I Interrupt these Vacation Posts for an Important Message....

I still have some vacation fun to share with ya'll...but I thought I would break up the vacation posts with this important message..

This is for allll of you photography buffs out there.  My 3 year old little guy taught me a super valuable lesson regarding my lenses that I felt needed to be passed on to you.

If you are into photography you know how important your lenses are...in my mind they are even more important than your camera...but they aren't cheap. 

At all.

In fact, a good lens can cost much more than your camera does.  Crazy..yes, but true.

When I started getting serious about photography I was reading everything I could get my hands on and I often read that when you purchase a good lens it's important to have a UV filter on it to protect it.  I always followed this advice. 

Recently I attended another workshop where the instructor told me the total opposite...that a UV filter will slightly distort the quality of my images and it should be  removed at once.  I left the workshop deciding I would remove the UV filters from my lenses and see if I noticed a difference.

Fast forward a few weeks.

We are packing for Florida.  I put my good camera with my best lens on it in my carry-on (yes, I know it should have been in it's own camera bag but I HATE traveling with extra bulk...that camera always travels in my carry on).   I've got all the suitcases lined up by the back door and I'm loading up the car.  I turn around and see my little three year old trying to help...by dragging my carry-on down 3 rock hard cement steps in the garage. 



I kid you not.

I tried not to panic and quickly opened the bag up.

Glass everywhere.

Panic begins.

Then I notice something....a very important something...I never took off my UV filter. 

And it completely saved my lens.

The UV filter was shattered...but the lens was in perfect shape.

That's right friends....my $50 UV filter completely protected my really good (and my most expensive) lens.

I'm a believer.  I'll never be without a UV filter again.

"You learn something every day if you pay attention"

--Ray LeBlond