I once had a camera bag that could convert into a top-opening backpack. While shooting at the Holocaust Memorial in Israel, I switched my 70-210 f/3.5 macro for a wide-angle lens, and reached over my shoulder with the 70-210 and put it into the open top of the bag. I made sure the lens did indeed go inside the opening... I just didn't stop to check how FAR it went in. I let go of it, it tilted to one side, and since the fulcrum was 1/4 from the inside-the-bag lens end, it toppled out of the backpack. My first awareness was the reverberating shattering noise I heard.
Back at the hotel, I carefully picked all the pieces of glass out. The UV filter had shattered and uts mounting ring was bent and could not be unscrewed. I had no tools with me, so I left it that way for the remainder of the trip. The lens worked just fine, and once I got back to the states, I user wire nips to cut the ring and then I was able to bend it inward and remove it. The threads on the lens were still good. Lucky me.
You DO get optical degradation every time you add a piece of glass, as well as a loss of light; unless it's a REALLY expensive filter with extremely high-end coatings, it'll also increase reflections between elements inside the lens, and will lower contrast when shooting toward a light source.
With ANY filter, always get the very best you can afford. There's no reasong to spend $2000 on a lens and then spend $30 on the filter; buying a top-quality filter and the next grade down of lens will give you about the same results for less money (although if you're building an investment in gear, then getting the better lens may make more sense in the long run).
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2006-11-20 03:26 pm (UTC)Back at the hotel, I carefully picked all the pieces of glass out. The UV filter had shattered and uts mounting ring was bent and could not be unscrewed. I had no tools with me, so I left it that way for the remainder of the trip. The lens worked just fine, and once I got back to the states, I user wire nips to cut the ring and then I was able to bend it inward and remove it. The threads on the lens were still good. Lucky me.
You DO get optical degradation every time you add a piece of glass, as well as a loss of light; unless it's a REALLY expensive filter with extremely high-end coatings, it'll also increase reflections between elements inside the lens, and will lower contrast when shooting toward a light source.
With ANY filter, always get the very best you can afford. There's no reasong to spend $2000 on a lens and then spend $30 on the filter; buying a top-quality filter and the next grade down of lens will give you about the same results for less money (although if you're building an investment in gear, then getting the better lens may make more sense in the long run).