I was online line looking for camera hoods and filters. I quickly noticed the canon hoods are vastly more expensive than the generic ones. Is there any difference between them beside the name?
Also I was looking for lens filters, and had the same questions, is there a brand of filters that you'd recommend? or are they kind of like the hoods, where you're just paying for the brand name?
Do the lens filters make a great deal of difference? or should you not even bother with them?
Finally, I as looking at the Lowepro trekker backbacks. They seem extremely nice, but $200/ea? There's got to be cheaper camera bags that are comparable. Right??
I have a generic for my 100 macro and it works fine. I'd like to say the Canon hoods I have for my other lenses are so much better but honestly, they really aren't. I'm thinking of picking up a couple others for my other bare lenses.
Filters: Hoya or B+W, super multi coated or better. Personal preference if you need them, FWIW, I run filters on all my lenses capable of using them.
As for hoods, I have hoods for all my lenses and ALWAYS use them - my hoods are all canon genuine ones. I prefer the hard plastic ones from canon over a generic metal hood or flexable rubber one, which I feel offer less protection and bump resistance. Up to you, but totally worth it for my uses.
I have a lowpro pro trekker I think - the second largest backpack that I saw - designed to handle a 600 4 I believe. No idea why I got it, it's pretty much a storage bag now...way too heavy, though a nice bag for what it is... I never use one that large. I have a tamrac digital camera backpack that was about $75, I can't remember the model number, but i love it, it's held up great, I can cram a lot into it considering it's size, and it's not too heavy or bulky. I'm sure B&H has a way to compare bags of the various price points....
Photography is an expensive hobby & in general the "you get what you pay for" trusim is quite accurate.
I have hoods for nearly all my lenses, but then they came with them. It's a good idea to have hoods for all the lenses (I need to rectify my few omissions), probably the generics are just as good as the OEM.
For filters, I prefer to use B+W by far. Excellent quality. The good thing here is hvstar.net has excellent prices on them, easing the pain. I only use filters when needed.
For bags, they are all pretty expensive. I don't know of any bargain brand & with all the bag-a-holics around here I expect we'd know about them. Myself I have a couple of Lowepros, a Tamrac, and a ThinkTank setup. Each has it's use. Take a look at cambags.com for examples of what's available & how they can be packed.
