Lens Hoods

[Contarama]

Hello

This is going to be one of those beginner questions. From my limited understanding lens hoods are used in situations like when one is shooting into the sun or perhaps when it is very very bright like shooting in the snow. My question is twofold - are lens hoods really effective? and what kinds of situations make you all break out the lens hoods?

Thank you gentlemen!

[Brian]

With older uncoated and single-coated lenses, they are almost always required. Bright light coming in out of the view of the image lights up the optics and causes problems with the image. With multi-coated optics, I never bothered with them. If the lens had a built in shade, I extended it. With older lenses, like those on the Contaflex- I would always use them.

[Brian]

And when i was younger- my long hair made a natural sunshade. Good reason not to get a haircut.

[Contarama]

I guess it never hurts to ask a question because you have definately educated me here on this one - thanks. OK so my lens hoods are very important to my Contaflex and my old school non-AI Q 135 which has the old "not yet" improved coating apparently from what I have read and has the built in hood for a reason. Interesting.

I was once a long haired 70's and 80's kid...now I am just a bald old man with kids...who if they come home with long hair I am alright with that I guess...but any piercings, barbed wire tattoos, baggy pants about to fall off or any of that the only photographs you will be able to find concerning me will be on the Oklahoma prisoners web site...hahaha

What about the filters Brian? Are certain filters good at handling these problems with the old lenses...or should one always opt for the hood or filter plus hood if possible???

[Brian]

Modern Multi-Coated filters are better, even with the old lenses. Filters are flat: so the older uncoated filters reflect even more with an older lens than with a modern one.

A modern multi-coated filter is better with an old lens. The old lens has more reflections, and they just pass through a multi-coated filter. Always use a hood, regardless of the type of filter with these older lenses.

A "modern" multi-coated zoom, 1 43~86 F3.5 Zoom-Nikkor, circa 1978. Taken in 1979...

http://www.ziforums.com/picture.php?albumid=171&pictureid=2549

[Brian]

I did this intentionally, light hitting the front element of a Zeiss Sonnar 5cm f1.5 "T", single-coated.

http://www.ziforums.com/picture.php?albumid=102&pictureid=881

Light hitting the front element, off-angle.

[Contarama]

Thanks Brian...I see what you are talking about...now I am going to have to go experimenting here soon...:cool:

So that is what coatings are basically about then...to manage the light rays hitting the lens? Do they afford any protection from handling? (I'm guessing not)

I imagine it was probably the germans who first started messing with lens coatings and maybe even shades???

[Brian]

Zeiss first started coating lenses in the 1930s, the lens above is one of the first to feature a coating.

They are all about reducing reflections and transmitting more light. Uncoated glass reflects 4% of light hitting it, coated glass reflects about 1%, and multicoated around 0.4%.

Coatings tend to make cleaning and handling more critical, and coatings can get scratched.

Brian

[Contarama]

Looking at the two photos above the very fine detail of her "loose" hairs and the very finely detailed "sprays" of water is a neat compare and contrast thing (at least to me in my boring life...haha) Seems the Sonnar is able to capture much finer detail than the Nikkor but maybe this is because of film speed and fstops and the photographer's (you) intention etc.???

This thread has been very helpful for me...

[Contarama]

http://www.oklahomawildbunch.com/teach/madeuce.jpg

[Brian]

A lens hood is not going to help much in a case like this: the strong background lighting is more than likely what hit you. "Veiling Flare", where internal reflections from a strong light source reduce overall contrast. Cleaning marks and internal haze make it worse.

Overall- nothing wrong with this shot!

[Exile]

I do think lens hoods are a good idea to protect the front element of an expensive lens, and I have used them routinely when using an IR filter with the M8 for example. But for street shooting, I prefer to not use a hood so that the overal size of the lens is smaller; for example, not using a hood with a 50mm sonnar allows me to use an ever-ready case with it. When taking landscapes, I always use a hood.
When I used a dSLR or an old OM1, I could always detect obvious lens flare by looking through the viewfinder, and then use my left hand to shield from the light source. Of course, this is not so straightforward with a rangefinder, but I'm quite well practiced at this by now, and routinely check the direction of light hitting the lens even if I'm borrowing someone's digital compact camera. I still shield the lens with my left hand if I'm cought out without a lens hood and think I need one. In fact, on very bright days I often try to shoot from a shaded area if the composition allows it.