Lens hoods

[RockyIII]

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Is there any rhyme or reason as to how Leica decides what sort of lens hood to use on different lenses? I have three lenses, and they are all different. Does it have to do with the decade of design, or what? I am not complaining, just wondering. One good thing is that all three of my lenses actually came with a hood, unlike another brand I used previously.

 

Rocky

[doubice]

Is there any rhyme or reason as to how Leica decides what sort of lens hood to use on different lenses? I have three lenses, and they are all different. Does it have to do with the decade of design, or what? I am not complaining, just wondering. One good thing is that all three of my lenses actually came with a hood, unlike another brand I used previously.

 

Rocky

 

Rocky,

 

You're not telling us if your lenses are the same focal length..... Different focal length lenses will have different angle of view, hence a hood for a 50mm lens will vignette (cut off corners) if used with a 28mm lens. Similarly, a hood for a 28mm lens may not be effective enough for a 50mm lens.

 

With a Leica (or any other rangefinder camera), another issue comes into play - cutting off the finder area by the shade when mounted on the lens. Thus various shades will have varying 'cut-outs' to allow viewing 'through' them when sighting through the viewfinder.

 

Best,

 

Jan

[Jeff S]

Is there any rhyme or reason as to how Leica decides what sort of lens hood to use on different lenses? I have three lenses, and they are all different. Does it have to do with the decade of design, or what? I am not complaining, just wondering. One good thing is that all three of my lenses actually came with a hood, unlike another brand I used previously.

 

Rocky

 

Good question...I'd love to hear from someone at Leica on this. Most hoods seem very well designed, i.e., does what it's supposed to do without getting too much in the way. The person who designed the hood for the 28 cron asph, however, must use steroids.

Jeff

[RockyIII]

You're not telling us if your lenses are the same focal length..... Different focal length lenses will have different angle of view

 

My lenses are listed in my profile. They are a Super-Elmar-M 18mm, and Summicron-M 35mm and 75mm, most recent vintage. My 18mm has a screw on hood, and since it has a male thread a special filter is required. The 35mm has a clip on hood, and the 75mm has a built-in telescopic hood.

 

I understand that hoods vary in depth and angle, but I don't understand the reason for different attachment methods.

 

Rocky

[marknorton]

For some time, Leica have gone for pull-out lens hoods for focal lengths of 50mm and longer (50/2, 50/1.4, Noctilux, 75/2, 75/1.4, 90/2, 90/2.8) but they don't provide as much shielding as is needed, especially on the M8 with it's narrower angle of view and filters in the front make things worse.

 

The pull-out plastic lens hood of the Noctilux is very poor in particular.

 

For the wide-angles, they've switched from clip on hoods (with metal claws which can damage the anodising) - 21/2.8, 24/2.8, 28/2, 28/2.8, 35/1.4, 35.2, MATE to the new screw-on threads which are a big improvement (WATE, 18/3.8, 21/1.4, 24/1.4, 24/3.8) even if it does prevent you using third party hoods - for the older lenses, I use 46mm or 55mm lens hoods fron Heavystar which screw into the filter. The Leica hood for the 21/24/MATE V1 is a monster.

 

The fact your 3 lenses have different hoods is partly their focal lengths, mostly that they are designs several years apart. Just as Picasso had his "blue period", so Leica had their "clip-on period".

[JHAG]

About Heavystar, may I use the E39 vented hood for my Elmarit 28 ?

It is designed for the Summicron 50, but they say it can be adapted

to any E39 lens.

Wonder though if it won't get in the field, with a wide angle.

[JHAG]

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Mark,

 

This is what you need :

Leica Lens hood prot 1,4/50mm prototype of Summilux 1,4 - eBay (item 230340383592 end time May-07-09 09:54:53 PDT)

 

By the way, is there any difference between Heavystar hoods and any alu chinese hood ?

[marknorton]

Ah, that is just the job, only $4000... for a lens hood. Sometimes I think SH photo live in the land of the fairies but they obviously think someone out there has lost all sense of value. You'd think at that price they'd throw in the postage as well. I suppose it's a variant on the German sense of humour.

 

Heavystar's items are very inexpensive, say, $7 for a hood but they are painted not anodised so the finish is not particularly durable. That said, the last Leica hood I bought was a replacement for the WATE at close to $200 and the one before that was for the MATE V2 which was even more. So, I tend to buy a few Heavystar hoods at a time (to save on postage) and regard them as disposable.

 

Keeping in mind the 28mm lens is about 37mm FF equivalent, you might get away with using the E39 normal hood - it's similar to the one which used to come with the 50mm Elmar.

[JHAG]

Thanks Mark,

I knew you would be pleased by its price.

Regarding Heavystar, it's more like 17 than 7 $.

[marknorton]

Ah yes, vented, those hoods are more expensive. For my wide-angles, I use unvented ones.

[JHAG]

The unvented ones seemed a bit shallow.

Don't you have flare with them ?

[tobey bilek]

I been buying Nikon lenses for what I used to pay for Leica lens shades. I gave up waiting for a sub $5000 R10 or a full frame RF.

