picked up a set of metal lens hoods
after a poor experience with a cheapo ebay hood, i decided to get some of the good stuff on my trip to england. i went to store called Teamwork Digital and they sell metal hoods made by heliopan. what's so special about these hoods? they do not flare out, allowing use of the original accessories.
these work great for the black FA Limited lenses and keep the same sleek look. the FA31's hood is a joke (especially when shooting portrait orientation) and the 58mm improves it a lot. the FA43 hood is insufficient sometimes so adding a 49mm does help a bit. it would be nice to try the DA40 hood but at $60+ it's hard to justify the cost. i have not had glare problems yet with the FA77 built-in hood but i purchased two 49mm hoods which can be stacked on. these definitely weren't cheap tho, 12 pounds for the 49mm and 14 pounds for the 58mm.
thanks to Frank for pointing out the heliopan hoods a long time back. too bad they didn't have a 52mm hood.