Originally posted by falconeye Why filters?
because when i go do some mountaineering or climbing with some big heavy tele (or any nice or expensive lense) in the bag (which is not a specialized bag, i haven't have found one big enought), thing i do quite often, i rather like to scratch / wet / splash a ND / pola/ UV filter than my front element.
It's always less expensive
Plus, we are a bunch of friends to do that so we borrow each other filter. Last week a friend of mine went to do some mountaineering and bring its Canon 70-200 /2.8 at the top of the mountain at around 4,500 meters, in the cold and the snow, and he was quite happy to have some filter.