Home > Consumer Reviews > Tiffen 46mm UV Protection Filter

This UV filter does it job to protect the lens well. The build is solid (metal construction). The glass is also descent quality.

About the performance, it absorbs some UV light. The UV light absorbtion is hardly noticeable, probably the sky 1-A and the haze filter version will absorb more UV light than this lens which is fine for me.

Now, about the one problem which is the internal reflection. I've heard many people say that it mostly happens during night or low light shooting. I found out that it is not caused directly by the low light/night situation. The internal reflection will appear when there is a strong/bright source of light in comparison to the overall exposure (the surrounding environment). To put it in example (which hopefully is easier to understand), when you take a picture of a lamp during nightime and the light is much brighter than the surrounding area then you will see the internal reflection. as you move the position of the light to be closer to the sides/corner of the picture (and not in the center of the picture), the internal reflection reduces and finally dissapear (if you move the light far enough from the center). And if the light isn't too bright/contrast compare to the surrounding environment then there will be no internal reflection. but of course most of the time, a lamp at nightime is often very bright. But the point that I'm trying to make is that the internal reflection doesn't happen all the time during low light or night time.

Additionally, the internal reflection isn't only happening at night. it can also happen in the afternoon if you are taking a picture of a sun for example. basically same rule as above, on how bright is the light source compared to the surrounding area, and as you move the sun from the center of the photo and near the side the internal reflection will move to the side/dissapear (also depending the angle). But the best way is just to remove the filter during these situations.

Hope this explanation helps you to reduce the occurence of internal reflection by identifying correctly when the internal reflection will occur and then remove the filter during those situation (which is not hard to do).

I'm actually not a fan of lens filter (any filter) as I think it will only degrade picture quality as we added another layer between the sensor and object, but I decided to use them anyway for all my lens. And I would recommend everyone to get one of this filter if you don't have any filter for your lens yet.

Great add-on filter for use with the Canon EOS Rebel Digital Kit w/ 18-55mm lens. Offers protection for the lens and keeps out unwanted UV rays.

At a range between $7 and $10, this is one of the best values and investments out there. What is it actually used for? A UV filter has two primary purposes: to filter out unwanted ultra-violet light and to protect the lens. For most general photography applications, you will not notice the difference in UV light. Only when you have intense sunlight at a specific angle will you start to notice the UV light. It will not alter your photos and their lighting negatively, so you can pretty much leave this filter on all the time. This filter doesn't do that great of a job in actually filtering out harsh light at the ultra-violet spectrum, but if you're an amateur photographer, you won't need that function. If you do encounter a lot of harsh UV light (you live out in the desert or in Alaska), then you should consider a different filter. As an advanced but non-professional photographer who averages 500 photos indoors and outdoors per week, I have not yet encountered any harsh UV light that this filter cannot block.

I use this on my Canon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens, and I pretty much never take it off. This filter will protect your lens from scratches to the glass. When you get smudges (which you will) on this filter, you just wipe the filter or remove it and clean it. It's much easier to clean this filter than the glass on the lens. But the most important part is that this filter serves as insurance for your lens. If something comes flying at your lens, you have a choice of replacing a $7 filter or a $150 lens. It's a no-brainer!

Now, this filter is useful for either the amateur photographer or the advanced photographer who has a relatively cheap lens (a $150 lens is considered CHEAP compared to $950 for the Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 IS). If you own a more expensive lens, you'd want to go with a better filter, such as one from Hoya or B+W. But if you own the Canon Canon 17-55mm f/2.8 IS or an L lens, you know that already.

All in all, I gave this filter 5 stars because of its great value. If it costs $20, I would have reduced it to 4 stars. Considering its use, you cannot beat this product.

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This is a high end filter. Very well made. Glass with metal ring. Great for preventing damage to your expensive lenses and even filters out UV rays. Easy to clean as compared to cleaning finger prints off of a lens. I had dropped a lens and broke the filter, but the lens was unharmed thanks to the filter. Replacing the filter was far less expensive then replacing the lens. A great value for a high quality filter. No lens should be without one.

I bought this filter to put on the front of the 18-70 DX lens on my Nikon D50. It works well and protects the front element of the lens from dust, dirt, fingerprints and whatnot.

It seems to cause a little vignetting (slightly darkened corners) at extreme wide angles (~18mm) -- but from what I've seen so far it isn't terribly noticeable, 'specially for the price.