$5 vented metal lens hoods on ebay

[Huss]

I bought one from Rainbowimaging for my J8.
Cost $5.09 including shipping, shipped from the USA.
Unbelievable value for money, I was really surpised to see how nicely this is made. Not as nice as a Zeiss or CV hood, but given that it is almost 1/15 of the cost, pretty darn spiffy! Finish is excellent, not cheap. Looks great on a black lens on my M4-2. Vented build means does not mess up the VF view. Stock 40.5mm lens cap fits perfectly inside the hood.

A+ and no connection to the seller.

 

[Shac]

Huss - I've bought similar 39 and 43mm vented, screw-in hoods and like you think they are really excellent value for the $$. I even bought a "chrome" version but it looks kind of tacky even on a chrome M lens😀 - so I stick to the black hoods

 

[f16sunshine]

I've bought those as well as seller Heavystar. You're right.. great value for the buck and very useful.
My preference is just to have a ring like the Color Skopar style shade for physical protection.
For strong light I use my hand anyway. Vented hoods are nice while taking an image but pretty awful in bag or on a lens mounted hanging from a strap.
If the light is so strong,..... a lens shade as small as a vented one is usually not enough anyway.

 

[Shac]

Andy - so far never had a problem either with sun nor straps - but time will tell.

 

[peterm1]

I bought one from Rainbowimaging for my J8.
Cost $5.09 including shipping, shipped from the USA.
Unbelievable value for money, I was really surpised to see how nicely this is made. Not as nice as a Zeiss or CV hood, but given that it is almost 1/15 of the cost, pretty darn spiffy! Finish is excellent, not cheap. Looks great on a black lens on my M4-2. Vented build means does not mess up the VF view. Stock 40.5mm lens cap fits perfectly inside the hood.

A+ and no connection to the seller.

I have often bought these lens hoods and similar non vented ones and I have never been disappointed. Even where I own original hoods, I often use these cheap ones in preference to my original ones when out in the field. The originals are universally expensive so my view is that if I am going to ding, scratch or lose a hood I prefer it to be a $5 one that is easily replaced. Especially if they are the equivalent to the original ones in terms of function. The only thing I wish is that someone would make some nice rectangular metal after market hoods as sometimes these can be preferable on certain lenses.

A trick I have used when I can't find a hood of the correct size is to buy one the next size up then buy a cheap stepping ring to mate it to the lens. For example, Leica Summarit lenses have a 40mm thread diameter which is near impossible to find in hoods but a stepping ring with a diameter of 40mm is available so I have purchased a hood with diameter 43mm which is readily available and used the 40/43mm stepping ring to match it to the lens. Perfect. Incidentally as an aside, a similar trick helps with IR cut filters for M8 cameras. To save on buying several of these in different sizes I have used a 43mm one then attached it to whichever lens I was using on the day with the relevant stepping ring. The 43mm hood and the IR cut filter could then be used together as a unit and swapped over toegther from lens to lens as needed.

 

[Huss]

Good tip on the step down rings Peter!

 

[daveleo]

I have a box full of cheap Ebay hoods, stepping rings and caps.
Great values, functionally excellent.

 

[nikon_sam]

I also bought one from Heavystar for the 50mm 1.4 Canon lens on my A-1...it looks cool on it...

 

[nikonhswebmaster]

I also bought one from Heavystar for the 50mm 1.4 Canon lens on my A-1...it looks cool on it...

I bought one for my Nikkor 50 1.4, it would not screw in since the thread pitch was wrong. Never tried another.

 

[p.giannakis]

I make my own whenever i can.

All i need to do is find a bottle cap that fits the lens. Then i cut it and place black felt inside. Finally it looks like this.

 

[Huss]

I make my own whenever i can.

All i need to do is find a bottle cap that fits the lens. Then i cut it and place black felt inside. Finally it looks like this.

Or for $5 you could get one that looks really nice!
😀

(love your site, just read it last night and it was one of the influences that made me get a Zenit)

 

[Huss]

I also bought one from Heavystar for the 50mm 1.4 Canon lens on my A-1...it looks cool on it...

The Heavystar vented hoods are 3 times as expensive (including shipping) as the ones from Rainbowimaging. $5 vs $15 shipped.
The paint finish is also a little rougher to touch (at least with the one I bought a while back for my 40mm Summicron)

 

[Huss]

I just compared my Heavystar and Rainbow Imaging hoods. They are the same.
Only difference is Heavystar is 3X the cost of the other.

 

[rybolt]

If you get a 43mm vented hood a 52mm snap cap will snap into the front. a 46mm and 49mm hood uses a 58mm cap. It won't keep dust from coming through the vents but it does help.

 

[Mablo]

I've bought a few lens hoods over the years from China (mostly through eBay). All have been absolutely nice. One thing I still can't understand. How can it be possible to send one $3 lens hood to from China to my country (in EU) in a jiffy bag for free !?! The delivery takes ages but it's *always completely free of postal charges*.

 

[daveleo]

I've bought a few lens hoods over the years from China (mostly through eBay). All have been absolutely nice. One thing I still can't understand. How can it be possible to send one $3 lens hood to from China to my country (in EU) in a jiffy bag for free !?! The delivery takes ages but it's *always completely free of postal charges*.

PLEASE.... if you ever find out, let me know.
One of the great questions of the new global marketplace.

 

[rybolt]

My impression is that the postal rates are set by the shipper's country and China has an incredibly low, if not free, rate. If you think about it, they really aren't doing anything besides putting it all into a container and sending it out of the country. When it gets to the destination country it needs to be sent through Customs, sorted, shipped and then delivered. None of which costs the original country anything.
Last week I noticed that many Chinese Ebay sellers were only shipping by "Epacket" at a cost of $50. That seems to have disappeared though a few sellers still have it listed.

 

[Huss]

If you get a 43mm vented hood a 52mm snap cap will snap into the front. a 46mm and 49mm hood uses a 58mm cap. It won't keep dust from coming through the vents but it does help.

With my J8 lens, the lens cap that came with it fits perfectly inside the Rainbow Imaging hood, keeping dust out.

 

[ColSebastianMoran]

I've had good luck with these products for design, fit, and finish. That said, I wonder if the inside paint could be a little more flat.