Cheap filters - false economy!

[smooth]

Hey all!

Now I know this has been discussed before but just thought I would share my experience.

I have always been of the mind that I should always smack on a filter to protect the front element of my lenses. I only use them for protection so I purchased a cheapy ones from ebay - hoya UV.

I have recently being taking more closeups - especially of flowers - and have noticed how much sharper some peoples shots are on here. Then it occured to me about reading a thread a while back (that I just spent 10 mins hunting for to no avail) where the OP had a marked difference in sharpness when they removed the filter.

I have a 24-105 L, fiddy 1.4 and a 200 2.8 L and will now be spending to get genuine high quality filters.

Lesson=learned. So thanks to the OP in that thread. Thanks to TP. This place ROCKS

\end transmission.

 

[EdBray]

Or you could just take them off and only use them at all when conditions dictate. Protect the lens with its hood!

 

[smooth]

Fair point Ed.
I just never dreamed it would make such a difference - it stands to reason though - adding another layer of optics that weren't intended when the focus was calibrated etc.

I would leave them off but sods law states the one time I dont put them on....

 

[Blue Moon 7]

I use the usual filters - CP, ND's, etc, but cannot work out why people would pay for very good lenses and then put cheap glass / or another layer in front of them (apart from protection in extreme conditions, like sandstorms, salt, etc). That is just me though and I know that lots of people have filters on their lenses all the time. A friend of mine had a similar ecxperience to yourself in that he couldn't get the image quality that he was expecting. Filter off and he was almost there!

Chris