Lens hoods and filters

Hands up those that keep filters on the front of their lenses for protection.

Now, those with your hands in the air (it's ok, you can put them down now) do you use the best filters you can buy? You know, the Canon range or the Hoya Pro 1 Digital etc?

No? You use the ordinary ones from the corner shop?

Shame on you. Let me put it to you simply. A filter creates another air-glass interface and increases the risk of light scatter, reduced light transmission, flare, ghosting, aberrations etc. If you don't use the best filters you can buy, you may as well give up on the expensive glass habit you have and buy cheap milkbottle lenses for all the good you're getting out of your L-Series ones.

More to the point though, what protection is a filter on the front of the lens going to give? Honestly, if you drop it, two things will happen. The filter will break, thereby scratching the front element anyway, and the filter mount will deform leaving you with a broken filter jammed to the front of your lens. Great scenario!

In my opinion, there are only a couple of occasions when using a filter on the front of the lens is acceptable. 1. On a beach or dune with wind-blown sand. 2. In a rain storm with driving rain. 3. When the lens is pointing out of a fast moving vehicle in the direction of travel.
Notice anything about these scenarios? They all involve the possibility of wind-borne objects hitting the front lens element. At all other times, your better off without.

If you really want to protect the front lens element, get a lens hood. Lens hoods should be bought with lenses as standard. In fact, we wish Canon would start bundling them with all the lenses, not just the L-Series.
The lens hood, while not as effective against wind-borne objects, is effective against dropping the lens (it acts like a crumple zone), fingers getting the front of the lens accidentally, and most importantly, lens flare. Using a lens hood should be a matter of course. It will improve contrast in your images, reduce flare and ghosting and give you that piece of mind that for most situations, the front of your lens is well protected.

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ICS - the dust system

I've lost count of the number of times I've been asked if the Integrated Cleaning System of Canon cameras works or not. The reality is, in our experience, yes it does. But we're just a few people. The wider world is a big place and while most people we talk to are happy with it, we want to know what you think. Do the shaking filters in front of the sensor really help to keep dust away? Is the extra space between the filters and the sensor effective in making what dust is there less obtrusive? How often do you do a manual clean? Have you use the Dust Delete Data function? If so, how did you find it? Has it reduced the frequency with which you have to manually clean the sensor? And for those Nikon users that have defected from Canon (yes, I know there are some of you reading this!) do you miss the cleaning system? Is it one of those things you now need to spend time on again? 

Yes, questions! And yes, we want answers! 

And now for a tip - The shaking filters works by dislodging dust from filters which then drops onto sticky tape below. Think about it like industrial double-sided tape. If you want to maximise the chance of the dust hitting that tape and staying there, you need to make sure gravity is on your side. So, when it comes time to do the automatic sensor cleaning (in other words any time you turn the camera on or off) make sure you try and keep the camera pointing forwards - i.e. with the lens pointing away from you. That way the dust will fall onto the tape. 

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Polarising filters

Polarising filters are not just for landscapes! 

While polarisers are the standard filter for most landscape photographers, they also have a valid place in the gadget bag of just about any photographer.

Here I was trying to shoot some images for a friend who runs his own company. The screen of his van was glaring badly in the light, so I took out the polariser to cut it out. 

So, if at any time you find yourself with reflections and glare on glass or water that you need to remove, the polariser is your friend. 

How does it work? Well, quite simply, they block light rays moving in a certain plane. By rotating the filter you can see the effect through the lens which makes it a lot easier to use. It won't work all the time though. If you are shooting in the sun, or with the sun at your back, you will not find muc effect of a polarising filter. To get the most out of it, you need the sun to be at 90deg to you as it was in these shots. 

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