A roll of duct tape would protect 100s of lenses.I've been using cheap (less than $5) filters to protect my lenses and they do the job.
True, but the 24x36 aluminum prints I showed today looked awesome and I didn't use a filter either.In the end it might not matter much either way. I shot some photos the other way for some one and in the end she asks my to "make them smaller" so they will display on a smart phone. no one cares about image quality any more because thy only look at the phis on a phone or at best a computer screen.