 

Still have all the R+M glass which I use for film.

 

D700 is a fine camera for 1/3 the cost of Leica and 90+ % the image quality. They been making reflex cameras for 40 years now. What is so hard about sticking a sensor in one?

[JHAG]

What is so hard about sticking a sensor in one?

 

Nothing, tobey, nothing, really..

I do it every saturday in my study, while smoking a good cigar.

[marknorton]

The unvented ones seemed a bit shallow.

Don't you have flare with them ?

 

Yes, but so too are Leica hoods where a filter fits inside the front of the hood. At least with these they are screwing into the front of the filter. Next time I order from Heavystar, I think I'll experiment with some "normal" hoods and see how they work with the wide-angles.

[Guest darkstar2004]

For some time, Leica have gone for pull-out lens hoods for focal lengths of 50mm and longer (50/2, 50/1.4, Noctilux, 75/2, 75/1.4, 90/2, 90/2.8) but they don't provide as much shielding as is needed, especially on the M8 with it's narrower angle of view and filters in the front make things worse.

 

The pull-out plastic lens hood of the Noctilux is very poor in particular.

 

I have often wondered about that - the depth of the Noctilux lens hood seems to be very shallow when compared to the screw-on lens hood for my Nikon 50/1.4.

 

Could part of Leica's rationale be that since the primary purpose of the Noctilux is photographing in available darkness, a deeper lens hood is not required for such low light environments?

 

It seems as if blocking the viewfinder is a major worry for the Leica engineers. No one wants half their viewfinder blocked by a fat lens & a deep lens hood, but it is an inconvenience I would be willing to live with in exchange for proper lens flare control. A person could always compose, focus and then extend the lens hood, if viewfinder blockage was objectionable.

 

One could advocate that the 50/1.0 Noctilux is Leica's "best" lens (in non-technical, interpretative ways); it is certainly Leica's most expensive, until the 50/0.95ASPH. As such, it's disappointing that it was given what is probably Leica's worst lens hood.

 

Still, it's my favorite lens.

[JHAG]

I have often wondered about that - the depth of the Noctilux lens hood seems to be very shallow when compared to the screw-on lens hood for my Nikon 50/1.4.

 

Could part of Leica's rationale be that since the primary purpose of the Noctilux is photographing in available darkness, a deeper lens hood is not required in such lighting?

 

It seems as if blocking the viewfinder is a major worry for the Leica engineers. No one wants half their viewfinder blocked by a fat lens & a deep lens hood, but it is an inconvenience I would be willing to live with in exchange for proper lens flare control. A person could always compose, focus and then extend the lens hood, if viewfinder blockage was objectionable.

 

One could advocate that the 50/1.0 Noctilux is Leica's "best" (in non-technical, interpretative ways) lens - it is certainly Leica's most expensive, until the 50/0.95ASPH. It's disappointing that it was given what is probably Leica's worst lens hood.

 

Still, it's my favorite lens.

 

Mine has a customized hood by B&W which is not blocking anything.

Shooting with the N-lux in broad daylight too, I feel much more comfortable with it.

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[Guest darkstar2004]

Mine has a customized hood by B&W which is not blocking anything.

Shooting with the N-lux in broad daylight too, I feel much more comfortable with it.

It looks like this B+W | 62mm Screw-In Metal Lens Hood #950 | 65069676 | B&H Photo is your lens hood, except that it is a 62mm thread size instead of 60mm.

 

Just wondering - how did you get B+W to make one in 60mm size?

Also, what did they charge you for a cusrtom piece like that?

Thanks...

[JHAG]

It looks like this B+W | 62mm Screw-In Metal Lens Hood #950 | 65069676 | B&H Photo is your lens hood, except that it is a 62mm thread size instead of 60mm.

 

Just wondering - how did you get B+W to make one in 60mm size?

Also, what did they charge you for a cusrtom piece like that?

Thanks...

 

It is the right guy you found on B&H.

I don't know how much was the whole fitting, which is absolutely seamlessly

integrated with the lens barrel, because it was already done when David

Reynolds, a Leica collector, sold me the lens.

I wonder if it's not Don (DAG) who did it.

I'll ask David and be back to you.

[JHAG]

There you are, David's reply :

 

"Johan,

Good to hear from you. We moved to near Seattle, WA this last year.

I had the hood removed on the Noctilux by the local camera shop, and it is very easy. It would not be difficult to do yourself, but you would not want to risk damage to the lens.

The hood is made up of 2 parts.

Both were purchased at B&H Photo in NY.

Part #1 is B+W 60ea-62ei Step-Up ring #3E (BWSUR6062)$24.95USD at the time.

Part #2 is a B+W 62mm Aluminum lens hood #950 (BWLHM62)$33.95USD at the time.

Both items should be still available at B&H, and also at the better European camera stores, or direct from B+W (Schneider Kreuznach).

Best Regards,

David Reynolds"

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Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[marknorton]

It's much more the sort of hood I'd expect to use on the Noctilux. Does it block the rangefinder patch?