The lens on your camera is its eye to the world, and should the front element pick up any scratches or scrapes, that's not good news for the images you'll subsequently take. So it makes sense to keep it protected.
Many photographers use UV, skylight or clear filters primarily as protection for the front element of their lenses. But with the light from your subject having to first pass through the filter on the lens, quality matters. A second-grade filter will result in second-grade images.
Nikon's Arcrest II Protection Filters are high-performance protective filters that boast high optical performance to minimize the impact on images while protecting your precious lenses. An improvement over Nikon's original Arcrest range, in these new filters high-quality optical glass is polished flat with high precision, and mounted on the filter frame using Nikon's proprietary Flat Plane System mounting technology.
In addition, an ultra-low reflection 'Zero One AR Coating' has a single-sided reflectance rate close to just 0.1 per cent. There is no disturbance in color balance, and the occurrence of ghosting and flare is minimized, resulting in high image quality that is comparable to that when shooting without a filter. An antistatic coating, applied to both sides of the filter, prevents the adhesion of dust and dirt due to static electricity.
The filters also employ an especially developed water- and oil-repellent coating on both sides with high stain-resistant performance, making it difficult for water droplets, oil, fingerprints and other stains to adhere – and even if anything does adhere, it can be easily wiped off. A wipe test of more than 1000 cycles with a load of 200g certifies high durability.
The frames are just 3.4mm thin (3.9mm for the 95mm diameter filter), which is typically about 30 per cent thinner than general protective filters, and avoids vignetting even when using ultra-wide-angle lenses. The black anodized surface of the filter frame is resistant to scratches, and the knurled surface provides better grip to make it easier to attach and remove the filter. The frame's satin finish suppresses light reflection, while the glass edge is blackened to reduce internal reflection of incident light.
The filters are available in standard lens diameters from 46mm to 95mm, and range in price from $49.99 to $179.99 (other territories TBC), with bigger filters naturally costing more. While they are aimed at Nikon users, they will of course fit on any brand of lens with a standard filter thread.
