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On a digital sensor this is a glass lid, and it should be sold as one

The best UV and protection filters for 2026

This filter was once corrective and is now, on any digital camera, a lid. The ultraviolet absorption that mattered on film is handled inside modern cameras, so what is being bought is a piece of flat glass in front of an expensive front element — a reasonable thing to want, provided it is judged as glass and not as an optical improvement. The number that must match is the thread, printed on the lens beside the ⌀ symbol and never the same across a bag. The rest is quality of glass: coatings decide how much light reflects off the two new surfaces just added, and an uncoated filter is the fastest way to turn a night scene into a set of ghosted highlights. Makers describe coatings by layer count and by function — anti-reflective, water-repellent, scratch-resistant — and the good ones publish a transmission figure. Frame thickness is the second thing to read, because a thick brass ring in front of a wide-angle lens darkens the corners for no benefit; slim frames exist for exactly this and some of them give up the front thread, which means the lens cap no longer screws on. Then the ordinary things: whether the frame is brass or aluminium, and whether the knurling lets a cold hand unscrew it. We compare thread size, glass and coating description, frame thickness and material, front thread provision, and any stated transmission figure.

The accessories that earn their place in the bag

  1. Hama 49 mm UV filter in its black metal frame beside its plastic box

    Hama 49 mm, one coating layer per side, 3.4 mm frame

    Eight euros for a 49 mm colour-neutral UV filter with one coating per side, a 3.4 mm metal frame and a box — and a front thread that still takes a hood or a cap.

    Thread size
    49 mm, in the title — the smallest on this shelf, where the three others are 67 mm. Forty-nine millimetres is the thread of small primes and older kit lenses, and the buying advice above prefers the largest thread in the bag with step rings below it. This is the filter bought for one small lens
    Glass
    Optical glass in a black metal frame, in the third bullet, described as colour-neutral. No glass origin is named, where the 11 € K&F and the 13 € PROfezzion both claim Japanese optical glass
    Coating description
    COUNTED, and precisely: one coating layer on EACH SIDE — a two-fold coating, as the title has it. That is the lowest count on this shelf, against twelve layers on the PROfezzion and eighteen on the K&F, and it is stated plainly rather than dressed up
    Frame thickness
    3.4 mm, in the fifth bullet, described as a flat mount. Only two pages on this shelf publish a frame figure; the PROfezzion is 3 mm and the two others publish none. Thickness is what decides whether a wide lens sees the ring
    Material
    A black metal frame around a glass lens, in the third bullet. Black inside the frame is what stops light bouncing between filter and lens, and the colour is worth the mention
    Front thread provision
    YES, and it is the only page here that spells out what the front thread is for: the fourth bullet says further filters, a lens hood or a lens cap screw straight on. A filter without a front thread ends the stack; this one does not
    Stated transmission figure
    NOT PUBLISHED. The 13 € PROfezzion is the only filter on this shelf to give one, at 99.5 per cent minimum. With one coating layer per side, the loss here will be larger, and the page does not say by how much
    Amazon reference
    B00006JEAY (same reference on 6 Amazon marketplaces)
    EAN
    4007249700490
    • A published 3.4 mm frame and a counted coating — one layer per side
    • A front thread stated to take another filter, a hood or a cap
    • One coating layer per side, against twelve and eighteen elsewhere on this shelf

    Best for: A small 49 mm prime or an older kit lens that needs a lid over the front element, where a hood or a second filter still has to go on top.

    ≈ £7 / 8 €
    Check price on Amazon
  2. Amazon Basics 67 mm UV filter lying flat on a lens cap

    Amazon Basics 67 mm, no coating or thickness published

    Nine euros for a 67 mm protective lid whose five bullets describe what it is for four times over, and its construction not once.

    Thread size
    67 mm, in the title and the fourth bullet, which calls it compatible with a wide range of lenses. Sixty-seven millimetres is the thread of a great many standard zooms, and it is the size the buying advice above says to buy for and step down from
    Glass
    NOT SPECIFIED. No origin, no type, no grade — where the 11 € K&F and the 13 € PROfezzion on this shelf both name Japanese optical glass and the 8 € Hama names optical glass in a black metal frame
    Coating description
    NONE, and this is the specification whose absence costs most. An uncoated filter reflects light between its surfaces and the lens, which lowers contrast and can throw a ghost of a bright source into the frame. The hub above is blunt about it: an uncoated filter in front of a good lens is a downgrade you pay for. The other three filters here publish 2, 12 and 18 layers
    Frame thickness
    Not published. The 8 € Hama gives 3.4 mm and the 13 € PROfezzion 3 mm; on a 67 mm filter destined for a standard zoom, thickness is what decides whether the corners darken at the wide end
    Material
    Not named. Neither the frame metal nor the glass is described anywhere in five bullets
    Front thread provision
    Not mentioned. Whether a hood, a cap or a second filter screws onto the front is left unstated — the 8 € Hama names all three
    Stated transmission figure
    Not published
    Amazon reference
    B00XNMX4EG (same reference on 6 Amazon marketplaces)
    EAN
    0848719099393
    • Sixty-seven millimetres, the thread the buying advice above says to standardise on
    • Nine euros, the cheapest 67 mm lid on this shelf
    • No coating described at all, on glass that sits in front of every photograph

    Best for: A lens that lives in a bag with sand and keys, where a 9 € replaceable lid is the point and image quality is carried by the hood instead.

