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Author Topic: Who uses lens hoods?  (Read 15974 times)

didger

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Who uses lens hoods?
« Reply #20 on: May 09, 2005, 04:38:44 pm »

So, what do all you ABSOLUTELY ALWAYS folks do about ultrawides or wide angle zooms?  The hoods that come with such lenses are more cosmetic than functional and are absolutely no good for protecting against flare, stray light, rain, or anything whatsoever.  Do you make huge custom hoods, or what?  Or do you use those mickey mouse hoods the lens came with just to be ALWAYS compliant?
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Christian

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Who uses lens hoods?
« Reply #21 on: May 10, 2005, 12:20:45 am »

I use lens hoods most of the time (i.e., not when shooting indoors or with lenses with highly recessed elements). I don't know how much this stops flare (I feel it helps sometimes) but it definitely helps protect your lenses when working quickly in the field. And the convenience is far better than with lens caps that have to be continually clipped and unclipped. Perhaps for someone who spends their time in Internet chatrooms gushing about their latest camera, a lens cap is a suitable solution. I think for most people who use their cameras for shooting photos, it's a waste of time.

My only gripe about lens hoods (apart from their minor added bulk) is their ridiculous cost. But I think we're all used to over-inflated prices for anything related to photography.
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Willowroot

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Who uses lens hoods?
« Reply #22 on: May 11, 2005, 11:46:01 am »

Quote
Zooms, by their very nature, will never have a lens shade that is optimal.
What about: http://www.adorama.com/CKMBHA.html
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TBrownlee

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Who uses lens hoods?
« Reply #23 on: June 25, 2005, 02:43:34 am »

I use a lens shade most of the time with whatever format I'm using at the time.

The best arguments are reducing flare & protecting the lens. I have cracked two shades on my Bronica system as the camera swung forward & clobbered the rock I was climbing up.

On the other hand, the shade on my F828 sometimes obscures light from the pop-up flash, which is set sort of far back on the lens barrel. I will remove it in these instances, as well as when I'm shooting macro.
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michel

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Who uses lens hoods?
« Reply #24 on: May 08, 2005, 11:18:56 am »

always use the lens hoods. it reduces lensflares and protects the lens against damage by knocking.
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regards

michel

sorry for b

Lisa Nikodym

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Who uses lens hoods?
« Reply #25 on: May 08, 2005, 05:07:05 pm »

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The main purpose of a lens hood is to keep direct sunlight from shining on the glass.

I thought that a second main purpose was to keep stray light (not just direct sun) from coming in at an angle where it doesn't directly hit the sensor/film but can still reflect around inside the lens, causing a general reduction in contrast...?

Lisa
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Who uses lens hoods?
« Reply #26 on: May 08, 2005, 09:20:23 pm »

I do it Didger's way, but with lens hoods as well. Even if you use a hood, it's important to make sure no direct sun is getting by it and hitting the glass. In other words, don't assume everything will be fine because you are using a hood.

Lens hoods for zooms are especially marginal, because they have to be designed for the wide-angle end of the zoom range, and thus provide much less protection than you could safely use at the other end.

I think Lisa is right, too: If your camera is in the open on alightly overcast day (no direct sun), a good lens hood (or Didger's hat, or both) can make a big difference in the amount of flare.

Eric
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-Eric Myrvaagnes (visit my website: http://myrvaagnes.com)

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Who uses lens hoods?
« Reply #27 on: May 09, 2005, 09:54:04 am »

I use it AT ALL TIMES for both flare and physical protection. I once tested the physical protection issue unintentionally. It works….

Happy shooting,
Yakim.
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didger

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Who uses lens hoods?
« Reply #28 on: May 10, 2005, 07:47:09 am »

Quote
time in Internet chatrooms gushing about their latest camera
Wow, roode doode, who rattled your chain? I'm sure that I spend more time in the field than any two other people on this forum or anywhere else and that I also get to more challenging places more of the time than anyone else anywhere.  My 1ds looks like a worn out scarred battle tank after less than a year of constant heavy use and many thousands of frames shot.  It's the need not to carry a cubic centimeter or gram of extra volume or weight on long difficult cross country backpacking shoots that has made me favor lens caps rather than useless shallow hoods for wide angle lenses.  Ever carry a lens with a big hood in a pants pocket (for convenient quick access)?  I find, however, that I'm rarely so rushed that I can't take time to remove a lens cap (fraction of a second?).  Your utterly unprovoked and inappropriate sarcasm makes me think that you might find a more congenial environment for your forum style on DPR than here.

Sorry I don't have much time to keep gushing in this chatroom just now.  I'm about to leave for a trip to Yosemite and surrounding Sierra foothills for a few weeks and then it's back to more daily JT NP rock scrambling and shooting while the flowers are still happening here and then it's back to more high altitude snow backpacking shooting and then.....on and on...
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boku

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Who uses lens hoods?
« Reply #29 on: May 11, 2005, 12:51:50 pm »

Quote
Quote
Zooms, by their very nature, will never have a lens shade that is optimal.
What about: http://www.adorama.com/CKMBHA.html
Yup, I thought about bellows hoods after I wrote that. You picked up on that. I used to use those things in the 70's to make "matte boxes" for my small army of Wedding Photographers.

Whatever made them pick red for the outer color? That would scare most people, animals, and probably plants. Not exactly discrete. Observation: Cokin = French. No chance of me understanding.
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Bob Kulon

Oh, one more thing...[b

glenndavyphoto

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Who uses lens hoods?
« Reply #30 on: May 09, 2005, 02:57:10 pm »

Always, always, always.  The inconvenience of the hood far outweighs the "inconvenience" of a garbage shot from flare you didn't notice when taking the shot.  Light can come at you from all sorts of angles you never even thought of besides the sun, ESP if you shoot near water or on rainy days.  I will sometimes use a supplementary shade as well (I keep a spare large grey card handy for such needs) if the hood isn't quite doing it for the sun (i.e. shooting lightly obliquely into the sun but not wanting to include the sun itself).

Glenn
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Glenn
h

Paul Sumi

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Who uses lens hoods?
« Reply #31 on: May 09, 2005, 04:53:15 pm »

Quote
Do you make huge custom hoods, or what?  Or do you use those mickey mouse hoods the lens came with just to be ALWAYS compliant?
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, in part, that "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds..."   ::

I mostly use the provided lens hood on my ultra-wide zoom.  Its greatest utility is to keep the front element of the lens from contacting whatever surface I may set the camera down on.

Paul
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BernardLanguillier

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Who uses lens hoods?
« Reply #32 on: June 10, 2005, 10:12:10 am »

Same thing here.

Have always thought that I would try to come up with a way to improve the hood efficiency on the long end of zooms with some custom system... but never took the time to build  something practical... :-)

Regards,
Bernard
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