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  • Protective filters for Canon EF-S Lenses

  • Discussion of photography and videography techniques, equipment and technology, and links to personal railroad-related photo galleries.
Discussion of photography and videography techniques, equipment and technology, and links to personal railroad-related photo galleries.

Moderators: nomis, keeper1616

 #614291  by NYC3001
 
For many years, I have always used a Hoya Skylight 1B filter as the standard protection device for my camera lenses. Now that I am thinking about finally making the switch to digital, is it good or a good safe to use a Skylight 1B on Canon EF-S lenses? Will it affect the color balance or performance of EF-S lenses in any way? Would I be better off using a clear UV filter instead?

Also, what type of polarizing filter is good to use with EF-S lenses?


Happy Holidays!

Sincerely,

Ron
Last edited by NYC3001 on Sun Dec 21, 2008 9:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 #614661  by NYC3001
 
This is good to know. I know there are two schools of thought on this matter, either against or in favor of using filters. While doing some railroad photography 20 years ago, a friend of mine who was standing next to me, had a rock fly up and hit his lens, and it severely damaging the front glass on it. He ended up replacing it with a new lens from Minolta.

Ever since then, I have been pro-protective filters for my lenses. Thankfully, it even paid off for me one day, as a chunk of coal hit and scratched my Skylight 1B while on a NS steam train excursion, but it saved the lens. I hate to think of replacing or repairing my lenses because of an accident like that.
 #615107  by MEC407
 
A lot of people will say that a simple plastic lens hood is just as protective as a filter in the event of dropping the camera, and that may be true, but the hood won't prevent flying objects from hitting the front element of the lens, such as what you experienced with that flying chunk of coal.

I leave a UV filter on my lenses at all times. I prefer the Hoya HMC and Super HMC filters, which are some of the best you can get, and more reasonably priced than some of the other big names. Also worth noting is that Hoya is one of the largest makers of glass in the world and they supply glass to most of the other filter makers.

http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/coatings.html

http://www.hoyafilter.com/products/hoya/gf-01.html

Filters will not harm or impede your EF-S lenses at all. Skylight filters do have a faint pink tint but this can be easily corrected after the photo is taken, or by using a custom white balance setting in the camera. Personally I prefer UV filters which are neutral in color.

As far as polarizers are concerned, just make sure that it's a "circular" polarizer, not a "linear" polarizer -- the "circular" type are a requirement for any autofocus lens.
 #615817  by NYC3001
 
Thank you for the information on the Hoya Super filters. I have always liked Hoya products, and will buy some for my new camera. I was always told that a Skylight 1B is the way to go when I was shooting slide film. Apparently, digital cameras are less fussy, and you can edit the image accordingly with Photoshop or other software programs. :-)