Lens hoods: To each his own foolishness!

darinwc · Dec 31, 2023

I have found a variety of alternative hoods that I prefer better than the originals. At least this is true for many early lenses. Newer lenses I think the manufacturers got much better with bayonet attaching hoods and rectangular or flower shaped hoods.

But when collecting, lens hoods can certainly be the 'icing on the cake'.

mshchem · Jan 1, 2024

darinwc said:
I have found a variety of alternative hoods that I prefer better than the originals. At least this is true for many early lenses. Newer lenses I think the manufacturers got much better with bayonet attaching hoods and rectangular or flower shaped hoods.

But when collecting, lens hoods can certainly be the 'icing on the cake'.

View attachment 358375

Beautiful!!

ic-racer · Jan 2, 2024

Nice!

CMoore · Jan 3, 2024

Maybe if i was frequently shooting 100mm+
The Sun, Reflections, Flares are not a common problem for me with a 28-85

Any guitar players.?
What pick do you use............ none, you cannot drop your fingers.

My hand has always been able to substitute for a hood.
It is EASIER to have a hood, but the lack of one has never been a unsolvable problem For Me

Unless it came with a lens, i have always bought the Cheapest/Generic hood i can find.
Its a tube for F Sake.
You could optimize a rolled up piece of cardboard or paper if you had to.

cliveh · Jan 3, 2024

Rayt said:
It drives me nuts when I see people in tourist areas shooting with zooms with their hoods inverted the way they came out of the box. I walked up to a total stranger once to correct that behaviour. But there are too many too many. Must divert eyes.

These people also where baseball caps back to front. If you want to see the mother of all lens hoods, just look at the the one on a Werra with a 2.5 lens.

Helinophoto · Jan 4, 2024

I try to use lens hoods on all my lenses and systems indeed.
The only system that totally lacks hoods, are my lenses for my Mamiya RZ 67 II, i have a 50mm and a 110mm lens, they came without hoods and I am not sure what the hell to buy (Mamiya-lenses/systems are confusing).

For my Canon system, I use the dedicated hoods for each lens, easy, for Leica, I just reuse my lens-shades, as I only have 50mm lenses anyway.
My Hasselblad-lenses all came with their own too and the Rolleiflexes have their dedicated screw/snap-ons.

Protection and better contrast.

What the heck is a skylight filter? An ND-filter?

At least I feel that an ND-filter is a must-have, in addition to the lens-hood, as well as a good camera strap

Andreas Thaler · Jan 5, 2024

Helinophoto said:
What the heck is a skylight filter? An ND-filter?

A skylight filter reduces the amount of sky blue in shadows.

It is one of the light compensation filters used in slide photography for color matching, possibly with a colormeter to measure the color temperature of the light.

Color films are standardized to a certain color temperature, so color reproduction that is too cold or too warm can be corrected.

Helinophoto · Jan 5, 2024

Andreas Thaler said:
A skylight filter reduces the amount of sky blue in shadows.

It is one of the light compensation filters used in slide photography for color matching, possibly with a colormeter to measure the color temperature of the light.

Color films are standardized to a certain color temperature, so color reproduction that is too cold or too warm can be corrected.

OOoh.....thank you for the clarification, I did not know that

Andreas Thaler · Jan 5, 2024

Helinophoto said:
OOoh.....thank you for the clarification, I did not know that

That's the advantage if you're one of those old men who grew up with these things

MattKing · Jan 5, 2024

There is a decent chance that what is known as a "skylight" filter in some parts of the world is known under another name in other parts of the world.
Skylight filters tend to be mostly a UV filter, with perhaps a touch of warming effect. They don't impose a filter factor, and some use them as a lens protector.

Sirius Glass · Jan 5, 2024

MattKing said:
There is a decent chance that what is known as a "skylight" filter in some parts of the world is known under another name in other parts of the world.
Skylight filters tend to be mostly a UV filter, with perhaps a touch of warming effect. They don't impose a filter factor, and some use them as a lens protector.

I agree and I have used Skylight 1A filters since the 1960's to slightly warm Kodachrome and Etkachrome film and protection. More recently I have switched to KR 1.5 Skylight filters.

Chuck1 · Jan 5, 2024

Andreas Thaler said:
That's the advantage if you're one of those old men who grew up with these things

You were told skylight (1a) for color,
uv for black + white?

Sirius Glass · Jan 5, 2024

Chuck1 said:
You were told skylight (1a) for color,
uv for black + white?

I was told back in those days that the Skylight 1A was for color and black & white films.

Andreas Thaler · Jan 6, 2024

Chuck1 said:
You were told skylight (1a) for color,
uv for black + white?

You can use both for all films, the Skylight filter reduces blue slightly. This results in fewer blue shadows on the color film when the sky is open. And on the black and white film the shadows become a little darker.

You have to try out exactly what the filters do. Or you have the instructions for it, which, among other things, provides information about the filtered spectral ranges.

kykr · Jan 7, 2024

IMoL said:
Yes! I feel weird using a lens without the correct lens hood. The only exception in my arsenal is my Nikon AF-D 28-105 - the original lens hood is so monstrously large that I use a hood for another Nikon lens that works ok and also allows the lens to fit in my camera bag,

It’s a really good lens of that type and the hood is… disappointing. Hard to fit in a bag, awkward when carrying it around on the lens on a body, and just plain ugly.

But other than that it’s just fine, lol.

Laurent · Jan 9, 2024

I try to have the right hood for my lenses, but find some prices are quite outrageous. Luckily enough, at the moment my SLR lenses mostly have integrated hoods, so this solves it.

For my 50mm/1.8 I found a design to replace the BS52 until I find one.

For the 300/2.8L this is a different story as the EH123 comes for half the price I paid for a nice lens, and this is definitely too much IMHO. So I took this as an opportunity to raise my 3D design skills, and fired-up FreeCad to draw a basic yet efficient one.

The PLA is a bit shiny, so the next step is to glue some dark velvet on the inside. I could have refined the facets, but this will be for another time, as I'm pretty sure it does the job that way .

The design is available on printables: Printables 300mm hood

GRHazelton · Jan 9, 2024

cliveh said:
These people also where baseball caps back to front. If you want to see the mother of all lens hoods, just look at the the one on a Werra with a 2.5 lens.

Indeed the Werra has an enormous, impressive lens hood, as befits a really unusual camera. Folks are confounded when asked how to use the Werra camera.

ant! · Jan 10, 2024

GRHazelton said:
Indeed the Werra has an enormous, impressive lens hood, as befits a really unusual camera. Folks are confounded when asked how to use the Werra camera.

My Werra (original model), which my late grandfather bought probably in the 50s and my mother used later before I got it, misses the hood and lens cover. My mother dropped it in the end 70s / early 80s (before my birth) into the Danube in Budapest. So either it is now under a thick layer of mud or swimming in the black sea. Unfortunately, the camera's shutter has a problem, fires always the same speed. I guess a CLA would help...

Individual One · Jan 10, 2024

I get a lot of use out of my 3d printer, making all kinds of odd hoods among other things. This hood is for a Lubitel 166, with a M40.5x0.5 thread and recessed for that small optic. I suppose it could have worked just as well as a cylinder, but I like the look.

Bruce

Lens hoods: To each his own foolishness!

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