    ≈ $9 / £9 / 9 €
    Check price on Amazon
  3. K&F Concept 67 mm UV filter with its green-tinted coating catching the light

    K&F CONCEPT 67 mm, Japanese glass, 18 nano layers

    Eighteen layers of nano coating on Japanese glass for 11 €, with a claim to cut chromatic aberration — and a sales-rank citation where a seventh specification would go.

    Thread size
    67 mm, in the title, and the fifth bullet says it suits all lenses with a 67 mm thread, naming Canon, Nikon, Sony, Samsung and Fuji
    Glass
    JAPANESE OPTICAL GLASS, in the second bullet, credited with first-class light transmission, improved optical clarity and colour fidelity. The same claim the 13 € PROfezzion on this shelf makes; the 9 € Amazon Basics names no glass at all
    Coating description
    EIGHTEEN LAYERS of green anti-reflective nano coating, in the third bullet — the highest count on this shelf, against twelve on the PROfezzion and two on the Hama. The same bullet claims the coating blocks ultraviolet light, raises contrast and eliminates light haze at sea or in high mountains
    Frame thickness
    NOT PUBLISHED as a figure: the fourth bullet calls it an extremely thin filter and leaves it there. The 8 € Hama publishes 3.4 mm and the 13 € PROfezzion 3 mm, so the one page here claiming thinness is the one that does not measure it
    Material
    Not named for the frame. The glass is specified and the ring is not
    Front thread provision
    Not mentioned
    Stated transmission figure
    NOT PUBLISHED — which is the odd gap on a page that counts eighteen coating layers. Layers exist to raise transmission, and the 13 € PROfezzion publishes the resulting figure at 99.5 per cent minimum
    Amazon reference
    B0C1YZBPRK (same reference on 6 Amazon marketplaces)
    EAN
    6942052514675
    • Eighteen nano layers on named Japanese optical glass, for 11 €
    • A stated effect on chromatic aberration, which no other filter here claims
    • Calls itself extremely thin and publishes no thickness

    Best for: A 67 mm standard zoom used in bright coastal or mountain light, where haze and reflections matter more than the gap to the 9 € Amazon Basics.

    ≈ $11 / £11 / 11 €
    Check price on Amazon
  4. PROfezzion 67 mm UV filter in its slim aluminium frame beside its padded case

    PROfezzion 67 mm, 99.5 per cent transmission, 0.7 mm glass

    The only filter on this shelf that publishes what it passes — 99.5 per cent on twelve layers, through 0.7 mm of glass in a 3 mm frame, for 13 €.

    Thread size
    67 mm, in the title, which also names Canon R6 Mark III, II, 90D, 80D and 70D bodies. Naming bodies on a filter is loose — a filter fits a thread, not a camera — but it tells a buyer the size is the common one for those kits
    Glass
    Japanese optical glass, finely ground and polished, in the third bullet, with a hardness given as up to 9HD. The hardness notation is unusual and unexplained on the page; what it is reaching for is scratch resistance on the surface that gets wiped most
    Coating description
    TWELVE layers, multi-coated, in the second bullet, to prevent internal ghosting and reflections. Fewer than the eighteen claimed by the 11 € K&F here — and unlike that page, this one publishes the result the layers produce
    Frame thickness
    BOTH figures published, and this is the page that measures itself: the GLASS is 0.7 mm thick and the FRAME only 3 mm, in the fourth bullet, stated as minimising the likelihood of vignetting. Three millimetres is the thinnest frame on this shelf, against 3.4 mm on the Hama and nothing at all from the two others
    Material
    An aviation-grade aluminium alloy frame, in the third bullet — the only frame alloy named on this shelf
    Front thread provision
    Not mentioned, which on a 3 mm frame is worth noting: the thinner the ring, the less room for a front thread, and the page does not say whether a cap or hood still screws on
    Stated transmission figure
    PUBLISHED — an average light transmission of AT LEAST 99.5 PER CENT, in the second bullet, and the only such figure on this shelf. It is the number that makes the coating count meaningful: twelve layers passing 99.5 per cent is a measurable claim, where eighteen layers and no percentage is an assertion
    Amazon reference
    B09366T36S (same reference on 6 Amazon marketplaces)
    EAN
    6940202350425
    • Ninety-nine point five per cent transmission published — alone on this shelf
    • Both thicknesses published: 0.7 mm of glass in a 3 mm frame, the thinnest here
    • No front thread provision mentioned, on the thinnest frame here

    Best for: A 67 mm lens used at its widest, where a 3 mm frame and a measured transmission are worth 4 € over the cheapest lid on this shelf.

    ≈ $13 / £11 / 12 €
    Check price on Amazon

Each amount in a write-up is what the listing showed when that page was written. The figure next to the product is pulled in as you read, and it is the one that counts.