Re: Do you use filters?

[Paul Young <pauly@sdd.hp.com>]

> 
> What are the groups habits/thoughts on using filters on Leica lenses.  Any
> special do's or dont's?
> 

I am a big fan of not using any filter. I will occasionally
use a pola, but that's it (IR excepted too). I have found
over 30 years that filters DO degrade the image, if perhaps
only slightly. I have had only one lens out of dozens
that has ever suffered a very slight (< 1mm) scratch in
the coating. And I am not particularly kind to my equipment.
Even if I completely ruined two or three lenses in that time
it would not change my mind. To me, it's worth getting better
images (especially true I have found with Leitz lenses) to
risk a lens every decade or so. If it got to the point I was 
ruining a lot of lens glass, I would take a look at my care
of equipment before I would 'protect' it with a filter.

Paul.