Do I need a lens filter for protection?

[kitkat]

I recently bought a Canon T5 bundle without really knowing the first thing about cameras. I'd like to learn, though, which is why I bought it.

My mother tells me I absolutely, definitely, 100% must get a lens filter to protect the lens, but I've read conflicting theories on whether or not it's a good idea, so I've come here to ask. I have heard people say that lens hoods give better protection, but I'm still unsure.

I got the camera on clearance for very cheap, and I'm on an extremely limited budget, so I'm unable to spend a lot on accessories, but I also don't want to fail to protect what I've got.

[RobertTheFat]

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@Waddizzle wrote:

Finally, first and foremost, keep MOM happy.

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Some of the worst decisions I ever made, and some of the best, stemmed from trying to placate my mother. For example, I once attended, with great reluctance, a party (the 1960s equivalent of a high-end dating bar) to which my mother had wangled a colleague into getting me invited. She had made it abundantly clear that if I didn't go, she would be mortified to face her colleague ever again.

I never met the colleague, but I did meet my future wife at that party. We've been married for 50 years.

[Waddizzle]

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@RobertTheFat wrote:

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@Waddizzle wrote:

Finally, first and foremost, keep MOM happy.

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Some of the worst decisions I ever made, and some of the best, stemmed from trying to placate my mother. For example, I once attended, with great reluctance, a party (the 1960s equivalent of a high-end dating bar) to which my mother had wangled a colleague into getting me invited. She had made it abundantly clear that if I didn't go, she would be mortified to face her colleague ever again.

I never met the colleague, but I did meet my future wife at that party. We've been married for 50 years.

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LOL.  Want know what I think of your story?  I think you met the colleague and married her.

[RobertTheFat]

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@Waddizzle wrote:

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@RobertTheFat wrote:

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@Waddizzle wrote:

Finally, first and foremost, keep MOM happy.

---

Some of the worst decisions I ever made, and some of the best, stemmed from trying to placate my mother. For example, I once attended, with great reluctance, a party (the 1960s equivalent of a high-end dating bar) to which my mother had wangled a colleague into getting me invited. She had made it abundantly clear that if I didn't go, she would be mortified to face her colleague ever again.

I never met the colleague, but I did meet my future wife at that party. We've been married for 50 years.

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LOL.  Want know what I think of your story?  I think you met the colleague and married her.

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Nope! I'd have found that out by now! 

[ebiggs1]

B from B,

"We've been married for 50 years."

Ditto but I met her at  Hallmark in KC.  

[RobertTheFat]

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@ebiggs1 wrote:

B from B,

"We've been married for 50 years."

Ditto but I met her at  Hallmark in KC.  

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An office romance? 

My wife and I were one or two steps removed from that. When we met, she was working for the Aetna insurance company in Hartford. I had been a summer intern there for a couple of years when I was in college, so we knew some of the same people.

[John_SD]

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@RobertTheFat wrote:

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I did meet my future wife at that party. We've been married for 50 years.

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That is an increasingly rare achievement in this day and age. Kudos times 50. 

[John_SD]

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@kitkat wrote:
I recently bought a Canon T5 bundle without really knowing the first thing about cameras. I'd like to learn, though, which is why I bought it.

My mother tells me I absolutely, definitely, 100% must get a lens filter to protect the lens, but I've read conflicting theories on whether or not it's a good idea, so I've come here to ask. I have heard people say that lens hoods give better protection, but I'm still unsure.

I got the camera on clearance for very cheap, and I'm on an extremely limited budget, so I'm unable to spend a lot on accessories, but I also don't want to fail to protect what I've got.

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I use a UV filter on my lenses whenever I'm out shooting -- not to filter out UV light, but for lens protection. I favor shooting in nature -- the California desert, mountain areas, wooded areas, and seashore. I don't have enough confidence in lens hoods to protect my lenses in these environments. And to date, I have not noticed any degradation of image quality, flaring or other obvious abnormalities. I do this even though I have only inexpensive kit lenses, but everytime I am out, it doesn't seem to take terribly long to discover small specks of dust or a grain or two of sand on the filter surface. So I am glad that I have that protection.

[ebiggs1]

John_SD,

That is because all the nay sayers about using protecto filters is BS.  Big BS!

"I have not noticed any degradation of image quality, flaring or other obvious abnormalities. ..."

And neither do they.  They search for it.  I sell photos and no one yet has said, I would have bought that photo if you only hadn't used that protecto filter.

"So I am glad that I have that protection."

Me too but the biggest BS concerning the nay sayers is, they forget if you do run into a situation where the filter causes an issue, remove it.  It unscrews as easily as it screwed on!

"I don't have enough confidence in lens hoods to protect my lenses in these environments."

Hoods are great.  They are a must have.  They need to be on the lens 99% of the time.  However they do not offer much in the way of protection as you say.