Vignetting from lens hood

Camerarabbit · Aug 25, 2023

This probably is an obvious "The design just doesn't work" answer, but wanted to check before requesting a return. I recently bought a collapsible rubber lens hood for my Contax/Yashica 28mm lens - 55mm filter size. Just processed a roll I shot with it (the hood was fully collapsed like in the attached photo) and every shot has vignetting. According to the seller, the hood works well for his other customers, so wanted to ask if there's any trick I'm missing for making this work? I dont see the lens hood when I look through the lens.
Zeiss made a lens hood for this lens, but they go for like $60 + $30 shipping on eBay - if anyone has a rec for a hood please let me know as well!
Thanks

BrianShaw · Aug 25, 2023

You really need a lens hood designed for a wide-angle lens. It is unlikely that even collapsed it ever worked with a 28mm lens.

Search eBay for many very affordable options that are much more likely to meet your needs. Term: “55mm wide angle lens hood”

Camerarabbit · Aug 25, 2023

Thanks. Zeiss' is a 55/86, should I be on the lookout for something with those numbers? This one - https://www.ebay.com/itm/2024872368...wQgAgzilDLmvWNrGgjwF3BNFpQ==|tkp:BFBMqvOo38Vi - is a 55/77, it seems, wondering if its wide enough

Alan Edward Klein · Aug 25, 2023

That lens does go with that camera? You tried it without the hood attached?

xkaes · Aug 25, 2023

That looks like a nice collapsible lens hood, but the base is too deep for that lens. It would work fine on longer lenses -- 35mm and up.

The reason you can't see the lens hood through the viewfinder is that the viewfinder image is always with the lens wide open. When the picture is taken, the lens stops down and the edges become more apparent.

Unless you get a shade made for a particular lens -- which is usually expensive -- it's easy to test a lens shade, but you have to have the lens and the hood in your hands.

#1 -- set the lens at its closest focusing distance (and widest zoom setting, if it has one).
#2 -- set the lens at the smallest f-stop (f16/22/32)
#3 -- stop down the lens. If your camera lens lacks a stop down button/lever, try disengaging the lens slightly)
#4 -- look through the viewfinder in the corners at a bright object. If you see any darkening, the shade is too narrow or too long or both

Another option -- especially for wide angle lenses -- is to get a setup ring for the lens and get a wider hood. For example, on my Sigma 18mm I have a step-up ring from 67mm to 77mm and use a 77mm lens hood.

Alan Edward Klein · Aug 25, 2023

Is that hood the kind that screws on or the rubber hood slips over the lens? If the latter, it may be out to far. Also I notice there seems to be a lot of depth from what appears to be the end of the lens to where the hood starts. Is there an adapter on the lens or some other filters?

Alan Edward Klein · Aug 25, 2023

xkaes said:
That looks like a nice collapsible lens hood, but the base is too deep for that lens. It would work fine on longer lenses -- 35mm and up.

The reason you can't see the lens hood through the viewfinder is that the viewfinder image is always with the lens wide open. When the picture is taken, the lens stops down and the edges become more apparent.

Unless you get a shade made for a particular lens -- which is usually expensive -- it's easy to test a lens shade, but you have to have the lens and the hood in your hands.

#1 -- set the lens at its closest focusing distance (and wider zoom setting, if it has one).
#2 -- set the lens at the smallest f-stop (f16/22/32)
#3 -- stop down the lens. If you camera lens lacks a stop down button/lever, try disengaging the lens slightly)
#4 -- look through the viewfinder in the corners at a bright object. If you see anything, the shade is too narrow or too long or both

Not all viewfinders display 100% of the actual view, maybe only 95%. So you still can miss the vignetting.

Sirius Glass · Aug 25, 2023

BrianShaw said:
You really need a lens hood designed for a wide-angle lens. It is unlikely that even collapsed it ever worked with a 28mm lens.

