UV filter-how important?

[bikers]

I've just made the mistake of ordering on line a Hoya Protector filter instead of a UV filter. It won't be dispatched till Monday, so I could ring them first thing Monday and change it, at extra cost of course. It's for use with a 11-16mm Tokina lens.

How important is UV filtering?

[Ray.Crabb]

My Tiffen protector filter also states it's UV, so it's on all the time.

[Marvin]

UV filters have been used for many years to protect your lens and take out the slight bluish hue you can get in certain situations ( bright sunlight on snow for example ). Colour film was quite sensitive to UV.

However, Digital sensors are almost immune to UV, the designers had to work hard to get them to see any blue in the first place.
Conversely, the sensors are very sensitive to the other end of the spectrum, IR, and they all have IR filters built in.
So with a digital camera, the UV filtering will do very little but it is always advisable to have an extra layer to protect your expensive lens.

The one downside is the increase in flare that you might get when shooting against bright lights or sun.

[bikers]

Thanks for the replies Ray and Nigel. I wouldn't dream of not having a filter in place at all, one tiny scratch and it's ruined!