uvfilters

Best UV Filters

The Best Protection Filters for Lenses in 2024

If you want to get a rise from fellow photographers, hop onto any online photography forum and discuss ultraviolet (UV) lens filters. You can say they're excellent or that they're worthless. Either way, you're sure to kickstart a less-than-friendly debate. Like most online debates, there'll be no winners.

Five Products That New Photographers Should Never Buy

Portrait photographer Miquel Quiles says he has seen new photographers make a lot of mistakes as they get started with their new hobby, one of which is where they choose to spend their money. In this 10-minute video, Quiles highlights five items he says new photographers should never buy.

Why UV Filters are Basically Useless on Modern Cameras

We’re going to ask a controversial question: What do UV filters do, exactly? A UV blocking filter, (not to be confused with a UV Bandpass filter, which has the opposite function) is perhaps the most standard lens filter out there. It’s sold with every beginner lens filter kit along with polarizers and ND filters, and sometimes it’ll even ship with your camera.

Photo Mythbusters: How Much Do UV Filters Actually Protect Your Lenses?

Photographers often use UV filters for lens protection, but how much are they actually able to prevent your lens from getting damaged? Photographer Steve Perry of Backcountry Gallery recently decided to find out... by breaking a large number of filters and lenses.

In the video above, Perry cuts through the haze surrounding UV filters and shows what they actually do and don't do for your precious glass.

Experimenting with Stacks of UV Filters

One of the benefits of running a gear rental business is that you have a ton of equipment you can use for random experiments. That's exactly what Roger Cicala, the owner of LensRentals, did with the UV filters he had on hand. One-upping the 19 filter stack we shared a while back, he mounted 50 different UV filters to a Canon 5D Mark II and 300 f/4 lens to see what the resulting images would look like.

When Protecting Your Lens Goes Too Far

How far can you go in protecting your gear before people start thinking you have serious issues? We're not exactly sure, but the guy in the photo above probably crossed that line quite a few filters ago. Thankfully (or sadly, depending on how you see it) the guy isn't actually an uber-paranoid photographer, but just someone from the BorrowLenses team having a little fun.