Lens hoods, yes or no?

RickSawThat

Senior Member
I shoot in natural light and don't use filters much - I always have the lens hood on my camera is with me more than not. Hiking, running, just cruising around, out to lunch ... The hood gives good protection to the front element to the lens.
 

Sambr

Senior Member
I use a lens hood on all my lens except on the Nikon 28-300VR - it's a pain in the butt with that lens, and given the depth of the FL it would be useless.
 

Eye-level

Banned
I don't use hoods but I agree they are fantastic protection and maybe I should use them. I always use caps. I always use L37C filters but currently I need about 5 more of them. And I use back caps as well. And I do not often shoot into the sun and I think backlighting is overrated...LOL :)
 

fotojack

Senior Member
Lens hoods serve two important purposes....front lens protection and sun shade. I always use them, even with step adapters.
 

gqtuazon

Gear Head
Other than what Rick W have already mentioned, I use them depending on the lens that I am using. The Nikon 16-35mm f4 VRII provides very little protection so I just leave it off. I use the lens hood with my other lenses though.
 

EttVenter

Senior Member
Lens hoods serve two important purposes....front lens protection and sun shade. I always use them, even with step adapters.
Nail on the head.

Even if there's no sun shining in your direction, you should still have the hood on just to protect your lens. The lens hoods on my lenses literally never come off.
 

bobmielke

New member
I use them on every lens I own. The tulip variety can be tricky to get on right but still add protection and shade from glare. With today's internally focusing lenses you get a more predictable outcome. I still find it a pain when using a circular polarizer as I must remove the tulip hood, adjust the polarizer for the effect I want and then reinstall the lens shade. In olden day a lens hood screwed onto the outermost filter and you simply adjusted the polarizer by turning the lens hood. I'm old school so I still buy metal screw-in lens caps that don't fall off. :)
 

ZekeMenuar

New member
Lens hoods serve two important purposes....front lens protection and sun shade. I always use them, even with step adapters.

This

Yesterday was a good example. Heading out the door I bashed the hood on the 55-200mm lens. No harm no foul. If I had hit the lens itself it could have been ugly.
 

jcottone45

Senior Member
The only thing I could tell you is, about a year ago because of my neuropathy my camera slid right out my hand (never felt it slide) hit the ground hood/lens filter first.Both were destroyed filter in several hundred pieces hood smashed in too.Camera not touched, saved by the hood & filter, of course it only fell 3 feet.
Learned a valuable lesson that day: never leave home with out them.!!! And always carry it on my shoulder or around my neck.!!
 

Eye-level

Banned
Tom Abrahamsson who write articles for major photo mags and is a member at another photo forum I hang out at told us all a story about how he dropped a Leica MP with a Summilux on it one time...bent the heck out of the lens shade but the several thousand dollar lens was fine! He said he never has taken it off the camera since and when you see pics of his MP in magazines you always think why in the heck doesn't that guy get him a new shade because it has this huge cave in on one side...haha
 

silvertip

Senior Member
I use a lens hood on all my lenses except for the 18-55. Only because I do not have a hood for it. It is a lot cheaper to replace a lens hood or filter than a $1000 lens.
 
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