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01-20-2020, 12:55 PM - 1 Like   #1
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Lens hoods

Ok, so was cursing the bay looking for lens hoods, they have a ton of them. They be round ones, square ones, flower shaped ones and rubber ones. What I would like to know is, which shape is best? My old Takumar lens all have round lens hoods, my new DAL lens all have flower shaped hoods. Can anyone tell me why so many shapes?

01-20-2020, 01:13 PM - 1 Like   #2
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For the sole purpose of confusing prospective purchasers !

In my (limited) experience, round ones are most useful for lenses where the front element rotates when focusing, petal shaped are for lenses with a stationary front element and extendable rubber ones enable you to adjust them for zoom lenses. Mind you, I'm probably wrong about this.
01-20-2020, 01:22 PM   #3
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what lenses are you needing hoods for?
01-20-2020, 01:24 PM   #4
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Design of the lens, you have a round lens letting light to a rectangular sensor or film window. Using a round hood on some lenses may block light to the corners. A petal shape allows for a long hood to block stray light to the non corners. Usually longer round hoods are on telephoto lenses while wide range lenses may have tulip shapes or shorter round, or square hoods. I’m sure that can be better explained, but that’s the quick and easy. What lens are you trying to find a hood for?

01-20-2020, 01:24 PM - 1 Like   #5
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Basically a petal shaped lens hood is good for a wide angle lens and better suits usage with a wide sensor in film and digital cameras.
The square type were generally used for older lenses.
Every lens projects a circular image, but film and digital sensors are rectangular. In the case of DSLRs, the rectangle is usually quite oblong, with the standard 3:2 aspect ratio — that is, half again as much width as height.

The more a lens hood shades except the part that forms the image, the better. Petal hoods can take advantage of this by providing more shading for the parts of the frame that are farthest from the edge of the circle (primarily the top and bottom, followed by the edges) and less shading where the frame gets close (the corners).

Focal length is also a big factor, again for logical reasons — the wider the lens, the wider the hood has to be to stay out of the way. This means that for longer focal lengths ("telephoto lenses"), a tubular non-petal design can provide quite a lot of shade, and going to a petal design is basically unnecessary and could be even unwieldy, protruding way, way out.
I use rubber hoods for shooting through windows (holding the lens hood to the window to eliminate reflection).
01-20-2020, 02:29 PM - 1 Like   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by 35mmfilmfan Quote
extendable rubber ones enable you to adjust them for zoom lenses. Mind you, I'm probably wrong about this.
I use an extendable rubber hood on my Sigma 17-70mm lens. At the wide end of the focal range I collapse it to its shortest length. At the long end (50-70mm) I extend it all the way. Works great.

When choosing a lens hood, some people also consider how well it will protect the front of the lens from bumps or from raindrops. Petal hoods tend to be rigid plastic in my experience. They don't 'give' when bumped against something. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, since I don't use them for this purpose. They might allow raindrops to hit the front lens element at the open corners. I tend to prefer round rubber ones, though I've used both. If it's raining, it's probably overcast, so raindrop avoidance is more important than flare control.

Last edited by Apet-Sure; 01-20-2020 at 02:34 PM. Reason: second thoughts
01-20-2020, 07:16 PM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by dipo 1 Quote
Can anyone tell me why so many shapes?
Similar to rectangular hoods, tulip shapes are intended to maximize shade with lower risk of vignette. The gotcha is that they are usually tuned to a particular lens when made for primes and are an exercise in compromise when used on zooms. Avoid generic tulip hoods.

Round hoods come two ways, generic and dedicated. Oftentimes the reason there is a dedicated version is that it is the only hood that will work on a particular lens (e.g. Tamron 70-210/3.5 (19AH). Generic round hoods (both metal and rubber) are usually available in a range of sizes broadly suitable for a general field of view; commonly, these include "tele", "normal", and "wide" with "ultra-wide" sometimes available. The better hoods will state in their description the intended focal length range and format. Hoods labeled "tele" for 24x36mm FF are often appropriate for focal lengths as short as 50mm on APS-C. Likewise "normal" hoods may be used and preferable as short as 28mm on APS-C. There is a type of generic rubber hood that may be used for multiple focal lengths based on how far it is unfolded.

There are ongoing discussions regarding use of hoods for front element physical protection. Some believe strongly that a rigid metal or plastic hood will transmit shock through to the lens body in much the same way as a metal filter ring or a direct blow to the lens. For those folk, the preference is often for flexible rubber on the theory that material will better absorb a blow. I have both types.


