I was taught to keep a clear/UV filter on every lens, but with modern coatings and a hood I’m not convinced it’s helping. My 24–70’s 82mm B+W threw extra ghosts shooting neon downtown Chicago Friday night, and it was a $65 add-on. Has a filter saved your front element, or am I missing the upside?
I only keep a UV on when I’m near salt spray or blowing grit; for neon like downtown Chicago I pull the 82mm B+W because those extra surfaces ghost. If you’re worried about protection, treat the filter as a “$65 add‑on” you pop on for risky conditions and otherwise run the hood and use your hand as a flag. That’s kept my front element safe when it matters.
Same here — neon downtown made my 82mm B+W flare like crazy; . If protection’s the goal, hood + cap most of the time, and when there’s spray/grit I pop on a clean multicoated clear (not UV) and pull it again for night; quick check: shine your phone light at the lens with and without the filter to see which reflections you’re adding. For a “$65 add-on” I’d rather buy insurance — has a filter saved your front element, @OP?
I treat clear filters like sunglasses — great in spray or grit, but they ruin neon. A small upgrade that helped: switch to a slim, nano‑coated magnetic protector so you can snap it off for city lights and back on when things get messy; keeping it surgically clean cuts a lot of the ghosts. @hazelste87 do you run a magnetic setup?