Everything You Need to Know About Using a Camera Lens Hood
- Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM
- Canon RF 100mm f/2.8L USM
- Canon RF 24-70mm F2.8 L IS USM
- Canon RF 85mm F1.2 L USM
- Canon RF 15-35mm F2.8 L IS USM
- Canon RF70-200mm F4 L is USM
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A lot of current lenses for DSLRs and mirrorless come with a camera lens hood or have one built-in.
What is the camera lens hood purpose? What does a camera lens hood do?
Let’s find out!
What is a Camera Lens Hood For?
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The camera lens hood is one of my favorite accessories. The way I see it, a camera lens has two very important uses. One, it reduces flare caused by sidelight hitting the front lens element. Two, it is an added layer of protection for the lens.
Lens flare is a major cause of reduced contrast in an image and can actually be seen itself under many conditions. The problem is that light outside of the image area, what the camera lens sees, hits the front element of our lens and reflects inside throughout the various glass elements and the lens diaphragm.
The camera lens hood extends out far enough to shield the front of the lens from a lot of sidelight without infringing on the field of view of the lens. That’s why a lot of hoods have different depths. A wide-angle lens needs to be shallower while a hood for a telephoto can be deeper.
As for lens protection, a camera lens hood can deflect things that might otherwise touch the front lens element and chip or scratch it. The hod can also act as a crumple zone that minimizes impacts such as dropping or bumping into hard things.
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Different Types of Camera Lens Hoods
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If you browse the pages of a camera store, you’ll see several different types of camera lens hoods. A Canon camera lens hood or a camera lens hood Nikon or other brands offer are often rigid, plastic, and easily reversible for storage.
Some camera lens hoods from the lens manufacturers may be built-in and these are very often retractable for long lenses and part of the lens barrel for ultra-wide-angle lenses. The material will usually be the same as the rest of the lens barrel, lightweight metal or hard plastic.
Rubber camera lens hoods are not as popular as the rigid ones but they are available in a wide variety of styles for the different lens types. Rubber hoods can be collapsible or semi-rigid.
When to Use a Camera Lens Hood
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In my photography, there aren’t many times that I don’t use camera lens hoods - they’re almost always on my lenses. About the only times I’m not using one is when I’m using a lens filter system for GND and other special filters.
Be sure to extend your built-in hoods and the rubber lens hoods when taking pictures. If your lens has a rigid lens hood made specifically for that lens that is removable and reversible, turn it around before taking photos. If a camera lens hood is not extended or placed in a picture-taking position, there is no real benefit to one.
An extra use for rubber lens hoods that bears mentioning is that you can use one up against the glass when forced to shoot through a window, such as when taking pics of animals in a zoo enclosure. Try it out!
Camera lens hoods are a basic photographic accessory that deserves use for a lot of very beneficial reasons.