DPR Forum

Welcome to the Friendly Aisles!
DPRF is a photography forum with people from all over the world freely sharing their knowledge and love of photography. Everybody is welcome, from beginners to the experienced professional. Whether it is Medium Format, fullframe, APS-C, MFT or smaller formats. Digital or film. DPRF is a forum for everybody and for every format.
Enjoy this modern, easy to use software. Look also at our Reviews & Gallery!

UV Filters for Contax G Lenses

I have a G1 & just received some Heliopan UV filters for my 45mm & 90mm. The lens hood for the 45 does not seem to fit the new filter. The size is OK, but the hood runs out of thread before it is tight. The hood & filter seem to only have a small area that is threaded & the filter threads pass this point & then gets loose. It may stay on, but it rattles (not acceptable). Is there a work-around or am I stuck?
 
Can a linear polarizer be used with a G2? I am a new user and am not clear yet on how the focus system works.

Never mind....I just saw the thread about polarizers.
 
Yes, I switched to Contax filters. For the UV anyway. The guy at Jacks Camera that sold me the filters didn't know about the issue, but another person did so they are exchanging them. I guess that it's just one of those things that only experience teaches us. Heliopan doesn't mention this thread thing as a feature or anything, so I don't know why their filters are different.
cheers
 
> On the subject of filters, I remember reading somewhere (one of Roger > Hick's books, I think), that it's better if the glass is not too > tighty held in place by the mount. Apparently, this can apply pressure > unevenly, and cause distortion, degrading your photos. So slightly > loose may be better than too tight, certainly I've never noticed any > degrading of the image from loosely held glass filters, and I have a > couple that move slightly if you wiggle 'em. Maybe you're worrying > unnecessarily. Hope this helps, Malcolm >
 
I keep Contax UV or Skylight filters on my lenses at all times, unless I'm using a B/W filter or perhaps a polarizer (I never stack filters). The only time the front glass of the lens is exposed at home it is under a constant wash of compressed air.

But after taking such nice care of my lens glass, I play rough with the filters. I will wash them in a motel 6 sink if I need to, or wipe them with a shirt sleeve. "Head and Shoulders" is a great filter cleaner. Tough luck, they have a job to do -- protect my Zeis lens. They have a hard, fast life with me and then I buy a new set of filters for my 4 G lenses every 12-18 months or so...
 
Speaking of filters, I recently purchased a Black G2 and would love to know if contax makes the filters with the black finish? any thoughts would be appreciated!
 
I was just considering this, as i'm about to get back into a G2 system and still have some 46mm filters from a Leica kit i'm selling.... But, as i thought about it, i've decided NOT to use any protective filters on the G2 lenses. I'll primarily be using the 45mm lens, and as it's priced so inexpensively, i'm just not going to worry about it. I do use filters on all of my other glass (Hassy, Canon, ContaxN), but i don't think i'm going to be concerned with protecting a $200 lens, especially since i've never damaged a lens (or filter) in the past. My philosophy about insurance/protective measures is "always protect what you cannot afford to replace." I suppose that with some of the more pricey lenses one might want to take extra precautions, but i'm likely to only use a 35+50 and possibly 90mm kit, and i'm just going to throw caution to the wind.

In a general sense, though, i think one would be hard-pressed to ever discern the difference in imagery made with versus without a high-quality filter. I would, though, only buy the best glass, and multi-coated where possible. B+W, Heliopan, or Contax Multicoated. Contax does make 46mm UV filters, "glass" and "multicoated" versions, but i haven't found images of them, so i don't know what the finish is.
 
On the subject of filters, I am about to purchase a number of B& W and Heliopan filters for the 2 G2 kits that I own.
I have never read a simple explanation of the effect of the Skylight 1.5 filter with its "pink salmon" affect.
I have not purchased high quality lens glass to have the images "distorted" by a Sklight filter.
Would some posters be good enough to comment on what Skylight ( as opposed to straight UV ) filters actually do and how they would affect pictures taken with them,
Thanks,
Robert Cudlipp
Melbourne Australia
 
Back
Top