UV or skylight?

[simpo two]

Which is the best for keeping on the front of a lens and is there really any difference?

[fatsteve]

Interesting question since I use UV filters on all my lenses (except when using specific polarisors etc).

The UV was recommended to me by my local photography emporium, over a skylight 1B. However, without comparing the 2 together I'm not sure of the difference.

I can only guess that the UV has a degree of polarisation to filter the UV band whereas the skylight is essentially just a protective "clear" lens.

Steve

[dcw@pr]

I use UV filters, because it has less of an effect on the picture, and the effect that it does have is one which you are unlikely to be able to achieve in Photoshop, unlike the skylight. Hold up a skylight to the errrr, sky, and you will see that it has a slightly pinkish hue to it. It is much more useful (IMHO) for film photographers who cannot so easily change the hues on their photos after they are taken, and when a slightly warm photo is preferable to a cool one.

The UV filter does not have much of a visible effect, at least not that I can see. Supposedly it cuts out haze to a certain degree, which may be useful on shots which contain subjects in the far distance. Personally, I've never seen a photo where I thought "Wow, that UV filter has made a big (or even small) difference", but then again I've never actually properly tested one. What it does do is protect you from scratches, and bears the brunt of a dropping force - I have smashed a UV filter before by dropping a camera, but the lens itself was fine. I'm sure that wouldn't be the case if there was no filter.

[Emmap]

I agree entirely with dcw@pr. What I would recommend too is the use of METAL lens hoods. I knocked a Hasselbald and tripod over once on a stone floor. The hood crunched taking most of impact.

>> Edited by Emmap on Wednesday 1st September 23:38

[te51cle]

I started out with Skylight filters but pretty soon changed to UV as I didn't like the pinkish hue on all my photos. That was in the pre-photoshop days. I also learnt that Hoya filters are much better than a certain camera shops' own brand ones !

I know video cameras have a white balance facility, if the digital cameras have one too then the colour of the filter would be almost irrelevant as it would automatically adapt to the colour of the light falling on the chip.

[Emmap]

te51cle said:

I started out with Skylight filters but pretty soon changed to UV as I didn't like the pinkish hue on all my photos. That was in the pre-photoshop days. I also learnt that Hoya filters are much better than a certain camera shops' own brand ones ! I know video cameras have a white balance facility, if the digital cameras have one too then the colour of the filter would be almost irrelevant as it would automatically adapt to the colour of the light falling on the chip.

Hoya are excellent. B&W filters are excellent too. You might want to take a seat first though if you enquire about prices (especially polarizers:0).

[dcw@pr]

te51cle said:

I know video cameras have a white balance facility, if the digital cameras have one too then the colour of the filter would be almost irrelevant as it would automatically adapt to the colour of the light falling on the chip.

Often the white balance sensor is not TTL, so it will not take into account any filters on the lens.

[simpo two]

dcw@pr said:

Often the white balance sensor is not TTL, so it will not take into account any filters on the lens.

So where is it if not TTL? I'm sure it's TTL on DSLRs, but are you saying compacts have a separate window for this?

[dcw@pr]

simpo two said:

So where is it if not TTL? I'm sure it's TTL on DSLRs, but are you saying compacts have a separate window for this?

At least one of the recent/current top end Canons (a 1D version I think) had an external white balance sensor. It was a little window on the body itself.

[dcw@pr]

Found it www.google.co.uk/search?q=cache:T7z5DngTozsJ:www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos1d/+canon+1d+external+white+balance&hl=en

Looks like it's a combo system that uses both TTL and external sensors. They seem to have binned it on the MkII so maybe it didn't work very well for just this reason?

[simpo two]

dcw@pr said:

Looks like it's a combo system that uses both TTL and external sensors. They seem to have binned it on the MkII so maybe it didn't work very well for just this reason?

Perhaps the reason it was external was that a TTL one would otherwise neutralise the effect of filters you'd put on specifically to change the colour!

[dcw@pr]

simpo two said:

Perhaps the reason it was external was that a TTL one would otherwise neutralise the effect of filters you'd put on specifically to change the colour!

good point. whatever the reason though, lookis like it didn't work...

[Nighthawk]

Bit late on this one

I keep UV filters on all my lenses. Far cheaper to replace this than the lens. As mentioned it also reduces heat haze.
I've also not noticed any visable artifacts on my shots when I add a polariser on to the UV filter.