Hoods When To Use Them

scrag68

scrag68

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Craig
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This may have already been covered sorry if it as.

Does everyone use Hoods the ones that go on your lens just for the comedians out there :)

When should you use the hood or should you just keep it on your lens at all times, what are the pro's and con's of using a Hood?

many thanks in advance :clap:
 
I tend to use the hood on my 80-200 a lot just to keep rain spots off but the ones on my wide zooms are a bit of a faff when i have my circular polarisers on because you can't get access to the CP that well - they stay off most of the time unless there's flare.

Don't think there's any rules to when not to use them; if they start to vignette the image then take them off
 
I use mine all the time without fail, unless I'm using my Cokin filters. A lens hood increases contrast and helps to protect the front element from accidental scrapes and knocks.
 
Always unless it's actually interfering with the shot (this can happen with macro).
Not only do hoods help to avoid flare, they can actually provide quite a lot of physical protection to the lens.
 
Only Time I dont use them is if a lens doesnt have one (a 50mm for example)

or if i have some Cokin filters on there
 
Always have mine on just incase I bash the lens. Otherwise they are reverse mounted.
 
On this subject, does anyone know the hood that fits the 17-55mm Nikon kit lens on the D40? Mine didn't come with one. And any preference as to the type of hood - flat or petal?

Mine stays on my 55-200mm ALL the time.
 
All the time - not only do they prevent extraneous light hitting the front element, they also protect from rain and dirt and stop you bashing the front element against anything - better to sacrifice a £30 hood than a £1500 lens IMO...

Lens caps come off when the kit is out of the bag, lens caps go on when it's all put away again.
 
So what, if any, type of hood do you think is best for an 18-200mm lens? Or should you change the type of hood depending on the focal length you are using?
 
All the time.

Very muddy my way just now with all the rain there has been and it sometimes splashes up from my feet. Often see mud marks on the hood so it does protect the lens.
 
Strangways said:
So what, if any, type of hood do you think is best for an 18-200mm lens? Or should you change the type of hood depending on the focal length you are using?
Click to expand...

The one it comes with...?
There are specific hoods for the various types of lenses.
 
I have a hood for all nine of my lenses. I (almost) always use a hood, for two main reasons....

1. to shade the lens and reduce flare from stray light entering the lens at odd angles outside the direct field of view.

2. for physical protection from knocks, flying debris or even just to avoid pollen/sap etc. brushing onto the front element (or filter) when walking through long grass and other vegetation;

There are two occasions when I might not use a hood....

1. when using a CPL and needing access to twiddle the filter. Even then as likely as not I will adjust the filter and then re-fit the hood before shooting;

2. when shooting macro and needing to get so close to my subject that the hood gets in the way or shades the subject too much.

I do not use UV filters for protection 99.9% of the time because the hood will do me just fine. For that odd 0.1% of occasions that might need a filter (shooting in sea spray, or at a car rally or in a sand storm or dust storm) I'll fit a filter.
 
Yup – Always shoot with a lens hood unless it masks the image or lighting.

But no one has mentioned the screw-in rubber type yet!

They are cheap and if knocked they absorb the shock and because the rubber can be folded back over the lens barrel, front lens caps are easily fitted or removed. To save space conventional type hoods usually need removing before stowing in your camera bag and then there’s all the faffing about fitting it again to take a shot. With the rubber ones the ‘fold back’ feature means you can very easily stow your lenses in the camera bag with the lens hoods always attached and ready for action.

Sam-D
 
Great Reponse to the thread Guys thanks :thumbs:
 
I use mine all the time but recently found a comment somewhere that the snap-on ones may damage zoom lenses over time, as the repeated slight pressure may loosen the lens barrel. This may be an urban myth, though.
 
Whats the best type of Hood to use the flower or the full, plastic or rubber?

thanks Guys
 
scrag68 said:
Whats the best type of Hood to use the flower or the full, plastic or rubber?

thanks Guys
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Depends on the lens...as I've said - most lenses have hoods specifically designed for them - so use them.
 
IMO it's probably best to go for the design the manufacturer intended.

I've used a rubber hood on my nifty and that worked well enough but there is a concern that it puts stress directly onto the moving parts of the lens mechanism rather than attaching to the solid outer barrel of the lens. You may need to be very careful when fitting any hood directly to the innards of the lens rather than the barrel. A rubber hood can be very handy when shooting through glass, when its flexibility might help you completely seal off spurious light sneaking in at the sides. Sam-D has already made valid points about convenience.

As for petal vs "full", a zoom lens is more likely to have, and to need, a petal design since the cutaways are important to accommodate the wide angle end of the zoom range, while the longer the hood can be, the better to serve the telephoto end. Unfortunately, with a zoom lens you can't serve both purposes optimally. A properly designed petal hood is the best compromise you can hope for when using a short to medium zoom lens.

For a short prime a petal lens would theoretically offer optimum performance but the Canon hoods I have for my 50/1.4 and 85/1.8 are both "full" designs, not that there is much to either one.

For a long prime, or even a long zoom, such as the 100-400, since there is no real wide angle involved, the hood design simply as a long tube is perfectly fine.

What you will find with OEM hoods is that they are lined with black flock/felt and that will help absorb light coming into the hood and may also trap dust rather than letting it settle onto the lens. Cheaper eBay style hoods may simply be bare plastic and not quite as good at minimising reflections. They'll still afford good protection against physical knocks and splashes and will probably help reduce flare as well. The fit may be good, or poor and I guess it's pot luck whether you get a good one or not. I have bought a couple of knock off hoods but one of those broke and I've replaced it with the proper Canon model, which has the flock lining and which I hope will prove more durable.
 
tdodd said:
What you will find with OEM hoods is that they are lined with black flock/felt and that will help absorb light coming into the hood and may also trap dust rather than letting it settle onto the lens. Cheaper eBay style hoods may simply be bare plastic and not quite as good at minimising reflections...
Click to expand...

All Nikon hoods are bare matt-plastic now and have been for some years...
 
I use mine all the time, unless I'm using a CPL in which case it's annoying having to reach in to turn it.

Flower hoods are good for lenses with non-rotating front elements, the other type is needed when the front element rotates. Plastic will be better for knocks I'd imagine, but rubber is cheaper. Your call!
 
I use mine to help keep the rain off the lens and avoid rain slodges in my shots. I think I use it to protect the end of the lens more than to stop flare, thats if there was any sun where I live in the first place :(
 
tdodd said:
What you will find with OEM hoods is that they are lined with black flock/felt and that will help absorb light coming into the hood and may also trap dust rather than letting it settle onto the lens.
Click to expand...

Now that explains why my hood felt is always dusty, :thumbs:
 
I use one 99% of the time. As well as reducing flare it helps when putting the camera down on the ground. Lens hood is now a bit scratched but my 17-40 isn't.
 
Lens hood + UV filter = you can put your camera down, use it in the rain, have stuff chucked at you, stick it in your bag, let it hang off your shoulder/etc without fear of trashing your lens :)
 
I use a hood on all my lenses all the time, i can only say using a polarising filter on a EF 24-70 is a nightmare as the hood is huge.
great for keeping things off the front glass like rain and reduces flare on certain lenses.
 
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