When I picked up my bag and swung it onto my back, one of my lenses (a Nikon 16-35 f/2.8) fell out of the bag. When we arrived at our location, I pulled my tripod out of the back of his car followed by my camera bag. Recently I was out photographing with a friend. That is unless you are shooting with film because you don’t have a sensor and your camera won’t have a UV cut filter.īut there is a second purpose for the humble UV filter, and that’s to protect your lens. Theoretically then, you don’t need another UV filter on the front of the lens. These remove most of the light that’s outside the visible spectrum. The truth is, most modern digital cameras will have a UV cut filter covering the sensor (along with an IR cut filter). Do You Need a UV Filter?Īt this point I can hear lots of people shouting you don’t need a UV filter, but others are shouting yes you do.

This trend seems to continue to this day, providing you can find a camera shop. Camera shops always had them in stock and were keen to sell them when you purchased a lens. When I first started in photography (shooting film), the UV filter was an essential accessory. It does though allow visible (and Infra-Red or IR) light to pass. The UV filter screws into the front of the lens and prevents UV light entering the lens.

Nikon lens filters guide pdf