 Barb Chiampa |
Lens Hoods - What Are They and How? What is a lens hood and how do you use it. I have a 28-200mm lens that came with a hood and I don't know anything about it's use.
|
|
|
|
||
|
John A. Lind |
Barb, The purpose of a lens hood is to keep off-axis light from falling on the front of a lens. Off-axis means it would not show up in the picture. Off-axis light, especially from strong light sources, ends up bouncing around inside the lens between air-glass surfaces and primarily reduces contrast. In extreme cases, such as from the sun shining on the lens, it can cause effects such as aperture flare (small colored images of the lens aperture opening). A lens hood is placed on the front of the lens and there should be some method of attaching it. The hood designed for your 28-200mm zoom is probably quite wide as it is designed for wide angle of view at the 28mm focal length. Be cautious of stacking a hood on top of filters, especially with wide-angle lenses. It can cause vignetting (chopping off the corners of the image). Generally you can stack a hood on top of one filter. If you want to stack more, test it first before shooting anything critical. BTW, I _always_ use a lens hood. That includes daylight, timed exposure photos at night, and with flash. -- John
|
|
|
|
||
|
Barb Chiampa |
Thanks! Barb
|
|
|
|
||
|
John A. Lind |
Barb, Some additional tips: 1. If using a screw-on hood and a filter, put the filter on first, then put the hood on. 2. Most OEM hoods (made for the lens by the lens maker), especially for wide angle lenses are OK, but you can still get into trouble with insufficient shading using them, especially if a bright light source (e.g. sun) is just outside the frame. If working from a tripod or setting up a composed shot (portraiture, landscape, etc.) and there is a bright source in front of your camera, look at your lens front. If you can see it shining on the front element (or filter) in spite of the hood, use some additional method for shading it (hand, hat, gray card) or move slightly to get some object to shade it. Check the viewfinder and make sure your hand/hat doesn't end up in view (been there; done that)! Just recently had this problem shooting a landscape. By moving a foot the lens was shaded by the shadow of a flag on a nearby flagpole. Doing this for "street shooting" is difficult. Events can unfold too quickly and you have not have time to get a good position or do something fast enough. Under those conditions I do something if I can, but let it go versus missing the shot if I cannot or it would otherwise destroy the composition. -- John
|
|
|
|
||
|
doug Nelson |
I'm a believer in lens hoods. They will even protect your lens from a sideways hit in crowds. SHAME on any manufacturer of a serious camera, digital or film, who doesn't provide one.
|
|
|
|
||
|
This old forum is now archived. Use improved Forum here
Report this Thread |
||