Why Should You Use Lens Hood?

[Quo Fan]

If you really want to test the effectiveness of the hood, this test takes all of about 30 seconds to do. Setup your camera on a tripod and remove the hood from the lens. Take a photo. Replace the hood on the lens, and without changing any settings, take another photo. Compare the 2 at home on the computer, not on the LCD screen on the back of the camera.

If you are shooting into the sun, that is when the hood is most effective. Like others said, it is to reduce glare.

[fletch]

A hood won't actually help much if the sun is actually in shot.

The real use of a hood is stopping light entering the lens that is not part of the composition. This light hits the lens at funny angles and bounces arround inside causing funky affects such as flare, and also affecting overall contrast of the image.

So moral of the story, there really is no downside to using a (well made) lens hood, just use it all of the time. However it won't magic your pictures better or stop shooting into the sun being difficult and causing lens flare.

Originally Posted by fletch

A hood won't actually help much if the sun is actually in shot.

The real use of a hood is stopping light entering the lens that is not part of the composition. This light hits the lens at funny angles and bounces arround inside causing funky affects such as flare, and also affecting overall contrast of the image.

So moral of the story, there really is no downside to using a (well made) lens hood, just use it all of the time. However it won't magic your pictures better or stop shooting into the sun being difficult and causing lens flare.

Hell, if anything the lens hood is one more defense against banging your $2,000 toy off the ground and breaking it.

[fletch]

Originally Posted by maxharvard

Hell, if anything the lens hood is one more defense against banging your $2,000 toy off the ground and breaking it.

Yep, and it protects those cheapo $300 lenses just as well.

However everyone knows the main reason to use a lens hood is that it looks cool and makes you more attractive to women.

[coplan]

Originally Posted by OjaiAnna

Except I do have one question / clarification? I have been shooting some pictures at the beach during early afternoon hours, with the sun glaring of the ocean and sand. I assume that the Lens Hood would be perfect in that situation to prevent glare on my photos? Let me know what you think. Thanks.

OjaiAnna - I'd have to say that in general, the lens hood doesn't do much for redirected light. Especially on sand. That light is bouncing all over the place from the different facets of the sand, and it will still somehow create glare - or at least the sand might be overexposed. The Lens Hood is really for direct light, like the sun. Worry not though, what you're looking for is a Circular Polarizer filter which polarizes (only allows one-directional) light. It has a rotating bezel that you'll rotate to get the best appearence through the lens before snapping the shot. It really helps to cut the "bouncy" light. Colors will appear richer, you'll have an easy time shooting on bright days, you'll discover the meaning of life and world peace will commence.

[PKSon]

When I first started getting into photography a bit more seriously, I asked a veteran enthusiast, "what's with the hood? Do I need to buy one? Do I get a rubber hood, or a plastic hood?"
This is what he said : "Don't buy a rubber hood"
He later elaborated for me..

hood's function : to prevent glare (ghosting)
SO, actually not used much. In the rare case where glare can be a problem, good. Otherwise, not much going on. Rubber? Of course not, hoods although normally not very useful, can protect your lens.

That's why I didn't use my hood that much. (Well, sometimes when I think I might need it for one of the two functions the hood has shown me)

I thought people having their hoods on backwards was cool, so I did that for a while, and wow, when I dropped my D300 with my 18-200 VR, everything just crashed. My heart stopped. I picked it up gingerly, and found that the BW filter was shattered, but everything else was totally fine. The hood had taken the first impact, thus saving my equipment.

When I use my Sigma 30mm in bars and stuff, I get a lot of ghosting/flares. So I put on my hood, and it's so much better when I do.

So in my conclusion, hoods - prevents flare, and protects the lens.

Oh, btw, IF, just IF hoods altered exposure in any way, then the lens companies are making it wrong. Hoods are supposed to be out of the angle/line of sight. Wider lenses have wider hoods, tele lenses have narrower hoods. No matter how much you zoom out, you will NEVER see the hood in the photo.

take care
PK

[vandergus]

hood's function : to prevent glare (ghosting)

To elaborate a little, ghosting just one manifestation of lens flare. It is simply the most noticeable form of lens flare so the terms are often used interchangeably. Lens flare can also result in reduced contrast in a photo which is often much less noticeable than ghosting and can go unnoticed until you get back to your computer and see that all of your pictures look a little flat and dull. In addition to protection, I think this is the other reason that people may leave their lens hoods on all the time.

[Jim Bryant]

After taking pictures for 40 years, I thought I had heard it all. This is a really new one to me.
A lens hood is used to prevent sun glare, it has nothing to do with metering!

[skamp]

Originally Posted by LisaNewton

Thank you for your thoughts, Travis. Your assessment of the first two shots may be correct. However, after reviewing my data, in the case of the second two shots, the focal length was the same, 55mm, with each lens. Plus, using the Nikon ViewNX, I was able to see where the shot was focused, and yes, I was using Aperture Priority. I'm not sure how I would copy this data here, but the focus area in both photos is directly in the center.

So, could it still be the hood in the case of the same focal length and same focus even with two different lenses?

You may have been focusing on the same point but, seeing as your angle of view is different between the two shots your metering system is probably registering off different light ranges resulting in the exposures you have posted. In order to perform this test properly, you need to mount your camera on a steady tripod and change nothing but the lens hood to see the effects the hood induces.