I am wondering if I should get a lens hood for my digital SLR. I have seen some photographers use them wonder about the advantages and disadvantages. I looked online and see that it can prevent glare. Does one leave it on all the time? Thank you for your advice.
I tend to leave mine on most of the time, to protect the lens as much as anything. But they are useful when you have to shoot towards the sun and you don't want flaring. For the cost I'd say yes :-)
I leave mine on all the time for protection. I also have lens filters on all the time to protect my lenses. So I never had to mess around with lens caps.
modern coatings on lens means with a good lens you see much less flare from random light than you did 20 + years back... now hoods are for protection... to make you look like a serious photographer and they give you a nice contrast bump with the right lens which helps if you try and get the shoot as good as possible in the camera before light/darkroom prints/images.
Hoods can also cause vintaging... which is often bad... but I have used it with effect from time to time or if too short... they really do nothing but add bulk....
Things to consider...
If you have a filter that needs to rotate (ie Circ Pol) you will need a hood with a filter window that lets you rotate the filter...
Storage can be a pain... some hoods that I enjoy mount backwards onto the lens for storage...
Caping you lens can be a pain if you need to remove the hood each time... so get caps with tabs on the front of the cap instead of the side...
Great question Erin! I love sun flares but this morning I couldn't avoid them when I wanted to. I thought that I should get one...but beside making the camera look impressive, what are the advantages? Glad you asked...great answers...a hood that reverses for storage is now on my list!
Tweets ahoy!
Join the Group
Pin With Me
Hoods can also cause vintaging... which is often bad... but I have used it with effect from time to time or if too short... they really do nothing but add bulk....
Things to consider...
If you have a filter that needs to rotate (ie Circ Pol) you will need a hood with a filter window that lets you rotate the filter...
Storage can be a pain... some hoods that I enjoy mount backwards onto the lens for storage...
Caping you lens can be a pain if you need to remove the hood each time... so get caps with tabs on the front of the cap instead of the side...
thats the short of it...
Thank you all for this great information! I really do appreciate it. I am off to shop now!