I am wondering what you think about using protection/clear filters on your lenses. Do you use them? Do you think they are a good use in outdoor/landscape/street-photography to protect your precious front element from dirt, water, scratches, cleaning?
What is your opinion on the pros and cons, what do you recommend?
Well it can vary and depend of the way I use the lens, the combo, and on the design of the lens too.
For instance, on the old EF 50mm 1.4 I would always and only use a lenshood. The AF mechanism is fragile and filter is to be screwed on the mobile part of the lens, making it even more fragile and exposed to shocks + filter is useless as dust can enter the mechanism anyway.
On the 500 PF Nikon, I use the cap (+ the lens hood when I have time to return it), because it seems filters disturb the autofocus. I manage to pull it off and back quickly when needed.
On Z 400mm F/4.5, I use Canon protect filter because it has no effect on performances and allow me to put the camera+lens in my bag without a cap (making it immediately available). It's really seamless.
On Z24-120, I have a Sigma WR - Ceramic filter fixed all the time, because the lens is often exposed to small impacts, dusts and sand even with lenshood and I want maximum availabilty without risk + the lens is quite solid and the weigth of the added filter has likely negligible effects on its mechanisms. The effects on optical performance is also negligible. I only had to remove the filter on some rare occasions when front lights were obviously creating ghosts.
On the Z 26mm F/2.8, I put an Hoya X-Dry on the lens hood because that way, the lens is like an IF lens. Adding a Nitrile rubber O-ring between lenshood and lens strengthens the whole. I use those rubbers on many mounts anyway.
However...
Each time I know I am going to use a lens in a sandy environment (beach), I tend to add a filter.
BTW, I avoid beaches with EF 50mm F/1.4, or I'm really cautious using it in this kind of circumstances ;)
My global feelings are that a filter won't be efficient for violent shocks (even ceramic ones). They could even break and then scratch the lens with glass pieces, or worst, insert glass dusts in the lens (I had that once). So if the main risk is impacts, lens hood (and/or cap when stored) may be the best protection.
For the rest, see my list above ;).
I would probably use a clear filter if I photographed in environments where the lens could be exposed to dirt/sand/water/...
For protection I use the lens hood. I always put it on, even if it is cloudy :-)
A clear filter could generate flare / reduce the acuity of the image in some conditions (lenses have a number of coatings to help with this; most clear filters are cheap and do not have any special coating).
I generally don't, except in dangerous environments like blowing sand and the like, and then I usually find I forgot to bring one. But I do sometimes use a polarizer. The problem with the polarizer is that nearly all lens hoods make it difficult to rotate with the hood on. Long ago when shooting mostly black and white, and slides, I used filters fairly often. You kind of have to use color filters if you shoot daylight film indoors, or vice versa, and red or yellow filters are good in black and white.
But as a general rule, I don't bother with filters, especially now when digital cameras don't suffer from the same issues with Uv and the like. I probably should when traveling, because a couple of times the lens cap had come off in transit, and put a couple of marks in my favorite zoom lens. But the marks are really onlhy an impediment to resale, and normal use has never marred a lens, and I figure anything that might add reflection or degrade an image is best avoided when possible.
I almost always use the hood, partly for protection.
I generally don't use them, but I do use hoods. I haven't had any problems so far. Of course, if you do you them, make sure to use a quality one. Unfortuantely the quality ones are a bit expensive if your lens has a large front element.
Thank you all for giving me your insight. I notice that protection filters are a controversal topic and that the use of such filters has pros and cons.
I by myself have always put filters on my precious lenses ever since my 'analog days' protecting my Zeiss lenses on the Contax cameras I used.
So I continued with putting protection filters on my lenses ever since. Currently I use B+W MRC clear filters (Schneider Kreuznach) on my Nikon Z lenses. There is one exception in the Z 14-24/f2.8 which comes with a bulky filter adapter but only a small hood and this is also probably the most exposed front element on lenses that I own.
Yes, I always put the lens hoods on wherever I go, except sometimes inhouse at home.
I once had a case when my D850 camera with the 24-70/f2.8 slipped from a bench next to me and fell face on 40cm to the ground. It shattered the filter in a thousand pieces and the ring got dented. It took a lot of care to clean the lens and being able finally to unscrew the broken filter. Would I have damaged the front element if without filter used? I don't know. Luckily no futher damage occured.
I often travel to the seaside and face wet conditions. Therefore I always thought better protect the lenses with a filter and clean them carefully instead of having to clean the front element. But yes, there are pros and cons.
Thanks anyway for your kind insights and taking the time to write.