Hood or No Hood?

[Yoricko]

Would you rather leave your lens with lens hood on / fully extended or not?

 

[Pickett Wilson]

Hood.I always use a lens hood. Why risk flare.

 

[yanidel]

no hoods, too big. Flare can be nice.

 

[colyn]

I never shoot without a hood..

 

[zeezea]

I try always to use a hood. Not only for flare/contrast but also for protection of the lens.

Sometimes I`m a wee bit......uh.......clumsy.

Al

 

[Benjamin]

It depends on the size of the hood and how partial to flare the lens in question is, no?

 

[wlewisiii]

Prefer to have a hood & UV filter on whenever possible.

William

 

[nikon_sam]

I have hoods on just about all my lenses and the ones with the built-in hoods get used even indoors...
I'm always on the look-out for quality hoods and prefer for them to screw in rather than snap-on or bayonet...
I don't even mind a nice Minolta or Olympus hood on my Nikon or Mamiya glass...

 

[Steve Bellayr]

Every lens has a hood.

 

[Bassism]

The only lens of mine that I've got a hood for is my dslr kit lens. All the lenses that ever actually get used have no choice but to go naked.

That said, I wouldn't usually use them even if I had them. Cameras are bulky enough without a big hood hanging off the front. Hoods for me only in extreme circumstances where the protection against flare/impact is necessary.

 

[uhligfd]

I am always puzzled by this sort of question. Dear poster, would you mind telling us why you are considering going hood-less:
Extra cost, looks of a monster lens + hood, does not fit bag easily, pain to take it off, put on, ... other?

I would really like to know. Same as with people who still drive cars belt-less. Why I never can tell.

So, pleae let us know what you might have against hoods in general, please.

 

[jmcd]

I always use a hood.

 

[35mmdelux]

I use the hood to guard against flare and loss of contrast.

 

[functus]

I had the exact same conversation with my wife when my son was born.

 

[icebear]

It's thanks to photoshop et al that even "professional" photogs, like the wedding photogs that run around and shoot couples and newly weds in NYC on location, e.g. central park who use mega zooms and flash on clunky DSLR w/o hoods. The give a sh... about the native contrast of their shot. They process it in the digital darkroom and compensate for sloppy work and craftsmanship.
Why do you shade your eyes from the sun with your hand or wear a basecap (not backwards mind you ) - ahh you can actually see something. Everyone in his right state of mind should make a decision about to hood or not to hood...

 

[hiromu]

Yes, most of the time.
But when the hood gets too big such as Nokton 35/1.2 or Hexanon 50/1.2, which blocks large portion of view finder, then I go hood less...

Hiromu

 

[Gumby]

I had the exact same conversation with my wife when my son was born.

What camera were you using to take his picture?

 

[Benjamin Marks]

If you've got it, you can always remove it. If you don't got it . . . It's just part of the tool kit.

 

[btgc]

Voted for hood, but have to note - no hoods on small cameras like Oly 35RC and Electro 35 MC. Nor pancake lenses. Otherwise I can use any large camera/lens.
EDIT: when I want a flare, I can get it with hood mounted. When I want to be 100% sure no flare will occur, I put on lens cap

 

[sepiareverb]

Depends on the lens. I rarely use the hood with the 28/2.0, but ALWAYS with the 35/2.0.