Re: When do you need a hood?

"rincewind" <fake@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e30orn$29ep$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
How do you decide when you need to put a hood on a lens? I've read that
a hood is supposed to prevent flare, but what are likely conditions for
flare to appear? What does it depend on - the focal length, the angle
between you subject and the light, filters used, anything else?
I even made a dozen or so test shots, and a hood seems to make no
difference. Considering that it's bulky and very inconvenient, I'd
rather not use it unless it makes my pictures better.

I guess this is not the answer you're looking for...

I've started keeping a hood, extended, on certain lenses even when in my
camera bag. I do this where the hood is mounted to the tough outer of the
lens, and I do this to help prevent the delicate optical cell taking any
blows from outside the bag. Why? Because in the last two years, two of my
early design Canon EF lenses have mysteriously needed expensive repairs to
their focus mechanisms which died unexpectedly. (EF 35 f2, and EF 50 f1.4)
Other lenses have fully internal focus mechanisms, and I'd expect them to be
much more resilient, and they've not been any trouble.

And I quite often shelter in the shadow of a tree etc. if I really want to
shoot against the light.
--
M Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK
http://www.megalith.freeserve.co.uk/oddimage.htm



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