Search eBay for many very affordable options that are much more likely to meet your needs. Term: “55mm wide angle lens hood”

Brian is absolutely correct. You need a filter for a wide angle lens. One wide enough for a 28mm lens.

xkaes · Aug 25, 2023

Alan Edward Klein said:
Is that hood the kind that screws on or the rubber hood slips over the lens? If the latter, it may be out to far. Also I notice there seems to be a lot of depth from what appears to be the end of the lens to where the hood starts. Is there an adapter on the lens or some other filters?

There are lots of lens shades that have these "deep throats", such as the Mamiya 645/rb67 shades. They are designed that way so that they can be threaded INSIDE the hood, to put on a lens cap or filters -- but if used on too wide a lens will cut the corners -- hence my earlier mention that it has a "deep base".

Camerarabbit · Aug 25, 2023

Alan Edward Klein said:
Is that hood the kind that screws on or the rubber hood slips over the lens? If the latter, it may be out to far. Also I notice there seems to be a lot of depth from what appears to be the end of the lens to where the hood starts. Is there an adapter on the lens or some other filters?

Good eye! I had a filter on the lens, but I removed it and put the lens on my digital camera and still have some vignetting even without the filter

Camerarabbit · Aug 25, 2023

Ill get a lens hood that is intended for wide angle lenses. The seller wrote "works with all lenses that have a 55mm thread" but this doesnt seem to be the case

BrianShaw · Aug 25, 2023

CameronRabbit said:
Ill get a lens hood that is intended for wide angle lenses. The seller wrote "works with all lenses that have a 55mm thread" but this doesnt seem to be the case

When the lens is wider than 35mm you are in the specialty category. Always been that way. Some of us have learned by making a mistake first.

The hood you linked should work fine. I have had good dealing with that seller.

Pieter12 · Aug 25, 2023

Spring for a dedicated lens hood. OEM hoods all seem expensive but you know they won't cause problems. MF lens hoods regularly run close to $200 new.

xkaes · Aug 25, 2023

Yeah, I've always found it easy to spend other people's money.

Pieter12 · Aug 25, 2023

xkaes said:
Yeah, I've always found it easy to spend other people's money.

Believe me, I've had to replace a lot of expensive lens hoods. I now have a label with my name and phone number on each one. If you think your photography is important enough to spring for a nice lens, don't skimp on the hood.

Sirius Glass · Aug 25, 2023

xkaes said:
Yeah, I've always found it easy to spend other people's money.

One of the great joys in live but cost nothing but perhaps a friendship.

xkaes · Aug 25, 2023

Pieter12 said:
Believe me, I've had to replace a lot of expensive lens hoods. I now have a label with my name and phone number on each one. If you think your photography is important enough to spring for a nice lens, don't skimp on the hood.

The correct lens hood -- which often isn't the one that comes with it -- is the cheapest way to improve your results.

Pieter12 · Aug 25, 2023

I’m pretty confident Schneider, Leica and Zeiss design the correct lens hoods for their lenses.

Camerarabbit · Aug 25, 2023

Lol this is getting heated! I've always been one to find the generic brand just fine...

dynachrome · Aug 26, 2023

I have seen two particular problems with wide angle lenses and vignetting. The first is using a hood on top of a filter. Even the dedicated hoods do not take that extra space into account. The second is that some filters are just too thick (their threads are too thick) for some lenses. Once when I was shooting with a Canon F-1 (1st version) and a Vivitar 28-90 f/2.8-3.5 Series 1, I got very slight vignetting at the 28mm end. The problem turned out to be my skylight filter. I was not using a hood. I solved the problem by using a low profile filter. Since I have a number of these 28-90 lenses, I bought a few of the low profile filters. With telephoto lenses, there is often the opposite problem. The ones with built-in hoods often need slightly longer hoods. With so many pictures being taken with zoom lenses, the problem of having the right hood is never far away. In difficult lighting situations I will often hold the camera with my right hand and try to block some of the sun's rays with my left hand.

ic-racer · Aug 26, 2023

Is it a Contax or a Yashica lens? If the Yashica 28mm, this is the lenshood:

xkaes · Aug 26, 2023

Confidence. Trust. Belief. Great words, but meaningless by themselves.

