[Douglas_of_Sweden]

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So I want a lens shade for my SMC Pentax 6x7 55mm f4. And I usually try to get original lens shades for my lenses...but all original lens shades I found for sale for that lens cost just too much.
OK, part of this is due to the moderate prices on Pentax 67 lenses, but something is wrong if I have to pay for the lens shade 50% of what I payed for the lens!

Can anyone recommend a good alternative lens shade for that lens?
I suspect the problem will reappear for any other lens I get...and the 150mm f2.8 is in the mail. So recommendations for alternative shades for other 67 lenses is also welcome.

Thanks in advance!

[MysteryOnion]

...shade for my SMC Pentax 6x7 55mm f4...

A "wide angle" 77mm shade will work. Much like my buying a "wide angle" 82mm for my S-M-C 6x7 75 f4.5... pity it was not a bit more narrow for the 75, however, more than proper for a true wide angle lens.

As an example...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/77mm-Petal-Wide-Angle-Flower-Hood-Lens-Screw-Shade-N...item336bd526fd

... and the one I got for my 75mm...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pro-Optic-82mm-Wide-Angle-Digital-Lens-Hood-Petal-Sh...item565dd0fe71

... it has no signs of vignetting on the 75mm, but as for a 55mm which is much like a 27.5mm lens in the 135 format world... it could be tight?

[tuco]

You can get by without it. For that much of a wide angle, it hardly offers any lens shading capability at all. It shades only a narrow angle of view off to your sides. Otherwise, holding your hand up covers more sun angles.

[Silent Street]

Familiar story, often retold throughout Canon, Nikon, Leica and Olympus circles. "Are we paying through the nose just for the name!?". Probably.

When I complained bitterly about the price of a lens hood I was interested in on eBay, the seller shot back, "toughen up, princess ... all original, mint Pentax equipment will be expensive, and hoods are not an exception!". Well! I retreated to lick my wounds; a week later, I bought both hoods: one for the 45mm and another for the 90mm. Jesus! Talk about throwing more than $180 away on lens hoods!! But I'm a stickler for using the real thing, not after-market products, not Chinese knock-offs, definitely not round or collapsible hoods. I'll treasure these hoods along with everything else...

I use the hood designed for the 55mm on my 165mm LS with no problems. The hoods are not so much useful for shielding from the sun, but for shielding the lens from rain, especially in rainforests (my staple!).

There are Chinese-made hoods from eBay coming out of Hong Kong and China which would appear to be "similar" to the real McCoys from Pentax. They're cheaper. But remember one tenet of economics law, you cannot pay a little and get a lot.

AND... a lot of good things come out of Sweden, as you know. What's the chance we'll see flat-pack lens hoods spring up in an IKEA store?

[revdocjim]

It sounds like you folks are being taken to the cleaners! Here in Tokyo I get used 67 series lenses hoods for $15. There's always a basket full of them at Fujiya's junk shop. One basket for each brand, the Pentax basket can have anything from 35mm up to 6x7 but mostly it's 6x7 stuff, typically a mix of older Takumar hoods (metal) and newer plastic hoods. They don't always have exactly what you want but over time I'v found hoods for all of my 6x7 lenses (55mm, 75mm, 90/105mm, 135/150mm). What I've been looking for several months and still haven't found are the original rubber hoods for the 645 A series 35mm and 55mm. Still on the prowl though.

[MysteryOnion]

My IKEA table is from China and it fell apart in less than a year... however, the sub-10 dollar hood from HongK/China has lasted a while as it has only one moving part... the threaded ring for adjusting. The use of any hood even oem factory hoods only hit their stride from about 10 am to about 1 pm here in the Eastern/North American Spring to fall and then are useless when the sun is low enough or winters. Ultra deep hoods and tele-photo lenses get a little more out of the day than the whisper of shade around an ultra-wide angle will ever get and as tuco mentions, your hand is more useful in many cases. However, I will still use my hood on the 75 as a little cheap insurance while on the go and a grab of a shot leaves little time to figure out the sun's angle. My 105 has the correct vintage metal hood and for the same reason and also as Silent Street noted, serves well on my 165 as well as the 90LS, older-200.

revdocjim... wow... maybe you can score a few for Douglas.

[gofour3]

Camera swap meets and local B& M camera stores are also a good source. I found a new boxed hood for the 67 45/4 for $20.00 at a Vancouver swap meet two years ago. The seller also had new 6x7 body and lens caps for $5.00. I also found a used 67 90/105 hood with case for $40.00, as well as 6x7 filters (67mm & 82mm) for $20.00 at a local camera store.

Phil.

[Douglas_of_Sweden]

Bitten the sour apple now and ordered used original shades for the 105mm and 150mm. Still haven't found any for the 55mm f4 at a reasonable price. There are some shades for the 55/3.5 on ebay now, but they are of course of the wrong diameter...

[Silent Street]

You'll get there!
My supplier of hoods (all mine were bought mint) is JANDVENCKUS on eBay (USA portal)... their "Pentax Emporium" has just about everything you can think of (and a few things you never imagined); they post worldwide, and that includes Sweden!

Unfortunately anything with a manufacturer's name embellished on it will be ridiculously priced, be it a car or a cold sore lotion! And lens hoods too. For what they worth for the life of me I don't know why they cost an arm and a leg and a big toe and an ear lobe...

This is the hood for the 55mm f4:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Pentax-PH-SA-77mm-Lens-Hood-for-Pentax-67-55mm-f4...c01c239&_uhb=1 and three others from different sellers. So the hoods you need definitely exist. At a price...