To hood or not to hood?

[kshapero]

Do you use a hood on your lenses or not? Do you use a hood on certain lenses and not on others?

 

[p.giannakis]

Only use hood with my scratched lenses or lenses that have the tedency to flare (i.e. Zuiko 50 f/1.4). With the rest ones (especialy some Tessars) i don't bother.

Ps. Some 50mm have a recessed front element so there is no need for a lens hood (Nikkor AF 50, Canon EF 50 etc...)

 

[Bendj]

Never use a hood unless it is built in as I like to keep my setup as small as I can.

 

[helen.HH]

the two lenses I use hoods on
21 Super Angulon ...a tres sexy beautiful hood, plus thatt lens is so naked and round it needs protection
50 2.8 Elmar M modern edition...the tiniest sweetest hood... just lovely and E39 fits so many lenses

 

[kshapero]

I also hood the 21 Super Angulon. But not my trusty CV 50/1.5 "short tele".

 

[Vince Lupo]

All the time -- if nothing else, if I bump the front of the lens I end up bumping the hood and not the edge of the lens or even the front element itself (particularly for lenses that have elements that are not recessed). Easier to replace a damaged lens hood than to try to fix a damaged lens.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

First, hood protect from direct hits.
Second, hood cutting off glares.
But some of lenses don’t have appropriate hood support. Canon cheap EF lenses have hood connected to the front tube which connects to AF mechanism.
And some lenses have very deep front element. Canon 50 1.8 LTM with 40.5 step up ring and filter on it doesn’t needs hood.

 

[benlees]

Always use a hood, even those crappy rubber ones.

 

[seany65]

I've always used hoods on lenses/cameras that can take them. They used to be rubber ones as they can fold back out f the way, but a couple of years ago I got a slotted metal one for my Ricoh 500GX and ever since then I only use metal ones.

This turned out to be a good policy last year when I was in an art gallery and I dropped a Praktica PLC3 and Pentacon Electric 50mm lens. It landed on the front of the metal lens hood which got dented, but otherwise the camera and lens were unharmed, I just needed a new lens hood which cost about £5.

 

[Huss]

I use hoods on all my Voigtlander and Zeiss ZM lenses. Because Cosina in their wisdom built them with shiny chrome silver rings around the front element.

 

[charjohncarter]

I have hoods for every lens that I can fit one reasonably. I would like a hood for my Elmar 50mm f/3.5 but I don't want to afford one or don't like the way they work. I've made some hoods: for my Olympus 35RC, and am now making one for the above Elmar and a 35mm Serenar. My Folders are hoodless, but the Super 23 I have a step up ring that allows Pentax 49mm filter size hoods; the rubber ones.

 

[Henry]

I use a hood in manual lenses and no hood in AF lenses. I cannot fully explain this logic.

 

[wjlapier]

Made the mistake of using a Yama hood on the W-Nikkor 28mm f/3.5 S mount. Apparently there is a hood for this lens but my Yama 43mm was too narrow.

For the longest time I never used hoods, Nikon 80-200 AFS, 200 f/2 AFS and a couple other. Those first two were my main lenses when my kids were in school and did sports and other school activities. Even when I switched to Sony A6000 and 70-200 f/4 I never used the hood. Never had a problem.

 

[LCSmith]

Outside, yes. Inside, no.

 

[Greg Maslak]

I've always used hoods as a matter of routine, for both stay light and protection, except now with the little Fuji 27mm on an XE-2s. There just wasn't one until "Squarehood" in Sweden came up with a neat looking, albeit expensive outside the AF element mounted little affair that looks very attractive. I know they have had one for the X100 series for a while. Does anyone have experience with these? I'm tempted, but 60 euros +++ makes me hesitate.

 

[andyturk]

No hoods for me (usually) unless they're built-in. I use filters religiously, however.

I also put up with the hood on my 35mm f/1.4 because it flares easily.

 

[ruby.monkey]

I've always used hoods as a matter of routine, for both stay light and protection, except now with the little Fuji 27mm on an XE-2s. There just wasn't one until "Squarehood" in Sweden came up with a neat looking, albeit expensive outside the AF element mounted little affair that looks very attractive. I know they have had one for the X100 series for a while. Does anyone have experience with these? I'm tempted, but 60 euros +++ makes me hesitate.

I have their X100 Squarehood II, which works the same way as this one. The hood itself is beautifully made and shades the lens well (and is almost out of the way of the built-in flash). Mounting is via a pair of grub screws that tighten against a screw-on adaptor. As long as you're not going to be taking off the hood, the mounting method is perfectly adequate, but (at least with the X100 version) the screws can't be tightened enough to guarantee that the hood won't slip round on the adaptor when you unscrew the assembly from the lens. This may not be a consideration with the 27mm - I superglued my hood to its adaptor since I regularly need to swap it out for one of the lens converters.

All in all an excellent hood and, for me, well worth the asking price.

 

[Rob-F]

My lenses would feel naked without a hood. I have one for every lens and always use them.

 

[Huss]

I've always used hoods as a matter of routine, for both stay light and protection, except now with the little Fuji 27mm on an XE-2s. There just wasn't one until "Squarehood" in Sweden came up with a neat looking, albeit expensive outside the AF element mounted little affair that looks very attractive. I know they have had one for the X100 series for a while. Does anyone have experience with these? I'm tempted, but 60 euros +++ makes me hesitate.

60 EUR? Cheap compared to what Zeiss/Voigtlander and Leica charge for theirs!

Pro tip - the Zeiss and Voigtlander hoods are the same but with different labelling. The Voigtlander ones are much cheaper..

 

[TenEleven]

I usually use hoods, mostly of the cheap screw-in type sold by the eBay seller "heavystar". I just bought a bunch of sizes all at once and now I'm all set hood-wise.

I mainly use them for protection. I often carry more than one camera and can't always pay perfect attention as to whether or not it is bumping into something or someone. Hoods are a must.
They also they help with strong side-light which can cause some nasty veiling flare on my older lenses. You still get flare of course, no magic bullet there, but less of it.