Photography: Camera sensor size difference

sorry, it was early. ok,here goes.

1. It lands on it's side. depending on the height, it's either be ok or it won't. Not much you can do.

2. it lands on it's end, glass down. If it lands on a flat surface, a hood will protect the face of the lens and absorb almost all the impact. If you have a filter and no hood, the filter takes the impact (remember the glass in a filter is only 1mm thick so breaks much more easily) and shards of filter glass will chip the face of your lens. The chassis of the lens absorbs the impact.

3. (most likely scenario): lens lands at 45 degrees to the floor. A hood will protect the face of the lens and again, take the impact. If you're using a filter, the filter will take the impact. the glass will shatter and again, you risk it chipping the front of the lens. Plus the impact damage to the lens chassis is much more likely to make it fail.

So there are few situations where a filter will protect the front of the lens, and in some circumstances it'll make things worse. The only time I'd even consider using a skylight or UV filter solely to protect a lens is if you're shooting in to the wind in a sandstorm. And even then I'd use a lens hood.

If you want weirdy contrast stuff going on, why not PP it? I don't know if you've heard of this program called photoshop :P

Cheers for that detailed explanation Fred, not so sure about your idea that the most likely scenario in the case of a lens being dropped is that it lands at 45 degrees to the floor though, but I get the general idea.

I will look up that 'PotatoShop'™ program you mention.