Lens Hood

[Mike410]

This may be a stupid question, but im a newbie!

Does it matter if you buy a cheap or expensive lens hood?

Does a cheap lens hood affect picture quality?

There are quite a few really cheap lens hoods available on ebay, I was checking out.

Thanks!

Mike

[Elmo]

For me this is one of the places cheap works. I always use lens hoods and I buy the knock-off from e-bay. They might not lock in place as well as the OEM ones but they work for me.

[RexK_Cozumel]

Lens hoods are shaped specifically for the lens design. You will get vignetting or even be able to see the hood in the photo if you use a hood designed for a telephoto on a wide angle lens. Now if you are asking if the OEM hood and the flea bay hood are the same if they are the same shape/design then yes. Aside from build quality you could technically use anything that blocks out stray light from hitting the lens.

[dcclark]

Not answering your question directly, but -- do you have any lenses that didn't come with lens hoods? Every lens I've owned has come with one, and that hood is always specifically designed to work with the lens.

[WooD]

Originally Posted by dcclark

Not answering your question directly, but -- do you have any lenses that didn't come with lens hoods? Every lens I've owned has come with one, and that hood is always specifically designed to work with the lens.

I'd go with the factory lens hood.

My Nikkor 80-200 lens hood was a $39.95 option on a $1,100 lens.

Nikon's 50mm didn't come with a hood either. I really like that one, collapsible rubber, it's like having a bumper on my lens.

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by dcclark

Not answering your question directly, but -- do you have any lenses that didn't come with lens hoods? Every lens I've owned has come with one, and that hood is always specifically designed to work with the lens.

Most Canons dont. There are a few Nikkors that dont either.

Wood: the 50mm doesnt because the barrel acts as a hood anyways.

[Mike410]

Thanks for all the replies!

My Lens didn't come wiht a hood. It;s a
Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens.

I found out the recommended lens hood for this lens is the EW-60C hood,
but is very short and doesnt look like it would provide much protection.

[dcclark]

Originally Posted by Mike410

Thanks for all the replies!

My Lens didn't come wiht a hood. It;s a
Canon EF-S 18-55mm lens.

I found out the recommended lens hood for this lens is the EW-60C hood,
but is very short and doesnt look like it would provide much protection.

You don't need much. Too long of a hood will interfere with your photos, either giving you vignetting (darkened corners and edges), or else actually appearing in the photos as a big black band!

As far as protecting from glare, you only really need to worry about high angles -- light coming in "from the side", which any hood can help with. For protecting the glass itself, again, almost anything will do. Not even the biggest hood can protect your lens from a screwdriver stuck straight at it, so you just have to be careful.

Personally, I only use a lens hood on my ultrawide (where it's hard NOT to have the sun in the photo). I tried one on my 18-200 for a while, and managed to lose it when a tree branch slapped it right off and into a big hole in the ground. Be aware of that kind of problem, if you tend to use your camera in outdoorsy situations.

[inkista]

I would say that cheap/expensive 3rd part/OEM doesn't matter as much as getting a good rigid one that's a good fit both physically and for the focal lengths you're going to be covering. Whatever you do, don't go for those little rubber collapsible ones that screw onto the filter threads--they're usually worse than useless.

Secondly, a hood becomes more useful as physical protection and for shading the LONGER the lens gets. With telephotos, it's always a good idea to have one. On wide angle lenses, however, (which the 18-55 can be), the hood has to be relatively shallow not to impinge into the visible area covered by the lens, and so it may not offer much physical protection or shade to the front element at all because of this.

I would also suggest that if you're looking at putting a hood on a wide-angle lens, that you consider a petal hood.

[LeeR]

I always get a kick out of the guys who walk around with their lens hood on even when the situation doesn't call for it. I saw a guy a few weeks ago at a dance recital in a poorly lit room with flourescent lights. He couldn't have got lens flare if you paid him, but he had his lens hood on just the same. I think he must consider it a kind of phallic symbol and the longer the better.
Personally, I rarely use one. For one thing, I don't shoot into the sun that often. Just the same, I keep the one for my telephotos in the camera bag and use it whenever its needed. I can usually solve a wide angle problem by simply putting my hand or a card in the right place to block direct rays from hitting the lens.