Which lens hood for Macro

Mystery57

Mystery57

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My Canon RF 85mm macro lens came without a lens hood as is increasingly becoming the case.

Needless to say I am not paying Canons exorbitant prices for one.

Looking on Amazon there seem to be two types, one is the standard barrel type hood, the other is a petal shaped hood. Both can reverse onto the lens when not being used.

Which is best to buy and why ?

Thanks
 
Personally I would get the same style as the Canon OEM one rather than have to decide on a style apparently(?) not originally intended to be used :thinking:
 
Mystery57 said:
My Canon RF 85mm macro lens came without a lens hood as is increasingly becoming the case.

Needless to say I am not paying Canons exorbitant prices for one.

Looking on Amazon there seem to be two types, one is the standard barrel type hood, the other is a petal shaped hood. Both can reverse onto the lens when not being used.

Which is best to buy and why ?

Thanks
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I once ordered something, I can't remember what it was but something photography related, and a lens hood came free with it and although I've never used it as I generally don't use them it looks and feels to be the best plastic lens hood I've ever had.

My point being, you're very probably right as there will almost certainly be hoods out there just as good or even better for less money.

I hope you sort one.
 
Valid points by both of you thanks

I tend to use hoods when I remember as they do offer protection in many instances of using as opposed to putting a UV filter on for protection.

My leanings were to consider the one similar to Canons, then I saw a comment the petal shaped ones were better for illuminating a subject particularly important with some macro shooting.
 
Mystery57 said:
Valid points by both of you thanks

I tend to use hoods when I remember as they do offer protection in many instances of using as opposed to putting a UV filter on for protection.

My leanings were to consider the one similar to Canons, then I saw a comment the petal shaped ones were better for illuminating a subject particularly important with some macro shooting.
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I think the point of the petal shaped ones is so that the petals can be as big as possible without getting in the frame.

I suppose it depends on what you're doing and where you point the camera but for general purpose use I assume petal ones are best. For macro you may be pointing the lens down or level but maybe not upward and if that's the case maybe you could get away with a smaller one? Depending on where the light is coming from... but unless a petal hood obstructs the light onto the subject I think that'd be the one to go for. A tube type hood would I assume possibly need to be smaller than a petal hood to match the smaller petals of the petal hood as if it was the size of the larger petals all around it could maybe intrude into the frame.
 
I'd go with the type Canon would supply. The official ones are often flock lined to further reduce the liklihood of stray light entering the frame. In my experience aftermarket ones are either good and a fraction of the price or poor quality, poor fit and generally not pleasing to use.

However, if they're cheap, buy one of each design.
 
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If I'm shooting macro, I don't tend to use the hood because it can reduce the amount of light hitting the subject. Using the same lenses for more distant use, I use the supplied hoods.

IIRC, the hoods on both (Fuji 80mm and Nikkor 105mm) are both straight rather than petal types.
 
I'd have thought the length of the hood was important.

This is what I think, although I've never read it anywhere, so I could be wrong....
Your lens aperture is circular and the sensor is a rectangle, so the petal one will allow you a slightly longer bit at the top and bottom of the lens and less long at the sides, otherwise it might impinge on the sensor view and cause vignetting, especially if you are using a wider aperture.
The circular one will all have to be at the shorter side length so as not to cause vignetting at wide apertures.

I think either could work, but the length might be crucial if you are using a wider aperture.
 
Bebop said:
I'd have thought the length of the hood was important.

This is what I think, although I've never read it anywhere, so I could be wrong....
Your lens aperture is circular and the sensor is a rectangle, so the petal one will allow you a slightly longer bit at the top and bottom of the lens and less long at the sides, otherwise it might impinge on the sensor view and cause vignetting, especially if you are using a wider aperture.
The circular one will all have to be at the shorter side length so as not to cause vignetting at wide apertures.

I think either could work, but the length might be crucial if you are using a wider aperture.
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I think this is indeed the case and if so any solid tube like hood would need to be the length of the shorter petals only as any longer and it'd cause vignetting.
 
I though petal hoods were designed for standard zoom lenses that go to wide angle. The two biggest petals top & bottom, the smaller at the sides , assuming your aspect ratio is 2:3, 3:4 or something like that.

If you wanted to use a cylindrical hood on a normal to widish zoom lens, it would have to be very shallow, not offering much protection.
 
Bebop said:
I'd have thought the length of the hood was important.

This is what I think, although I've never read it anywhere, so I could be wrong....
Your lens aperture is circular and the sensor is a rectangle, so the petal one will allow you a slightly longer bit at the top and bottom of the lens and less long at the sides, otherwise it might impinge on the sensor view and cause vignetting, especially if you are using a wider aperture.
The circular one will all have to be at the shorter side length so as not to cause vignetting at wide apertures.

I think either could work, but the length might be crucial if you are using a wider aperture.
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Hey Bebop I'm not sure it's about wider aperture, but zooming out to wider angle.
 
d00d said:
Hey Bebop I'm not sure it's about wider aperture, but zooming out to wider angle.
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Hmm yes. It is my wider aperture lenses that all have petal hoods which is why I was thinking along those lines, but perhaps a wider aperture alone is not enough. Perhaps flare is more of a problem on wider apertures and the petal hood allows for as much 'length' as possible.

I think there is a critical hood length at which it vignettes and that is the important thing. The petal hood allows the upper and lower parts to be a tad longer than a cylindrical hood.

My 70-200 f/2.8 uses a petal hood, but it could use a cylindrical one without vignetting if it was only as long as the shorter petals of my petal hood.

Thanks for making me thing about this @d00d :)

Edit: I couldn't resist having a play by extending the hood on my 70-200. You are absolutely correct @d00d , the aperture made very little, if any, difference to the vignetting compared with widening the angle of view, so I think the petals must be more to do with getting a maximum coverage to reduce flare on wide aperture lenses (y)
 
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d00d said:
PAH ... petal hood are for zoom lenses.
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My 28mm f2, 35 and 55mm f1.8 Sony lenses all came with petal hoods but my 85mm came with a tube hood so I assume Sony think 55mm needs petal but 85mm doesn't. The petal shape seems to make sense to me and maybe more so at the wider end but I've no idea at what length petal hoods aren't necessary to prevent vignetting but Sony seem to think the line is somewhere between 55 and 85mm.

I can't remember what hoods my Canon and Sigma lenses for my DSLR's had and TBH I hardly ever use hoods and they usually stay in the box.
 
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