I prefer "Trust, but verify".

I've checked out my lens shades designed for specific lenses. All of them "work" -- i.e. don't cause vignetting -- but just about all of them don't offer enough shading. So I find better hoods -- where I can -- that offer better shading -- i.e., are not as wide and/or are longer/deeper.

The Minolta 500mm f8 CAT is a good example. FYI, this is not a cheap lens -- and Minolta made several models (the last was the only auto-focusing CAT ever sold, and still is, by Sony). A 500mm lens can take a pretty long lens hood, but that is less important on a CAT. Anyway, Minolta's first version came with a pretty short screw-in metal lens shade. Their second model came out with a lens shade almost twice as long -- although some would say it's still too short. I use a lens shade that's about three times as long.

I've verified all of my lens-specific lens shades -- too many to count -- and my experience says, "assume it's too short and/or too wide" because it probably is.

They are so easy to test, why not?

xkaes · Aug 26, 2023

CameronRabbit said:
Lol this is getting heated! I've always been one to find the generic brand just fine...

Generic shades are great -- as long as you test them out. But I do the same thing with "brand name" hoods. Some generics use inferior material, but certainly not all of them. I have several generic hoods that are great -- and are better matches than the originals, because I tested them.

Sirius Glass · Aug 26, 2023

dynachrome said:
I have seen two particular problems with wide angle lenses and vignetting. The first is using a hood on top of a filter. Even the dedicated hoods do not take that extra space into account. The second is that some filters are just too thick (their threads are too thick) for some lenses. Once when I was shooting with a Canon F-1 (1st version) and a Vivitar 28-90 f/2.8-3.5 Series 1, I got very slight vignetting at the 28mm end. The problem turned out to be my skylight filter. I was not using a hood. I solved the problem by using a low profile filter. Since I have a number of these 28-90 lenses, I bought a few of the low profile filters. With telephoto lenses, there is often the opposite problem. The ones with built-in hoods often need slightly longer hoods. With so many pictures being taken with zoom lenses, the problem of having the right hood is never far away. In difficult lighting situations I will often hold the camera with my right hand and try to block some of the sun's rays with my left hand.

Low profile filters are a must for 28mm and wider lenses. Then as noted in post #22, verify!

xkaes · Aug 26, 2023

dynachrome said:
I have seen two particular problems with wide angle lenses and vignetting. The first is using a hood on top of a filter. Even the dedicated hoods do not take that extra space into account. The second is that some filters are just too thick (their threads are too thick) for some lenses. Once when I was shooting with a Canon F-1 (1st version) and a Vivitar 28-90 f/2.8-3.5 Series 1, I got very slight vignetting at the 28mm end. The problem turned out to be my skylight filter. I was not using a hood. I solved the problem by using a low profile filter. Since I have a number of these 28-90 lenses, I bought a few of the low profile filters. With telephoto lenses, there is often the opposite problem. The ones with built-in hoods often need slightly longer hoods. With so many pictures being taken with zoom lenses, the problem of having the right hood is never far away. In difficult lighting situations I will often hold the camera with my right hand and try to block some of the sun's rays with my left hand.

Using filters and/or certain wide-angle lens lenses can complicate using lens shades. There are 20mm lenses that have filter threads from 62mm up to 82mm. One solution for the narrow-threaded lenses is to use a step-up ring. That, of course, means using wider filters.

And if you use filters, like me, it's best to test your hoods with the filters you are likely to use -- in place. I normally test with two UV filters on the lens. And, of course, with the lens at the closest focusing distance and the f-stop at the smallest, and stopped down all the way.

Vignetting from lens hood

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