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I like to use UV filters to protect the front side of my lenses. I have always used the cheap Tiffen filters, around US$5.00 each, depending on the diameter.

My question is, should I spend some more money on my UV filters? Like a Sigma Multi Coated UV filter, (or other equivalents from B+W, Hoya, etc) for around US$20.00-US$30.00)

My lenses are:

  • Nikon 50mm f/1.8D
  • Nikon 35mm f/1.8G
  • Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G
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    If it is a cheap lens, just don't use a UV filter at all. The only reason I even would use a UV filter is for lens protection anyways. – dpollitt Mar 29 '14 at 15:34
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Absolutely. Check out this instant-classic blog post from Lens Rentals, where low and high quality filters are compared in stacks to accentuate the effect. The short version is that both noticeably degrade IQ, but the cheap ones are a lot worse.

Overall, consider if you need extra protection at all for the situation, avoid any filter when you can. See Is a UV Filter required/recommended for lens protection? for that whole debate, but I'll just add that it's very common for someone to post here about some weird image artifact and the answer to be that it was caused by a protection filter.

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