ASK JIM

Every month, Jim will answer a question from his online students, from people who participate in his tours and workshops, or from subscribers to this magazine. If you have a question you’d like Jim to answer, please drop him a note at photos@jimzuckerman.com.

Q: Jim . . . Many of my photographer friends use UV or skylight filters on their lenses. I don’t. Do you think they are necessary, and if so, why?

Matt Hatcher, Farmington, Michigan

A: In terms of image quality, color cast (such as a bluish haze), and contrast, I’ve never been able to see a difference between images that have been filtered with this kind of glass and those that weren’t. If a scene has enough haze so it’s noticeable, these filters won’t get rid of it. In my opinion, the only reason to use any of these filters is to protect the front glass element of the lens from some kind of mishap. For example, years ago a friend of mine picked up his camera backpack from the ground and he’d forgotten to zip it closed. A 70200mm fell out of the pack and onto a concrete sidewalk, breaking the skylight filter. The lens, miraculously, was unharmed, obviously protected by the filter. I used to have skylight filters on all my lenses, but I don’t anymore. In 55 years of photography, I’ve never dropped a lens or camera, so without the filters I save a little weight, save money, and don’t have to be psychologically concerned that I’m degrading image quality with another piece of glass. UV and skylight filters don’t really degrade image quality, but psychologically it still bothers me to use them. But that’s just me. §