[Leica] Re: (Leica] filters - a new thread!

["C & C Property" <michael@scoates.freeserve.co.uk>]

I just want to add my view on the constantly re-occuring filter thread.

Whenever someone puts a message on this list it adds to the never-ending
argument on whether to stick a piece of glass on the
front of a high quality lens; should you protect the front element and
slightly reduce the resolution or not, etc, etc.

I started photography ten years ago with a little Minolta FS-E2 compact
camera, and was dissapointed with my landscape results - the background was
always too dark, and the sky always washed out.  The answer: an SLR with a
grey graduate!  I changed my camera for a Minolta 7000 and using print film,
the same thing happened!  So - I changed to slide film and finally got the
perfectly exposed landscapes with a correct sky.  I don't use filters for
special effects - just to get an image on film that I saw with my eyes.
Heck, I never use a flashgun - I would rather expose for 2 minutes using
natural daylight for my macro shots rather than rely on a nasty blitz of
fake light!  (Must invest in that Noctilux and an M6...).

I now use a Leica SLR system and have continued to use my Cokin filters (2
blue and grey graduates, and a polariser).  How else can you get landscapes
to look right?  How do other LUGgers manage, especially those of use who use
an M6, where you can't see the effect of the graduation?

Incidentally, I don't have a protection filter on the front of my lenses.

Simon