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Joćo Francisco Mariano
11-Mar-2010, 19:48
Hi all,

I'm curious! Do you use UV filter in your LF lenses?
Regards.

Eric Rose
11-Mar-2010, 19:52
NO! Why put some cheap piece of crap on the front of an expensive lens. In all my years of professional photography I have never scratched a lens. Dust can be blown off.

JRFrench
11-Mar-2010, 20:07
UV filters actually have a use beyond lens protection, especially with film... Also you can spend as much on getting a good one as any other filter, it need not be cheap.

I don't at the moment, but would be interested to hear peoples opinions.

Ron Marshall
11-Mar-2010, 20:11
The only times I have used one with LF are near ocean spray or blowing sand. Each of my medium format lenses has on constantly in place. I tend to move more quickly and in more crowded places with the MF.

David de Gruyl
11-Mar-2010, 21:23
Typically, I use a sky 1a when shooting color film outdoors (I like my blue skies blue). Light yellow (08, I think), by default, for black and white (I like my blue skies different from clouds).

UV? No, not usually. I am pretty sure I don't own one. Piles of contrast filters, but not many clear ones. The sky 1a is slightly different from a UV filter, but it does work for cutting haze a bit. The light yellow works better, I think.

Lately, I have not been using a filter. (flash photography, it is not really all that useful, and I can use the speed).

Heroique
11-Mar-2010, 21:59
Hi Joćo,

UV filters are a “Yes, no, never, maybe” matter w/ me:

Leisurely shot in friendly area: No
Lens getting busy landscape use over the day: Usually yes
In addition to 2nd filter, like ND, polarizer, warming: Never
Hostile landscape: Usually always (I’m near sandy beaches & sandstone landscapes)
Hostile light in composition: No
Hostile landscape + hostile light: Set-up/take-down, Yes. At moment of shot, No.
To manage UV transmission to film: Don’t think I’ve ever tried or noticed.

Sounds like a lot to consider, but it’s really just second nature…

Mark Woods
12-Mar-2010, 00:18
UV filters are generally considered a must when shooting at higher elevations. The film responds to UV that we can't meter. The higher the elevation the more UV. When I've shot at 10K feet or higher, the strongest UV I can find is on the lens. It helps a lot.

Robert Skeoch
12-Mar-2010, 15:09
No, not a UV.
Just an 040 for shots with the sky.
-rob skeoch

Harley Goldman
12-Mar-2010, 16:21
No, never.

Stephen Willard
14-Mar-2010, 00:49
I use a UV haze 2A filter for midday shooting in bright light or at higher elevation at 10k and above. Most UV filters are only 75% effective while the 2A is 100% effective.

The only place I have been able to find one of these UV filters in a 4x4 size is at B&H Photo at the following URL http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=uv+2a&N=0&InitialSearch=yes.

The filter is made by Formatt, and it is not cheap, but man does it work. It sucks the excessive blue out of the scene and is great for fall foliage.

It comes with plastic border that I carefully ripped off and then coated the ends of the filter with nail polish to seal the multi-layered filter. The filter is too thick to fit into your Lee filter holder so I had to shim one of the slots so the I could insert the filter into the filter holder.

Hope this helps....

mcfactor
14-Mar-2010, 11:06
Yeah, when I was up in the Olympic Mountains in Washington State I did not have a UV and all my shots looked hazy. The color ones had a bluish cast that was really hard to correct for when printing. So, yes, a UV does actually do something when using film. Thats why I bought a UV for my upcoming trip to Guatemala.

Bruce Watson
14-Mar-2010, 12:34
No.

anchored
14-Mar-2010, 20:51
As I'm a rather heavy user of filters, and quite frequently use multiple filters on an image as it is, I'm loath to include filters that doesn't do much if anything to a set of filters that does do something useful (polarizer, ND Grads, warming).

Only time I'd consider using the UV would be in harsh environments, such as blowing sand or near salt water to protect a front element. Even then I'm more apt to use a skylight filter... at least it adds a touch of warmth when shooting in cold light.

The UV filter will not make hazy days clear nor will it have much if any effect when used on wider than normal or even standard length lenses. It will, however, be of some help on distant vistas when telephoto lenses are used.

Lens caps and/or hoods serve as far better "lens protectors" if that's the intent.

John Kasaian
14-Mar-2010, 21:02
Nope. I don't even have one that would fit any of my LF lenses.

srbphoto
14-Mar-2010, 21:19
Never a UV, with color, in forest or at altitude I usually have an 81A

Preston
14-Mar-2010, 21:44
I shoot color, so I may use an 81-A or 81-B very infrequently. Most of the time I do not use any filtration at all.

-P

dsphotog
14-Mar-2010, 22:59
I mostly shoot B&W with lf, a lot of the lenses I use are older, odd sizes or without filter threads, in that case, I hold filters (red orange, or yellow) in front during exposure.
For color I frequently use a polarizing filter.
When not in use, for protection, I try to keep caps on my lenses.

Andre Noble
15-Mar-2010, 19:04
I recently started to use a UV filter to protect the front element because modern large format lenses are becoming expensive past the rate of inflation.

I use Uv protective filters for my other format lenses, so why not my large format?