How important are lens hoods?
in [Digital Cameras]
|
Prev: Photography exhibit
Next: 26 GP pano
From: Tom Hise on 13 Mar 2010 09:55 I'm trying to reduce the volume of camera related stuff that I haul around with me when traveling. I use a Nikon D80 with three different lenses (30mm f1.4, 18-135mm F3.5, and 70-300mm f4.5). Each lens has a different hood to go with it. My question is, just how important are lens hoods? Would I be likely to miss any 'great' shots if I stopped carrying the hoods. I am not a pro, just an amateur who takes photos for fun, to show friends and family and occasionally post on the web. Thanks in advance, Tom Hise
From: tony cooper on 13 Mar 2010 10:07 On Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:55:15 -0600, Tom Hise <nc0o(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >I'm trying to reduce the volume of camera related stuff that I haul around >with me when traveling. I use a Nikon D80 with three different lenses >(30mm f1.4, 18-135mm F3.5, and 70-300mm f4.5). Each lens has a different >hood to go with it. > >My question is, just how important are lens hoods? Would I be likely to >miss any 'great' shots if I stopped carrying the hoods. > >I am not a pro, just an amateur who takes photos for fun, to show friends >and family and occasionally post on the web. > A lens hood reduces lens flare, but I haven't experienced much of a problem with lens flare when not using a hood. My lenses are equipped with those roll-back threaded rubber hoods, but to act as bumpers to prevent the lens from being banged-up. I seriously doubt if you'll ever miss a photo because of the lack of a hood, but you may ding your lens. -- Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
From: Paul Furman on 13 Mar 2010 11:03 Tom Hise wrote: > I'm trying to reduce the volume of camera related stuff that I haul around > with me when traveling. I use a Nikon D80 with three different lenses > (30mm f1.4, 18-135mm F3.5, and 70-300mm f4.5). Each lens has a different > hood to go with it. > > My question is, just how important are lens hoods? Would I be likely to > miss any 'great' shots if I stopped carrying the hoods. > > I am not a pro, just an amateur who takes photos for fun, to show friends > and family and occasionally post on the web. I don't generally use them. If flare is an issue, I'll hold my hand up to block the sun from hitting the front element. There's two kinds of flare: veiling flare and ghosting. The latter is those colorful circles, often repeating in the opposite corner from the sun and veiling flare is just a white haze, sometimes evenly covering the whole frame, reducing contrast. Lenses vary in their susceptibility to flare and tendency for ghosting. Stopping down a fast lens generally reduces flare and lenses with smaller front elements generally have less trouble. Shooting into the sun, a hood won't help, shooting away from the sun it's not needed, so it's mostly an issue when the sun just glances across the front of the lens and often hoods are not really big enough for that so a carefully positioned hand can work better (although it makes a mess of hand holding stability). Movie cameras use elaborate rectangular bellows with flaps and little black cards on a flexible arm for trouble spots sometimes. http://images.google.com/images?q=matte+box When buying really old lenses, choose the coated version, often indicated as 'MC' for multi-coated. Research the lens' versions, sometimes there are improved coatings in later models. Some of Nikon's newer lenses are given an 'N' designation for nano-crystal coating.
From: Neil Harrington on 13 Mar 2010 11:35 "Tom Hise" <nc0o(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message news:nHNmn.415669$FK3.85435(a)en-nntp-06.dc1.easynews.com... > I'm trying to reduce the volume of camera related stuff that I haul around > with me when traveling. I use a Nikon D80 with three different lenses > (30mm f1.4, 18-135mm F3.5, and 70-300mm f4.5). Each lens has a different > hood to go with it. > > My question is, just how important are lens hoods? Would I be likely to > miss any 'great' shots if I stopped carrying the hoods. > > I am not a pro, just an amateur who takes photos for fun, to show friends > and family and occasionally post on the web. Theoretically the lens hood should improve the contrast of pictures (taken outdoors at least) by excluding a good deal of the non-image-forming light. Whether you would ever be able to SEE such improvement is somewhat questionable, unless the sun or other bright light source were in a position where it would shine directly on the lens surface, and perhaps not even then. Personally I always use a hood -- when possible -- when shooting outdoors, on the principle that it may help and can't hurt, and also provides some physical protection for the lens. Since with the Nikkors you mention (I'm assuming that's what your 70-300 is as well as the 18-135) the hoods easily reverse on each lens for carrying, they add almost no bulk or weight, so I can't see any benefit to leaving them home. Ken Rockwell (www.kenrockwell.com) on the other hand has said he never uses a lens hood. But he does use his hand to shade the lens, which to me seems more of a bother than using a hood -- and is probably less effective besides, unless he paints that hand matte black.
From: John McWilliams on 13 Mar 2010 11:55
Tom Hise wrote: > I'm trying to reduce the volume of camera related stuff that I haul around > with me when traveling. I use a Nikon D80 with three different lenses > (30mm f1.4, 18-135mm F3.5, and 70-300mm f4.5). Each lens has a different > hood to go with it. > > My question is, just how important are lens hoods? Would I be likely to > miss any 'great' shots if I stopped carrying the hoods. > > I am not a pro, just an amateur who takes photos for fun, to show friends > and family and occasionally post on the web. I always use a lens hood, more for protection of the lens than for necessity to block out extraneous light sources. I find it's better than a filter for my purposes. -- john mcwilliams |