a lot of hiking with m43, and filters were normal sizes, but with my switch back to Nikon, I have not.

I have dropped a lens on a couple of occasions. Both times they had to go back to Nikon for repair and servicing, after I made some test shots. A lens hood is better protection as it will flex and remove some the impact acceleration. Finger prints are easy to clean.

Thanks for interesting responses. To correct, I have only dropped one camera, and that was my little Sony Rx100 Mk.3 (in the Tate Gallery). As the zoom lens was extended and got bent, that was the end of that! The drop I referred to at the beginning of this thread was actually when my EOS 5D with heavy EF 17-40 lens was knocked off a table and, of course, landed butter and jam side down! To mix metaphors, the filter saved my bacon. Since then I have always used Peak Design cuffs to prevent drops. They will also safely allow you to let go of the camera while changing lenses.

I generally do not use lens hoods, as they take up space. On rare occasions when I shoot against the sun, I shield with my free hand.

But back to protective filters, I mean just that, not UV filters, but, for instance, the HD2 protective “filters” made by Hoya. Yes, they cost €40-50, but in the context of the cost of a decent lens I consider them worth the price. I have never had to clean a lens and risk damaging the coatings, and I have yet to be convinced that the extra bit of glass reduces image quality. If the worst happens, having to pay for a replacement “filter” is a minor inconvenience, in my opinion.

David

Soft (microfiber) cloth is recommended for lens cleaning by lens manufacturers themselves (e.g. Canon, Nikon).

If you want to protect an expensive lens, use a filter for peace of mind, or if you lack spatial awareness (clumsiness). lol
Grit and hard objects can and will scratch the front coatings.
With many filters, you get what you pay for.

The vast majority of lens coatings today are very hard. I have often cleaned my 20+ year old Nikkor primes and zoom lenses with ECLIPSE Optic Cleaning Fluid and Pec Pads. Zippo lighter fluid can also be safely used for very stubborn grease or dirt. Lay a quarter corner of the Pec Pad on the lens, and then add a generous drop of fluid on top and wipe gently but firmly. Use each corner of the Pec Pad once, and of course, brush the lens first with a soft brush.

UV filters will prevent sunlight from killing mold and fungus!

I use ND grads and circular polarizers if and when required.

Cleaning lens elements in Canon FD 50mm 1:1.4 Breech-lock version (maybe Haze) - YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU9dyXyIIl0

Remove old fungus with Hydrogenperoxide in Pre-Ai Nikkor 50mm 1:1.4 - YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B-LfYakZ-Y

I don't normally, but I have a few lenses where the previous owners filter is still stuck on...
I might add a filter when shooting near the sea where salt spray could be an issue, but I'm far more likely to add a filter for the effect it produces (IR filters, polariser etc are used quite often)
I've often used a filter behind the lens...

Not for protection. Always have lens hood on. With filter staying on the very edge of the lens, when lens falls and filter shatters, you much more likely to damage front element than without filter. If you get an occasional fingerprint, that is microfiber cloth and lens cleaner are for. You will have to remove it from the filter anyway. For the dust, there is rocket blower and soft brush.

In 60 years of photography, I’ve never taken a lens out of the house without a protection filter and usually a hood as well. Only once has a camera swung forward and hit something. The filter broke and protected the lens underneath which was undamaged. I really don’t think that modern toughened and multi-coated filters have much if any effect on image quality, though I have seen a couple of posts showing odd optical effects which have disappeared after the filter was replaced.

Another Alan

I use filters to filter the light, hoods to keep non-image-forming light off the front element. A padded case and metal screw-in lens cap provides physical protection.

Hi,

No. Never. And I began shooting in 1973. At first with cameras that could not mount a filter anyway. Later, only used filters that did something besides just sit there. Color filters for B+W. Polarizing filters and ND ones. That sort of thing.

I have had one time where the front element had an issue. Mid 1980s at Watkins Glen. An errant lug nut smacked the 300mm F4 lens along the main straight. Took out the first three elements, actually. So a filter wouldn't have slowed the nut appreciably.

I wound up with a very nice shiner (black eye), too.

Other than that one time, no issues. I do always use a lens hood to mitigate flare, so many times when I might have come in contact with the front element myself, the hood gets in the way.

Stan

I only use protective filters for dirt-period.. Using one to protect from dropping a camera is like using a plastic bag for a motorcycle helmet. I've never dropped a camera in many decades. BTW every 35mm camera I have owned since the late 50s has accepted filters-even my TLR camera took bayonet filters. If you drop your camera often, a filter or hood may just be a band aid for a bigger problem.

I don't.