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Do you use a sun hood?


wlaidlaw

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According to Kornelius Müller, director of commercialisation at Leica, in his article on the new Summarits in LFI 7/2007, "few photographers use a sun hood that often". I use mine all the time and they are permanently on all the lenses I use on my M8. Am I unusual or is Herr Muller out of touch and talking rubbish? As far as I know, there is never any downside in using a properly designed lens hood on any lens, on the assumption that it is sufficiently well designed, so that it does not cause vignetting. The upside is that it can prevent all sorts of spurious and unwanted effects such as flare, veiling glare etc.

 

Wilson

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In one way he's right, I expect most photographers don't use one - mainly because point and shoot cameras don't tend to have hoods and most people taking photographs use p&s cameras. But as for Leica, and other high end system photographers, not using them, that complete rubbish in my experience. In fact as well as suppressing flare a rigid lens hood also protects the front element from accidental damage.

 

I agree with Mark, IMHO he's just trying to justify them not being supplied as standard on the new lenses.

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It seems applying the "most photographers" rule to M8 users is inherently wrong for the same reasons stated above in this thread. I hope that is not really what he meant.

 

However, it does raise a question in my mind about what is the correct "sun hood" to lenses on the M8. That is to say, what is appropriate on a lens on a M7, say, is not necessarily appropriate with the same lens on an M8 due to the notorious 1.33 "crop factor." In other words, for use on the M8 shouldn't I want a "tighter" lens hood for my 35 ASPH than the stock one supplied? And is there such a thing? I have picked up flare in surprising conditions and I am inclined to blame the lens hood. Comments?

 

Philip Kozloff

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I don't recall the last time i saw a pro shooter working without a hood.

 

I use mine all the time even though the Leica hood for the 21 and 24 is a disaster. Does anyone know of a good alternative where the lens cap won't get lost every five minutes.

 

Woody Spedden

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Sun hoods? Only when i travel in sunny regions like Provence Wilson, otherwise it's rain hoods for me. Good to use fingers hoods as well to avoid touching the glass. Also fender hoods are great in case of drop or bump. But red nose hoods are mandatory for those of you who use IR-cut filters guys. rednose1.gif

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........ Leica hood for the 21 and 24 is a disaster. Does anyone know of a good alternative where the lens cap won't get lost every five minutes...

 

Woody - A nearby thread:

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m8-forum/35459-any-special-filter-required-24-2-a.html

 

In post [2], Guy suggests an alternative lens hood for the 24 mm lens. I too dislike the 24 hood for being too big on the M8, it's pretty, but pretty ineffectual for me as I mostly leave it off because it blocks too much viewfinder.

 

.............. Chris

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Herr Muller is entitled to his opinion but I feel his source of info is very suspect, just like the the totally ineffective sunshades provided as standard on many Leica lenses. Inbuilt hoods on the 50, 75, & 90mm lenses are a joke. Excellent (Leica) lenses deserve much better.

 

Anyone considering buying the new Summarits sans hood will probably do well by directing the cost saving towards a real lens hood.

 

Unlike Herr Muller (I assume), I have worked most of my life as a Pro photographer and know only too well the benefits in correctly shading a lens, as well as the detrimental effect of not doing so. Whether the photographers surveyed by Her Muller did or did not use hoods is immaterial. What counts is the results they got by not using them. Did Herr Muller study their pictures? I suspect not!

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I don't recall the last time i saw a pro shooter working without a hood.

 

I use mine all the time even though the Leica hood for the 21 and 24 is a disaster. Does anyone know of a good alternative where the lens cap won't get lost every five minutes.

 

Woody Spedden

 

Yep! I stopped losing mine all the time by putting it in my pocket when working.:D

 

Caps are only on when in the bag. These days, with the M8, IR cut filter does the hard yards of protection in work situations. Not ideal, but it takes only a few lens caps (lost) to = 1 IR filter.:( At least the filter doesn't get lost, only damaged eventually).

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What type of hoods are they going to sell for the Summarits? Will they be clip on or screw on?

 

I prefer the clip on for the added shock protection they provide. They have a little give to them. When you bump a lens hood that is screwed in, the shock goes right to the focusing helicoid. With a clip on, there is a bit of wiggle first to dampen the blow.

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I would agree that using a hood whenever possible is a good thing. Having said that, I find the hood for the 24mm so large that it makes the viewfinder almost useless for me. So when I have this lens on I often do not use it and find that the results are very good. I wish Leica wood make a hood for this lens specific to M8 usage. That I would gladly pay $$ for.

 

Ken

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Guest guy_mancuso

I use hoods and more specifically i use round metal hoods on Leica wides not crazy about the rectangle ones to big but the most important feature is your hand really the best shade you can do.

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I use hoods and more specifically i use round metal hoods on Leica wides not crazy about the rectangle ones to big but the most important feature is your hand really the best shade you can do.

 

Guy, not everyone has big hands like yours! LOL.

 

Seriously though, I used to use my hand frequently when I worked with my Blad outfit and had left the Pro shade in the car. Always has the 'standard' shade fitted, but did at times need extra protection;) and with an SLR you can see the difference in the VF.

 

I find using ones hand with a RF a bit problematic in that sometimes a finger gets in the pic.:( or obscures the VF.

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well let me the heretic and say I never use the hoods (excepting the one on the 35 cron) because they are all too big for either the viewfinder (obstruction) or with the crop are doing nothing anyway. Lenses: 15CV 21 elmarit, 24 zess 28 elmarit, 35cron (hood) 50lux (built in-useless).

I was thinking of getting the jm hood for the 15 since I keep putting my fingers on the Ir filter. But the rest of the wides would all require tighter hoods to actually be effective than the ones supplied, and the viewfinder obstruction on he 21, 24, 28 is objectionable to me. I can live with the flare if I can see the subject. Also, there is no surprise anymore with the instant feedback. I did a job two weeks ago requiring a nightime shot in a suburban parking lot and just used my hand and looking at the lcd to get the flare out.

 

I'm not adverse to using hoods and always did on mamiya 7 and hasselblad. But I don't find the implementation on the leica to be that good or useful. Particularly with the ir filter now sticking out for example on the 21 elmarit-the hood is doing nothing.

 

one thing the forum could do is compile a list of alternate hoods for the 1.33 crop. with either links or pictures. show us your hoods people!:)

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It will be interesting to see how much they charge for the Summarit hoods; the price of some of the others is obscene - I want to buy a replacement hood for my WATE (£106, $180) but according to Leica UK, "they haven't started making them yet".

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The M8's crop factor really doesn't matter. If the hood is proper for a 35mm film it will still work for the crop. You are (at least I am) using it to reduce "leakage" of non-image forming light into the lens, increasing contrast. The fact that the image formed in the camera body is only partially sampled doesn't change basic systems performance.

 

c.

 

(PS, I use them all the time, favoring rectangular ones, Hama makes some nice clip ons)

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