Steve

01-20-2020, 07:27 PM   #8
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A quick note regarding so-called "vented" or "ventilated" hoods. This type has a flared end with much of the metal cut away to create slots in the side. Vented hoods are intended for use on rangefinder and viewfinder cameras where the hood may block much of the frame. Adding the "vents" allows the photographer to see through part of the hood. I have a couple vented hoods that I use with my rangefinder film cameras and will admit that they make the cameras look pretty professional despite having a fairly mundane purpose.

Why do they exude the essence of "PRO"? Quite simply because one sees them being used on Leica.

While they are probably still effective on an SLR or mirrorless digital with no optical finder, using them on those cameras just makes one look a little dumb.


Steve

Last edited by stevebrot; 01-20-2020 at 07:41 PM.
01-21-2020, 01:38 PM - 1 Like   #9
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I'm so new to the digital world, and find myself wondering about a lot of things. My old taks all came with round hoods and I have used them since 1971 and am still using them. Since joining the digital world I see many people around with dslrs and most if not all have tulip hoods. Thought I might be missing something. I do have tulip hoods for my DAL lens and use them when I use those lens. They have 2 large (?) shades, petals, and 2 smaller ones, which goes where, up, down, or on the sides. Wasn't really looking for a new hood just wondering why all the different types. I like to play on the bay, never know what I'll find.
01-21-2020, 03:26 PM - 1 Like   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by dipo 1 Quote
They have 2 large (?) shades, petals, and 2 smaller ones, which goes where, up, down, or on the sides.
VILLAINofOZ did a good job of explaining this, but let me see if I can paraphrase. Imagine a rectangular image sensor sitting inside a circle of light (that is transmitted by the lens). Let's say the rectangle is wider than it is tall (3:2 aspect ratio, 'landscape' orientation). Let's also say the outer diameter boundary of the circle of light passes very close to, but doesn't quite touch, the corners of the rectangle. The horizontal distance from the middle of the short edge of the rectangle to the circle boundary (say at 3 o'clock) is less than the vertical distance from the middle of the long edge of the rectangle to the circle boundary (at 12 o'clock). In order for a lens hood to provide flare control, it has to shade the front element of the lens. The farther the hood sticks out, the more shading it provides. Eventually however, it becomes visible in the viewfinder, and will be shading part of the image sensor, cutting off part of the iamge. Because there is less distance from the sensor edge to the image circle at the sides of the frame than there is at the top and bottom, the petals at the sides of the lens hood have to be shorter so that they won't be seen in the viewfinder and won't shade part of the sensor. Does that make sense?
01-21-2020, 05:50 PM - 3 Likes   #11
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Back before lens coatings (or with early coatings) lens hoods were more important, and hoods were designed to be effective, not stylish. Here are three Leica hoods for different 50 mm lenses: the f2.0 Summar of 1934, the f2 Summicron (version1) of about 1953, and the f1.5 Summarit of about 1951. Rectangular hoods are the most effective, especially with single focal length lenses. These were all before zoom lenses.
As these are rangefinder cameras the back of the hoods above the lens have cutouts so the viewfinder can look partially through them and not be so blocked.
The large Summicron hood folds up for storage.
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01-22-2020, 12:50 PM   #12
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Thanks to all great info as always.
01-23-2020, 05:58 AM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by dipo 1 Quote
Ok, so was cursing the bay looking for lens hoods, they have a ton of them. They be round ones, square ones, flower shaped ones and rubber ones. What I would like to know is, which shape is best? My old Takumar lens all have round lens hoods, my new DAL lens all have flower shaped hoods. Can anyone tell me why so many shapes?
I love this question, spot on, I needed to know this as well. Thank you!
05-02-2020, 09:38 AM   #14
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Very informative thread - thanks everyone. So, now I know the whys and wherefores of hood shapes - except for the small matter of why some Pentax hoods, e.g. The PH-RBB, have a removable vent slot near the base of the hood. What's up with that?
05-02-2020, 09:42 AM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by andybeals Quote
Very informative thread - thanks everyone. So, now I know the whys and wherefores of hood shapes - except for the small matter of why some Pentax hoods, e.g. The PH-RBB, have a removable vent slot near the base of the hood. What's up with that?
That slot is to allow access to the bezel of a polarizer or variable ND filter.
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