Rubber Hoods

[ZOXXO]

I have a new (to me) zoom lens on the way sans hood. I am contemplating purchasing this hood.


I've never used this style of hood but my thinking is the ability to roll the rubber hood to three positions would provide better performance at the telephoto end than the static position of a bayonet mounted hard plastic hood.

Any advantages to the plastic hood I may have not considered?

Any compelling reason to pay twenty to thirty dollars for a name brand rubber hood over the seven dollar generic brand linked?

 

[Fardringle]

I purchased one of those a while ago, and while it looked decent and the adjustable length is a nice idea, the folding points of the hood started to crack after about two months of light use (flattening the hood for storage then extending it for use).

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I used a rubber hood for the longest time when I had my 50mm f/1.8.

1. The quality of the hood matters. Some hoods use crappy rubber that can crack at the folds and some come with rubber that easily deforms (or is already deformed to begin with) ie. the hood opening is not round, but oval.

2. I would say that most rubber hoods don't extend out far enough to provide complete telephoto coverage.

3. A rubber hood might be good though for zoom lenses that start off as relatively wide and then go longer since the included hoods have to be pretty short and small for the wide end ie.18-200mm (200mm could use a really long, deep 4" hood, but because the lens has a wide end of 18mm, it has to use a hood that's 1") So a rubber hood that could extend from 1" to something more might be nice.

4. Rubber hoods actually provide pretty good protection against shocks.

5. They tend to widen the width of the lens/hood combo more than plastic hoods, so if you have a lens that currently fits flush with a lens case, it might not fit anymore with the rubber hood attached.

6. Depending on the hood, some may be impossible to fit filters and even lens caps on (remember, the hood screws into your lens' filter threads, so the hood needs to provide its own set of filter threads if you want to put filters and lens caps on it).

7. Only specially designed plastic hoods will provide 100% coverage because the custom petal shape actually shades a perfect rectangle that matches with your camera's aspect ratio. A round lens hood will have to leave some of the top and bottom unshaded.

 

[Fardringle]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
1. The quality of the hood matters. Some hoods use crappy rubber that can crack at the folds and some come with rubber that easily deforms (or is already deformed to begin with) ie. the hood opening is not round, but oval.

My post was referring specifically to the hood that zoxxo linked to on eBay. It is VERY poor quality. I would say in this case that you don't even get what you pay for (it's not worth $7).

 

[corkyg]

Poor quality can happen with anything. I just opened up my Nikon F2AS film kit and checked out the two rubber hoods I installed in 1976! (33 years ago!) Still in perfect condition - soft, pliable, no cracks, etc. Here they are opened:

Hood1

And there they are closed. They really do save space. But, inlike today's bayonet mount hoods, these threaded on.

Hood2

And, as Fuzzy suggested, these hoods have their own internal threads for srew on filters. I got them in Japan when I lived there along with the camera, lenses, motor drive, flash, and case.

 

[ZOXXO]

Good info Fardringle. Think I'll pass on the linked hood as it would only be delaying an inevitable more permanent and costly purchase.

Fbb hit on most of my concerns with choosing a hood.

Since the lens (Nikon 35-70 non D) does not have a lens specific petal hood, only a shallow round one, and veiling flare is reportedly a common occurrence with it, I may wait till I can physically compare the different brands of rubber hoods.

ENJOY
ZOXXO

 

[ZOXXO]

Corkyg, what brand are your hoods?

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: ZOXXO
Corkyg, what brand are your hoods?

Good question! I took them off and examined them with a magnifying glass. No data at all on them except the ring size - 52mm. The filter that screws into the back side of the hood is a 52mm Kenko. Then it is the filter that screws onto the camera lens. The lens cap fits on the inside just as if it were the actual objective lens. I have a hunch that the hood and filters both came from Kenko. 33 years ago is a long time to remember - but I got them in a photo store in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan.

 

[ZOXXO]

Originally posted by: corkyg

Originally posted by: ZOXXO
Corkyg, what brand are your hoods?

Good question! I took them off and examined them with a magnifying glass. No data at all on them except the ring size - 52mm. The filter that screws into the back side of the hood is a 52mm Kenko. Then it is the filter that screws onto the camera lens. The lens cap fits on the inside just as if it were the actual objective lens. I have a hunch that the hood and filters both came from Kenko. 33 years ago is a long time to remember - but I got them in a photo store in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan.

Would you mind taking it to a lab and having it analyzed? :laugh:

Thanks for looking.

 

[andylawcc]

Originally posted by: corkyg
Hood1
Hood2

:shocked: nice case.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

FWIW I think my rubber hood back in the day was a Hoya with the red ring around the outside:

http://www.2filter.com/prices/products/hoyamulti.html

Rubber was excellent but mine didn't allow using the lens cap (stupid Hoya).

Check out this:

http://www.camerafilters.com/pages/lenshoods.aspx

Looks like the "recommended lens hood" is pretty good. Don't know if it has threads for filters though, even though it can take lens caps.