Lens hood?

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Permalink Reply by nathan mccreery on April 19, 2010 at 7:44pm

Ava, You have a lot of good questions! That's a good thing. The lens hood is there to keep light from striking the front element of your lens directly. Light falling on the front of the lens will cause lens flare. At the least it will give an undesirable reduction in image contrast and at its worst will cause flying saucers to appear in your photograph, at least that's what one old time photographer I used to know called them. Usually they appear as either five or eight sided objects floating in space in your photograph along the optical axis of the light.

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Permalink Reply by nathan mccreery on April 20, 2010 at 3:33pm

One other thought about lens hoods and their importance. When you see pictures of a Hollywood set with their cameras, inside or outside, you'll always see a big accordion like attachment on the front of the camera. That's a lens hood. They never work without one. I confess that I don't use one all the time but it isn't because I shouldn't. Sometimes I get lazy but a good lens hood will always give a better quality image, provided it works properly with your lens. I always liked the ones that bayoneted onto the front of my old Canon lenses. They were magnificent and made the lenses sparkle. In that sense I always preferred the manufacturers lens hoods. Now I use one of the hoods that looks like an accordion, they're a hassle but well worth it. After a good solid tripod, that you'll use all the time, the lens hood may be your most important accessory.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Tubbs, Jr. on April 19, 2010 at 8:35pm

I think that the main difference between the plastic and rubber lens hoods is that the rubber ones don't break when you drop them on hard surfaces. The down side to the rubber hoods is that they can warp out of shape. Be careful of vignetting when using your zoom lens at full zoom.
Best regards,
Dan

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Permalink Reply by CameraClicker on April 20, 2010 at 3:20pm

According to a web search, the Canon 400D is a Rebel XTi in North America. So it has interchangeable lenses.

Which lens does your wife have, that you want a hood to fit?

If you look at the front of the lens or the back of the lens cap, there should be an indication of the thread size. Knowing the thread size, you should be able to find a rubber hood to fit since they seem to come in all the popular threads.

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Permalink Reply by CameraClicker on April 21, 2010 at 6:25am

Henry's page says TAMRON 18-250MM DI-II 3.5-6.3 CANON LENS comes with Standard Accessory: Flower-Shaped Lens Hood. It also says Filter Diameter: 62mm.

Their page also has HENRYS W.A. 62MM RUBBER LENS HOOD
$9.99

So, if all else failed, you could probably order it from them and have it shipped. Shipping would probably cost three times more than the hood, though.

You can probably pick up a hood from a local camera store.

You could also contact Tamron:
Tamron USA, Inc.
10 Austin Blvd., Commack, NY 11725, Phone: 631.858.8400 | Fax: 631.543.5666 | Toll Free: 1-800-827-8880

They may just send you a hood.

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Permalink Reply by nathan mccreery on April 23, 2010 at 9:04am

Do you know someone in the states that could get it for you and then ship it. You might consider contacting Canon directly. My experience is that they are very responsive.

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Permalink Reply by CameraClicker on April 23, 2010 at 10:37am

I doubt Canon will help with a hood for "her Tamron 18-250mm "

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Permalink Reply by Fred on April 20, 2010 at 1:13pm

I always replace the solid plastic hoods with rubber. The reason is if you are walking in a crowd the rubber gives, a hard piece of plastic does not.
I have been using them for over twenty years, most of the are the originals, they last.

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Permalink Reply by CameraClicker on April 20, 2010 at 3:14pm

Nathan's answer is good. Here are a few other thoughts.

The rubber ones are pretty inexpensive and mine screw into the filter threads. The plastic ones that came with the lenses are what I use most of the time, since they do not give, they offer some protection for the glass at the end of the lens. The ones that come with the lens are designed for the lens and the lens will not see the hood regardless of the zoom setting. That may not be the case with after-market hoods which the lens may see at the wide end of the zoom range.

The rubber ones fold fairly flat. The plastic ones can usually be turned and put on the lens backwards for storage. They do take up some extra space in your bag since they are a larger diameter than the actual lens.

The rubber ones are useful for shooting through glass because they do give, put the entire end of the hood against the glass then keeping the circle in contact with the glass, you can aim the camera several degrees in the desired direction and the hood will kill the reflections. If you can get up against the glass it is more effective than a polarizing filter and less awkward than trying to use a coat or sweater.

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Permalink Reply by nathan mccreery on April 20, 2010 at 7:17pm

I'm with you on the necessity of removing the lens hood to change and adjust filters. Seems to me someone would make one that would work. With filters. One thing no one addresses except Hasselblad is that lens hoods proportional to the films shape work best. Hasselblad makes a custom lens hood for each lens that is square, not round.

My other big frustration is connecting cable releases, especially when my fingers are so sold they're numb. I would love to see an answer to that problem.

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Permalink Reply by CameraClicker on April 21, 2010 at 4:14am

At the mall a couple of weeks ago there was a booth selling gel packs that had a metal strip in them. Pressing on the strip caused it to pop and a chemical reaction resulted in heat. They are supposed to be re-usable. They were recycling theirs by throwing them in a rice cooker filled with boiling water.

The small ones fit in the palm of your hand, so would easily fit in a pocket. Shortly before it is time to connect the shutter release, start heat in a couple of the packs and put them in your pockets. Camping stores have been selling pocket warmers of other types my whole life but the gel packs look easier to use.

Solving the cold hands should make connecting the cable release easier.

Or, you could go with plan B, get a wireless cable release.

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Permalink Reply by CameraClicker on April 23, 2010 at 10:40am

Take the hood off, adjust the filter, put the hood back on. Or leave it off if if you are shooting more than 90 degrees to the sun.

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