Purpose of Lens Hood?

[eejal]

Hi guys,
i'm new into DSLR. Are lens hood a 'must-on' accessory when taking pictures in dark ballroom (with flash), night shots (no flash on)?

thanks for the info people..

[Anson]

Originally Posted by eejal Hi guys, i'm new into DSLR. Are lens hood a 'must-on' accessory when taking pictures in dark ballroom (with flash), night shots (no flash on)? thanks for the info people..

It is used to reduce glare...

[metals99]

Len's Hood are supposed to prevent your pictures from having flare from the direct sunlight..

Usually a lens hood are essential for outdoor day shoot.. Indoors and at night a lens hood won't be necessary..

Lens hood also act as a protection to your lens front elements, against any accidents and also shelter it from dust or rain..

Hope this helps..

A search would also help as there have many info about this matters too..

You can read from this site for more info from what i've said..

http://www.vanwalree.com/optics/lenshood.html

[catchlights]

the primary purpose lens hood is to prevent stray light enter the lens, causing flare and deteriorate image quality.

I use lens hood all the time, be it outdoor, indoor or studio, day or night, once the lens cap is off, the lens hood is on.

[shunzi]

as all had say, its had a very simple purpose.

[eejal]

Originally Posted by Anson It is used to reduce glare...

Glare = sun, flash, lights?

Originally Posted by metals99 Len's Hood are supposed to prevent your pictures from having flare from the direct sunlight.. Usually a lens hood are essential for outdoor day shoot.. Indoors and at night a lens hood won't be necessary.. Lens hood also act as a protection to your lens front elements, against any accidents and also shelter it from dust or rain.. Hope this helps.. A search would also help as there have many info about this matters too.. You can read from this site for more info from what i've said.. http://www.vanwalree.com/optics/lenshood.html

Very useful info bro..will read up more

Originally Posted by catchlights the primary purpose lens hood is to prevent stray light enter the lens, causing flare and deteriorate image quality. I use lens hood all the time, be it outdoor, indoor or studio, day or night, once the lens cap is off, the lens hood is on.

ic..my first newbie impressions of lens hood is to protect the lens

Originally Posted by shunzi as all had say, its had a very simple purpose.

simple BUT very useful..


One question : When we purchase for a new lens, do the lens hood comes with it?

[NemesisBlade]

Originally Posted by eejal Glare = sun, flash, lights? Very useful info bro..will read up more ic..my first newbie impressions of lens hood is to protect the lens simple BUT very useful.. One question : When we purchase for a new lens, do the lens hood comes with it?

some lenses do come with hoods while most do not.. e.g. is the canon L lenses dey shld come with hoods

[shunzi]

its so simple and in fact i had my lens hood on everytime in the day time!

and sadly no most of the lens don't really comes with the hood. thats for canon..

[metals99]

Frankly speaking I always have my lens hood on all times except if using a circular polarizer where I need to turn the filter.. but yes al the time on as it looks more pro and cool

[Octarine]

Originally Posted by metals99 Len's Hood are supposed to prevent your pictures from having flare from the direct sunlight.. Usually a lens hood are essential for outdoor day shoot.. Indoors and at night a lens hood won't be necessary..

Indoors and at night you can get the same direct lights - any strong lamp, streetlight or whatever can cause the same flare effects. So it's not an "outdoor tool".

[Blur Shadow]

Are there any strong light sources in the ballroom? If not, you probably will not need the lens hood. Still, there's no harm to leave the lens hood on your lens permanently...

[Ah Pao]

...not to mention it ups your 'pro factor' by a notch.

A hood, after all, is an accessory. That means your lens will work fine with or without the hood on. Mainly I use the hood more for protection - how often do you shoot with a strong light source, and how effectively is it really?

[ombre]

Aye, the purpose of me using a hood is the looks factor, in fact if the front element doesn't rotate, and the supplied or optional original hood is a barrel hood, I'll try to shop for a cool looking 3rd party design hood to screw on instead.

Secondary purpose is to avoid a kid from sticking a finger in... or other things from happening to your lens.

Glare is usually the last of my concerns, if you know how to avoid it, it shouldn't show up... then again, my hood is always on when I shoot. I even have hoods for my kit lens =) (just don't buy the original hoods all the time, its way over-priced).

Lastly, I just feel 'not correct' without a hood. The front (filter or not) with the hood threads exposed just looks a little wrong, and doesn't feel safe. But thats personal too. So yea, you decide if you need it. All in all, its not an essential, but very good to have. Afterall you paid a hefty sum for your lens.

[catchlights]

how effectively is the lens hood is depends how well the lens hood being design, and also how the photographer able to understand how to use them properly.

sometime, if the lens hood unable to shield the lens, photographer will use a black card to block out stray light cast on the lens for causing lens flare.

so some photographers willing to pay a lot of money to a get a bellow lens hood, which is adjustable.

[Anson]

Another use that I forgot to mention... A big lens hood is useful for getting models/showgals' "eye-contact" during event shooting....

[Dream Merchant]

Originally Posted by catchlights how effectively is the lens hood is depends how well the lens hood being design, and also how the photographer able to understand how to use them properly. sometime, if the lens hood unable to shield the lens, photographer will use a black card to block out stray light cast on the lens for causing lens flare. so some photographers willing to pay a lot of money to a get a bellow lens hood, which is adjustable.

I've never believed in round or petal hoods. Just doesn't make sense considering the format we're using (rectangle). But during most applications, they're faster/more convenient than bellows hoods.

Look at the most exacting and demanding capturing applications - cinematography. ALL their lenses are hooded with a deep or adjustable rectangle lens hood.

Also bear in mind that most manufacturers design their lens hoods conservatively - often, so conservative that it's ineffective. As an example, I can easily use a 85mm setting on my Bronica bellows hood on a 24mm lens on a 1.6x crop body, shoot at f/11 and get no vignetting.

[catchlights]

yes, I should consider getting a Mamiya RB bellows lenshood, it is 77mm, maybe still cheaper than getting a Lee or Lindahl bellows lenshood.

btw, happy b'day

[hazelng]

Just to add on a qn. Is it more advisable to buy a lens hood before I get to Japan since it's winter, I heard the snow glare is quite strong. And should I get the *polarised* filter too? *paiseh forgot the filter name. hehe

[Dream Merchant]

Originally Posted by catchlights yes, I should consider getting a Mamiya RB bellows lenshood, it is 77mm, maybe still cheaper than getting a Lee or Lindahl bellows lenshood. btw, happy b'day

Thanks Catchlights.

So sad you and your family can't join us tonight.

I considered getting the RB hood as well, but it's so heavy!

I wonder if the Lee or Lindahl is made of plastics or ploycarbs? Anyways, search ebay - sometimes you can get the Mamiya hoods around or less than US$100. I once missed a deal for an RB hood and it went for less than US$70.

[lennyl]

Originally Posted by Blur Shadow Still, there's no harm to leave the lens hood on your lens permanently...

There is one situation when using a hood is detrimental - when the hood shades part of the scene from your flash. Usually this only happens with the pop up flash on wide or ultra wide angle lenses.