Hi,

I've just purchased a Panasonic DMC-FZ48 bridge camera which seems well up to my limited photographic skills, but I was thinking of getting a skylight filter and some uv filters like I used to use on my old 35mm camera.

My question is 2 fold really, firstly, are all the 52mm filter threads compatible with the panasonic lens?.

Secondly, does anybody have any particular brand that they favour?. My old filter kit was from Hunter plastics, but is over 25 years old so I take it Hunter are no more?.

Any advice would be gratefully received as I am getting back into photography after nearly a 15 year lay-off.

Many thanks

Phil

Skylight and UV filters were used with film cameras because of the oversensitivity of film to the blue/UV end of the spectrum.

The skylight added a slight red tweak to the colour balance to compensate for the oversensitivity to blue/UV. You don't need this with digital as the in-built colour balance adjustment takes care of this.

The only use for a UV filter on digital is as a lens protector. You need to balance the advantages of this protection against the disadvantages of flare and ghosting by adding an extra, very large piece of glass to the optical path.

I used Hoya and Canon UV filters and lens protectors on my lenses until I bought a Sigma 10-20 UWA lens. I duly bought a (very expensive!) Hoya UV filter to protect it. I found that unless I had my back to the sun the lens flared so badly I was about to return it to Sigma. Then I took the filter off - no flare! I took the filters off my other lenses and the flare disappeared from them as well. I sold the lot on ebay and will never buy another!

The only filters I use now are polarisers and a yellow filter for when I am shooting black and white film

There is an extensive debate on the efficacy of filters in this thread:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/247300-bridge-cameras/

I think they are unnecessary at best and detrimental at worst, Loz is a vehement supporter. Read the thread and make up your own mind.

Thanks for that, looking at the other thread, it looks like if I elect to go the filter route then I would need a protector, a uv and a polariser, would I be correct?. Ideally, I would like the camera to see the image unfettered, but I dont want to damage the lense if I use it in a hostile environment.

By the looks of it I am looking at Hoya as a brand, would I be correct in assuming there would be no mismatch in the threads?.

Thanks very much for spending time to help me, gradually finding my feet again.

Phil

Thanks for that, looking at the other thread, it looks like if I elect to go the filter route then I would need a protector, a uv and a polariser, would I be correct?.

By the looks of it I am looking at Hoya as a brand, would I be correct in assuming there would be no mismatch in the threads?.

The UV acts as a protector. Canon make plain glass protector filters. You need one or the other - not both. The protection is physical - if the lens gets hit then the flter breaks, chips or scratches, hopefully without damaging the lens front element. The reasoning is that replacing a 10-30 quid filter is cheaper than a new lens.

I am 99% sure that all filters have the same pitch thread. I recently bought a yellow filter (Russian made) for my early 1960's Mamiya 4B with 40.5mm thread. The filter fitted perfectly as did the new 40.5mm screw-in lens hood I bought.

Hoya are a good brand but note that they have different standards from cheap and cheerful to pro grade. All are good but the more you pay the less prone they are to flare and ghosting.

Thanks very much.

Phil

Have you considered leaving a hard lens hood on a the time?

That will stop the physical bangs to the front element from almost everything. It obviously doesn't stop blown debris though!

I think we sometimes forget how tough the lenses and coatings are these days...

When I said hostile, I was meaning that my son does a lot of kart races which can be quite dusty at times, also, some of the garages where he works for his BTCC team can be quite grotty dusty places too.

I already have a hood which I will be giving a try, but I am really trying to stop an own goal by my own hand really due to surroundings that I will be operating in.

Thanks a lot everyone for the input - will be on a spending trip this weekend I think.

Phil

Have you considered leaving a hard lens hood on a the time?

That will stop the physical bangs to the front element from almost everything. It obviously doesn't stop blown debris though!

I think we sometimes forget how tough the lenses and coatings are these days...

I picked up my camera bag a couple of weeks ago and the zip wasn't done up properly - body and lens fell from carrying height to the floor (landing right on the lens cap). As it was packed away for transit the hood was on backwards so would have taken no brunt at all. The lens cap was pushed through the filter by the impact turning that into a couple of hundred shards of glass.

I'm not sure how badly it would have gone naked. But I'm definitely still pro-filter (and lens hood on whenever in use).

That said; I respect how resilient lens glass is but if I can reduce the amount of wear it gets with minimal picture quality loss then I'll go for it. I'm sure you can get away without one if you're not as idiotic as me though - but I know how my luck is.

That said; I respect how resilient lens glass is but if I can reduce the amount of wear it gets with minimal picture quality loss then I'll go for it. I'm sure you can get away without one if you're not as idiotic as me though - but I know how my luck is.

+1 ditto to that for me too