On Mon, 23 Nov 1998 06:29:34 -0500, "Fred Whitlock" wrote:

>This is a 35mm newsgroup and Ansel Adams shot primarily with view cameras
>(he used 2 1/4 a little but not very often.) Comparing an image made with a
>view camera to one made with a 35mm camera is something like comparing a
>yacht to a canoe. Ansel Adams' lenses were perfectly capable of making
>better photographs than any 35mm camera can make today. I actually studied
>with Ansel Adams so I knew him briefly and he wasn't very hung up on camera
>equipment. I don't doubt that he made a comment against UV filters but his
>off hand comments often became legend like his photographs. They're
>probably considered more important to us than they were to him. I've never
>owned a UV filter for a view camera lens and I doubt Adams did either. View
>cameras aren't hand held and therefore don't get into as much trouble as
>35mm cameras. Adams used filters all the time, of course, (pretty obvious
>from his photographs) so he wasn't afraid of putting a piece of flat glass
>in front of his lenses.
>
>Incidentally, Adams was still alive after the development of multicoating
>although its application to filters could be more recent. I honestly can't
>remember. APO (which stands for apochromatic) technology has been
>incorporated into some view camera lenses since before I was born in the
>1940's. Way before. View camera photographers use APO lenses regularly
>for closeup photography. I think virtually all process camera lenses are
>apochromatic.
>
>Multicoating is more of a marketing benefit than a photographic benefit in
>filters, by the way. Don't let it hang you up. Don't feel bad about
>putting UV filters to protect the fronts of your 35mm camera lenses, either.
>I do it all the time and recommend the practice to others. Good shooting.

"Ditto", 'cept for the part 'bout working with A. Adams, and a note
that he did do at least a little work with 35mm...;-)
Why the UV filter generates so much interest, I jes' dunno....! ;-)
Heck, a two-minute experiment will answer the basic (oft'-repeated)
two questions about using UV filters for anyone:
Shoot two slides (shot identically!!!) under high-UV conditions,
one with and one without a good (not necessarily expensive, or
even multicoated) UV filter. See if you can see any (good, or
bad...) difference in the two slides (assuming the filter was
in good condition, and not defective...).