Q2 Hood and Filter Considerations

[Richard K]

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Those of you that use a Q2 monochrom, what do you do to be able to accommodate say a red filter? The original hood is not the best if you are going to use filters. What solution have you come up with? I ask because you can’t darken a blue sky by moving the blue slider to the left, right?

[Leica28]

The solution is to not use the lens hood at all.  I never found it useful in the field.  When I had a Q2M, I kept a yellow filter on constantly when outdoors.  It darkened skies quite nicely.  Orange and red filters deepen the effect.  A polarizer worked well, too.  Regardless, you can use a yellow, red, or orange filter on your camera with the lens hood attached.  No problem because the filters do not rotate.  

[hdmesa]

The hood is great for using a filter, but not so much for having to change them out. When I had the Q2M, I put on a light red filter and left it there all the time with the hood over it. There is so little penalty for raising ISO, I even used the light red filter indoor in dim lighting (where it still works nicely to lighten certain skin tones). If I knew in advance I was going to need to be switching between color filters or between a color filter and a protective filter, I would leave the hood off and attach the protective ring. I kept one of the Leica black pouches in my camera bag to hold either the hood or the protective ring when not in use.