edwardkaraa wrote:
I used to dislike hoods for the size, but since I got into RF lenses, I use them all the time. First they are much smaller than their DSLR counterparts, and kind of look cool too, especially the vented ones.
I hated the huge Canon supplied hoods, especially when traveling with numerous lenses - they added so much bulk. Then I discovered the collapsible Mamiya 77mm rubber hood, and bought two to use with step rings with all my lenses 50mm and longer. Love them, especially because they take up relatively little space in the bag.
Now that a lot of my work is rangefinder based, some lenses come with quite nice, relatively compact hoods, which I like. For others I've bought cheap *bay vented hoods. I have a tendency to bump things, so like to use hoods as a protective measure. And when handling the small lenses in a satchel, it's easier to grab them by the hood. Keeps fingers off the glass!
Edward - thanks for the tidbit about the ZM85 (f/4 I assume?). I tried one and thought it was decent, if a bit slow, but didn't have a hood for it...
Romain wrote:
I use hoods all the time... except with my 17mm TS-E.
Hoods are great bumpers
That's what your left hand is for with the 17mm - temporary, positionable on-demand shading.
rscheffler wrote:
Edward - thanks for the tidbit about the ZM85 (f/4 I assume?). I tried one and thought it was decent, if a bit slow, but didn't have a hood for it...
Yep, the ZM 85/4 has excellent sharpness and resolution as one would except from such a slow lens, even though it only has 5 elements. At first I didn't get hoods for my ZM lenses as they are expensive and may block the VF a bit more, but it was after I noticed that the ZM 85 in certain conditions had somewhat low overall contrast that I ordered hoods for all 4 lenses. How nice that Zeiss offers the same hood for the 50 and 35
With the hood, the ZM 85 is as contrasty as one would expect from any other Zeiss lens. The ZA 135 had the same issue, and I suspect it is just a matter of the front element being too exposed to ambient light (and me using UV filters probably didn't help).
Never, ever, ever use hoods. They look stupid and do nothing to improve images. Long long ago I tested several lenses and could not in any way tell which images had the hood and which didnt.
i always use the hoods on exactly two lenses: the leica 350/4.8 and nikkor 105/2.5 AIS. this is because those have built in hoods. for the rest of my lenses i almost never use a hood. they're just too big and too much of a pain to carry around. i like a small kit. the vast majority of my lenses don't show any noticeable improvement with a hood unless the sun is just outside of the frame (notable exceptions are poorly coated lens and longer telephoto lenses), in which case an improvised hood is pretty easy to make (using your hand).
I use step rings as mini-hoods, but mostly as a little extra protection that allows me to use push on caps. Their flare protection is likely minimal. Hoods help all lenses, but some more than others, and my ZMs are pretty good without them. My CV 15 has one built in.
I use step up rings to 49mm with my lenses, so I can share filters, and they allow me to push on these, which makes the setup no longer than using a normal cap.
p.s. when not doing this, I tend to use metal, screw-in caps.
Pretty cool! I thought you might have meant something like that. I have a bunch of Oly caps like that from my microscope refurbishing days. They also fit perfectly over the top of some Nikon and Rokkor metal hoods - yeah, handy!
I like it sometimes. I dig internal flare reflections with some older lenses. But usually as in the above case I don't want to seem them! Be gone you evil flares! Here's the kind I sometimes like:
For me no filter, only hood .Beside prevent unexpected light, it plays big role in protecting your front element and coatings without harmfull effect on your IQ.I usually go out with both : filter and hood , but when I take picture, I take the filter off from lens.I have many experiences pics as not good when filter is on.Just my 2 cents.
I always use the hood, only with the 35/2.8 C-biogon I sometimes leave it of. The point for me to buy that lens was it small size and the hood just makes it twice as big. And the C biogon is quite flare proof itself.
Interesting that the hood-users are the overwhelming majority. In the last 10 years I used a hood only twice - during rainy weather to prevent rain drops on the front lens. I don't like the bulk of hoods...
Some glass is set so deep that it doesn't warrant an additional hood, but in general (exceptions noted) it's hard to find fault with hoods (other than size implications) for IQ/protection.
+1 @ grubby fingers on glass ... and all the above.
