[MegaPower]

I would prefer a hard hood rather than a rubber hood as it may provide a bit more protection from knocks and scrapes.

Plus, if you use a polarizer filter, the hard Pentax hood has the little filter-turning window.

so PH-RBH, the one for DA55 F/1.4 is made out of rubber?
It looks like only the tip of it is made out of rubber

[audiobomber]

I would prefer a hard hood rather than a rubber hood as it may provide a bit more protection from knocks and scrapes.

Plus, if you use a polarizer filter, the hard Pentax hood has the little filter-turning window.

We're specifically talking about the 55-300mm hood aren't we? It has no filter window. A rubber hood OTOH can be folded back, allowing full access to a filter. A rubber hood will absorb energy when it's bumped, so it definitely provides some mechanical protection. A very rigid metal hood will not absorb energy in an impact, it will pass it on the lens. A less rigid plastic hood will absorb some energy by deflecting, but if there's too much energy it will crack. IMO mechanical protection is a strong point of a rubber hood.

In a post above I said I wasn't happy with the 3-stage rubber hood (too large and ugly). I've since bought a Zeikos collapsible rubber hood. It looks better because it's smaller in diameter than the 3-stage hood and it takes up less room in the bag. It provides about the same amount of shading, which is unfortunately not as much as the original hood. Not a bad solution considering the cost, but not ideal.

[SpecialK]

We're specifically talking about the 55-300mm hood aren't we? It has no filter window.

Sorry, I didn't know there were more than one hood for 55-300. Mine is the PH-RBG that came with the DA 55-300, with the window.

[audiobomber]

Sorry, I didn't know there were more than one hood for 55-300. Mine is the PH-RBG that came with the DA 55-300, with the window.

No, I'm sorry, my mistake. My 55-300mm hood does have the little access window. For some reason I thought it didn't.

[MegaPower]

anyone know if a canon/nikon 58mm hood will fit?

[Internetpilot]

I can confirm the PH-RBH hood for the DA* 55 does indeed fit perfectly on the 55-300mm DA-L kit lens, as that's what I did for a lens hood solution (I'm a big fan of hoods). Like Eruditass said, my source (BHPhoto) no longer carries it though, but it does work as if it was specifically designed for the 55-300mm.

If you can find it from a fairly reputable source, I wouldn't worry too much about a return policy (unless you're just not sure if you'll want a hood).

-- Chris

[Internetpilot]

Just to add a little more info about the PH-RBH hood option -- it does have the removable cut-out for a CP filter, and does lock in reverse on the 55-300mm for storage.

[audiobomber]

If you can find it from a fairly reputable source, I wouldn't worry too much about a return policy (unless you're just not sure if you'll want a hood).

-- Chris

I couldn't find any source in North America, and there's no way I'll pay UK prices for anything.

[islandmahn]

Hi
I have a "rubber lens hood" and a CP filter. Works great, haven't seen any viginetting yet. But now that summer is almost here, I will get to use the filter more often
Islandmahn

[audiobomber]

Hi
I have a "rubber lens hood" and a CP filter. Works great, haven't seen any viginetting yet. But now that summer is almost here, I will get to use the filter more often
Islandmahn

The problem with the two rubber lens hoods I have is not vignetting. It's that they don't provide nearly as much shade as the regular hood.

[Marc Sabatella]

Ditto. I find they are little better than nothing even when I pixel peep to see if I can spot a difference. Whereas a properly fitted hood makes a huge and obvious improvement just looking through the viewfinder, at least in the cases where the light source is near the field of view. But I'm sure through sheer coincidence, there must be *some* rubber hoods that would happen to be a good fit for *some* lenses. I just haven't yet foudn any such combination.

[audiobomber]

I'm sure through sheer coincidence, there must be *some* rubber hoods that would happen to be a good fit for *some* lenses. I just haven't yet foudn any such combination.

I was only talking about the two 58mm rubber hoods I bought for my 55-300mm.

I have a couple of examples where a rubber hood is a good fit... I use a standard 49mm rubber hood on my FA 35mm, where it provides better coverage than the original petal hood. I also use it on a 28mm Cosina, where it provides superior shading and no vignetting.

I love rubber hoods for three reasons:
- they fold up to nothing in the bag
- they allow access to a CPL
- they're cheap!

The two rubber hoods I bought for the 55-300 have been disappointing (EBay 3-stage Collapsible and Zeikos). I've definitely seen low contrast and flare on occasion when using them.