For New DSLR Camera Owners
 

Lots of new camera owners around the holidays. I was just reminded of an important accessory for DSLR owners.
Save yourself the agony and spend the $9 on the UV Filter!
Is a UV filter necessary for taking great pictures? Not even slightly.
But it IS ABSOLUTELY necessary as a sacrificial element to protect your expensive lenses. There will come a time when you'll drop your camera without it's lens cover on, in my case that $9 filter got obliterated and the lens was unscathed.

BTW, any Pentax users here? I just upgraded from my much loved K10D to a shiny new K7, and ya, it's really, REALLY good!
(The weather sealing is Pentax's niche, and it's served me extremely well. Soaked to the bone in Tennessee rainforests, buried in snow in Wyoming, 5 degrees at 14,000ft. That K10D NEVER let me down. Money)

been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

I've been slinging a digital cam around for years and have gone through a few now.
I keep a spare.

using Canon Rebel's fwiw.

I've had a Rebel XTI since July... Still haven't gotten a filter....

Buy the filter Sidney....

It's seriously cheaper in the long run.

I know... Not like my lens is any prize though...

+1000
And, if you have expensive HQ optics, I'd probably spring for a decent UV filter (B+W, etc.), not some cheap POS. YMMV.

LOL! True. My setup is like a Bentley with rubber floormats... :(

All my lenses have B+W UV filters, most of the multi-coated. If you have good glass, use a good filter. The other thing is that even though they look dorky (imho), lens hood can also save your lens from getting banged around. I never used them (I deal with flare other ways) until I read a thread elsewhere that got me thinking. PUt it on the 70-200/4 the next time I was at the track taking pictures and sure enough the g/f banged the lens into a wall. Just scratched up the plastic hood.

Used to be a Pentaxian. 77/1.8 ltd is a magic lens. Moved to FF though so sold all my Pentax stuff. K7 is a very nice body and the ltd primes are unique in the current photo world.

The lens hood is the better way to go by far. Some argue the lens filter can actually scratch the lens when it breaks. Some claim a UV filter actually degrades a digital image, although if it does, it's probably slight. If there's enough light available, a circular polarizer does the same thing and improves the image, sometimes dramatically.

The 1st thing I did for my camera was get a UV filter and then put the lens cap in the closet.

I bought a Me Super back in 1980 or so... and picked up alot of good Pentax glass.

A few years ago bought an istD again outfitted with good primes..

This Christmas eve the sensor on my istD failed.... I'm going to pick up a K7 when I get back to NY from the frozen tundra of Vermont.

Also having a UV or daylight filter on to protect the lens has always been a good idea

I prefer having a Circular Polarizer as opposed to a UV filter.