Lens hoods

Myky D

Myky D

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Hello fans,

A fellow hobbyist photographer and I were out hobby photographing, and afterwards discussed the use of lens hoods.

We were trying to acertain the porpoise of them, and for the life of us couldn't think of any other reason than that perhaps they made a slight difference to the peripheral light in a shot, though couldn't really work out how they would make much of a difference.

We concluded that in essence they're just to show that the user wants to be taken seriously as a photographer by strangers.

Are any of you able to shed any light on the matter?

Cheers,

Myky D
 
They do improve contrast, and they provide protection to the front element from stray fingers and rain.

My personal opinion is they offer better protection than filters, and I always have a lens hood fitted.
 
They also protect the lens!
 
wontolla said:
They also protect the lens!
Click to expand...

yep the amount of times ive knocked the hood on something that could easily have been the glass if the hood wasnt there.
 
Physical protection from fingerpokenfolk.
Shielding the front element of the lens from rain and direct sunlight - rain can leave spots that need cleaning off and sunlight (or, indeed, any bright light) falling directly on the front element causes flare and a reduction in contrast over the whole image.

They also have a couple of downsides.
If you're using the built in flash, they can throw a shadow over part of the subject.
When shooting Macro, they can throw a shadow onto the subject and also they decrease the physical distance between the subject and the rig, possibly scaring the bug away.
They also make rotating polarisers a bit awkward, although it can be done with a little practise (once you've taken the little stubby handle off the filter!)
 
there meant to stop lens flare, but some small ones have no purpose really other than to protect the lens a bit
 
Well thank you for the replies, all. It's most informative.

Do they increase the contrast significantly?

I don't really buy the "protect the lens from fingers" bit - if you're serious about your kit you won't put your fingers all over it, I would think.
 
Myky D said:
I don't really buy the "protect the lens from fingers" bit - if you're serious about your kit you won't put your fingers all over it, I would think.
Click to expand...
try shooting a gig without a photo pit..
 
Myky D said:
I don't really buy the "protect the lens from fingers" bit - if you're serious about your kit you won't put your fingers all over it, I would think.
Click to expand...

The only thing in my mind is getting the shot, not where I am putting my fingers on the lens. I find this more so with the smaller primes like the 35mm or 50mm, not a lot of room for your hands, to be honest not so much of an issue with a bigger zoom or telephoto. :thumbs:
 
Myky D said:
I don't really buy the "protect the lens from fingers" bit - if you're serious about your kit you won't put your fingers all over it, I would think.
Click to expand...

but have you walked into a wall with your camera without a lens hood on :/
 
I remove the standard lens hood and fit a wide angle Lee adaptor so all my lenses can use the Lee wide angle hood. This means I can go out in the rain, fit ND grads which I use all the time and it is big enough to make sure it does not get knocked around.

As to image quality it makes a large difference and stops light interference completely:

_AAA7402.jpg


Best regards

Chris
 
They make a massive difference in the right (or wrong) lighting conditions - harsh side-lighting in a dusty environment will cause a huge loss of contrast without a lens hood on.
Protection is also a huge factor. Both my main lenses would have been killed a dozen times over without them.
 
Agree with all the protection remarks. I also find the large hood on my 70-200 very useful when in zoo's. I can press the hood up against the enclosure glass, this cuts out all reflections off said glass and all i have to find is a clean area to shoot through.
 
I use mine solely for protection really.

I don't want to fit a skylight filter which aren't that cheap and still degrade IQ in my opinion, when I can just fit the lens hood which is inexpensive if it breaks and actually improves IQ slightly.
 
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