[Leica] lenshood v filters

["Rod Fleming" <rodfleming@sol.co.uk>]

Hi


The eminently sensible McEowen said, a propos of this

>Where I have done most damage to lens elements is in the camera bag. I'll
change lenses in the heat of the moment and just drop the previous lens into
a pocket in the bag. Often there's a rear cap laying in the bottom and the
two items will rub together while I work. I can't recall anything ever
hitting a lens I was using but I've buggered several lens elements by
carelessness like this . . <

I second that. Anyone want to buy a Nikkor 24mm f2.8, perfect other than
_slight_ marks on the glass? Cheap?

However, this thread illustrates delightfully a somewhat obsessive side to
the group- seems to me that like all things, there is a practical decision
to be made- if you're working on a windswept beach, or on a boat, or in a
nightclub, or you're at a news event with a rammy going on all around you,
common sense says it's smart to protect the kit, so clap on a filter. I
assure you, a front element covered in salt spray or beer is no better than
a filter covered in it, and I have more than once been smashed into by a TV
cameraman who was unable to see where he was going because of the monster on
his shoulder!

But if you're working in an environment where things are more under control,
take the filter off and go for the ballhair's worth of improved quality. For
this reason I have no Skylight or UV filters for my 6x7 or 5x4 lenses.

This all seems pretty straightforward, so why are people getting het to the
point of being downright impolite again? Is this a major point of principle
that I've missed all my life?

Seems to me it's more akin to those interminable and very boring arguments
that used to go on in the canteen at art school about whether you were
allowed to crop the image or whether you absolutely had to print the whole
neg right up to the edges. (Naw, don't start _that_ again.....)

Cheers

Rod