Lens Hoods

[Peter Rush]

I swap lenses a lot at weddings - I swap between 3 main lenses on my EA50 - I do find though that fiddling with the lens hoods a royal pain when you are in a hurry, especially as it means with them attached (even reverse attached) they don't easily fit into my pouches.

What do you do - fiddle away or simply don't use them?

Pete

[Kenny Shem]

I don't use lens hood as they make the whole camera system looks big and yeah, they don't fit into pouches most of the time. I seldom require them to shield any stray lights and if really needed, I will try to adjust the camera position first.

[Malcolm Debono]

I don't use them as well. I like carrying around lenses in the Retrospective Lens Changer 3, and using lens hoods would mean that certain lenses either don't fit in width (ultra wide lenses) or in height (telephoto lenses) when using lens hoods.

[Rob Cantwell]

I've always got in to the habit of using the lens hood, i guess you can get away without using them, but they do serve a purpose, they prevent lens flare and in some circumstances washed out looking image they also protect the front element on the lens

[Chris Harding]

I have a mini luggage case all lined with foam and has wheels which I take with me. However I don't change lenses every 5 minutes so I really don't need to carry them on my belt or in photog style pouches.

How often do you guys switch lenses?? I have just one on the A-cam for the ceremony and one on the B-Cam and don't change them ...I take off the 17-50 on the B-Cam and replace with a 10-24 for the stedicam shoot but that's about all.

I guess using primes one would need frequent changes?? I keep the hoods on all my lenses all the time

Chris

[Adrian Tan]

No lens hoods for me. If there's lens flare, either: (a) I'll live with it, and probably like it; or (b) a cupped hand should be good enough for a while.

The number of lenses I'm taking to weddings is creeping up at the moment. Definitely it can be irritating to have different-sized lens caps, let alone lots of lens hoods to fiddle with. Maybe the smart thing would be to use step up rings to standardise everything at 77mm -- filters, lens caps, hoods -- but I don't want to go to the expense of replacing UV filters, etc (I've shelled out for expensive ones). Plus, some of my lenses have dodgy filter threads, so you couldn't put a step-up ring on them anyway.

If anyone's curious, last wedding I took (and this is for two videographers, four cameras):

2 x 24-105
70-200
100-400
28-300
16-35
100mm macro
24mm
85mm
50mm
2 x GoPros

and they all got used, except the GoPros.

I think I remember, by the way, being surprised at the number of lenses Eric Coughlin was packing.

[Dave Baker]

Lens hoods are an essential part of my kit. Being a contemporary of Chris, maybe it's because I got used to the old style single coated, or even uncoated lenses, which can flare badly without a hood. To me, using a lens without a hood is the equivalent of going out with no clothes on!

There are three ways around the swapping lens hood problem that I know of and have used, in no special order: 1. Use rubber ones that can be folded back over the lens barrel and left in situ permanently 2. Use slip on/slip off ones like Cokin, so you leave adaptors on the lenses, but just slip the hood on and off as required 3. Set your bag up to accept lenses with hoods on.

One other advantage to no. 2 is, if you are using filters, you change the filters with the hood too.

I also keep hoods (or adaptors) on all my lenses all the time.

Dave

[Chris Harding]

Right on Dave

Contemporary??? Let me explain to others here ..Dave and I are virtually twins!! The only thing is that he was born in the UK and I was born in South Africa but we both share the exact birthday , day, month and year (I won't divulge the year cos we are getting on a bit) but our birthdays are next Saturday 30th August!!

Chris

[Craig McKenna]

Happy Birthday for next Saturday, Twinnies.

As for lens hoods, I do carry them on my lenses... but then I shoot M4/3, so my lenses and hoods are comparably smaller to the full frame counterparts.

I prefer a lens hood, not to reduce flare, but to protect my lenses. I once fell up the stairs in Taiwan with my 25 f1.4 and only damaged its hood slightly; without that hood, I think I'd have smashed my lens.

Similarly, at my last wedding, my monopod started to slide and I just managed to catch it... I may be clumsy, but I'm at least assured of their safety...

If you feel that you'd be better off without them though, then it would seem that others have no problem in doing the same - I think I'd actually love the flare that it creates... I dislike flare for photos, but video is quite different.

[Dave Baker]

Thanks for the birthday wishes Craig.

Yes, I appreciate that there is a case for flare in some video shots, occasionally I even like the look. Sometimes, even with a hood on, it occurs by accident, but with the correct hood it can usually be avoided unless required.

The other reason to keep a hood on a lens apart from physical protection, the one most often forgotten, is that extraneous light coming in from the sides and not causing obvious flare, can seriously cut down on contrast and give a washed-out look., even with modern multi-coated lenses.

As always, it's a matter of choice!

Dave

[Dave Partington]

I've always used lens hoods when available. I've found better contrast, better focusing and better protection since I never use UV filters.