Lens Hood Brand... Does It REEEEEALLY Matter?

[Pharaoh41282]

I was wondering if there is a "good" lens hood or a "bad" lens hood. I'm brand new to photography (just bought a T3i), and I'll be taking most of my pictures outdoors on sunny days, and I live in the desert. Is there a huge difference in the photo quality of the Canon $40 lens hood and the eBay $5 one? I'm a pretty careful person, so I'm not worried that it'll shatter if I drop it (even so, it's $5). I wonder if the brand name hoods have special materials that do the trick, and the eBay ones are shiny plastic that exacerbate the issue. I don't have a good shop near me to really have a close look, so I'm asking here first.
I also plan to spend more money on quality lenses and accessories if I find that I want to continue shooting into the distant future.

Thanks!

 

[kundalini]

A five dollar hood is better than nothing.

Be aware that zoom lenses and primes lenses have a different shaped hood. Zooms have a petal shaped hood while primes have a solid hood. The higher quality lenses "should" come with a hood in the package.

On a similar note, I always use a lens hood rather than a filter for protection of the front element. That and some common sense will get you further down the road.

 

[Pharaoh41282]

Thanks! The bundle I ordered came with 2 zoom lenses, 18-55 and 70-300, and have the same diameter. I figured I'd pick up a cheap hood (for now) and start shooting.

 

[kundalini]

Hoods are great for more than protecting the front element. They keep stray light (sun or strobed light) from producing lens flare. As I mentioned, a $5 hood is better than nothing. Just make sure that the lenses you ordered don't already have them in the package before ordering something you don't need. Ben said it best.... a penny saved is a penny earned.

 

[bratkinson]

Being a Canon shooter, I've found that every lens has a different hood. Even though the filter sizes may be the same, the hood attachment size isn't. Sometimes by what seems like 1 mm difference. Of course, these differences get discovered when trying to figure out which hood in a pile of 4 or 5 loose hoods I need to use.

Bottom line, when shopping for non-lens manufacturer hoods, check out the model number the lens comes with or is indicated to use. This can be done easily via Google and look at some of the reviews and/or specs. Then find the hood by model number you need on ebay or wherever.

 

[scorpion_tyr]

The two lenses you listed will have two different hoods that go with them. There are lens hoods as cheap as $1-2 available on amazon and such places, but they're made out of such cheap and thin plastic that they usually break while you're trying to snap them on. I recently outfitted all of my lenses that didn't come with hoods with the ones from cowboy studio ( Canon ) just click the link and then click on each hood until you find the one for your lens. There are a few that will interchange with two or three different lenses, but not many. The lenses from cowboystudio are just as good quality as those from canon and I haven't had any problems with them at all. The only time a hood will effect photo quality is if you get one that's the wrong one for the lens. It'll either be to narrow and will show up in your pictures, or it will be too wide and will allow stray light in. The shape and length of the lens hood all depends on the angle of view for each lens.

 

[Pharaoh41282]

Thanks, everyone! Scorpion, thanks for the link. Those hoods aren't but a few bucks more than the eBay ones, and I'd be certain to get one that fits my lenses.

 

[Tony S]

You will find the brand name hoods to be more robust and more likely to stay on the lens. When you drop one, and you will, it won't break as easily. I'm also in the corner of a lens hood for lens protection over a filter. It will take a good shot and deflect the lens so it won't take a shot to the front element.

 

[Derrel]

"Brand" is not as important as suitability of the hood for the focal length(s) of the lens, and also whether the lens is being used on a FF or a crop-body d-slr. A FANTASTIC screw-in, rubber lens hood for a 70-200/2.8 Canon or Nikon zoom is the Mamiya 360's thread-in, semi-rigid rubber lens hood. It works GREAT--on a crop-frame body with a 70-200....but on an FX body...it vignettes TERRIBLY.

What makes this hood so useful is that it can be squished a bit, to throw a shadow on the front of the lens when shooting towards the sun, preventing flare and or ghosting...

If a lens hood is not the right dimensions, it can cause vignetting at the corners of the image...and that can be very bad!

One point many people overlook: on a crop-body camera, the EDGES of the image circle are simply not "seen" by the sensor, and the factory lens hoods designed for "full frame lenses" do not provide the absolute maximum lens shading effect for crop-frame sensors...so...the proper "factory" lens hood for an FX lens is not always going to be the absolute best and most-effective lens shade for such lenses when used on APS-C bodies. A longer, and or narrower-opening lens hood is in fact, a more-effective lens shade when a FF capable lens is used on an APS-C body.

 

[Pharaoh41282]

Derrel, you lost me buddy... That's ok, though! I'll revisit this post when I have actually taken some pics! My T3i came in the mail yesterday, but I'm working away from home this week. Saturday I'll try to take a suitable photo to post!
Again, thanks everyone for your positive input!

 

[jamesbjenkins]

For where you're at in your photographic journey, choosing between OEM and third party lens hoods should be about #14,762 on your list of things to care about.

 

[Pharaoh41282]

I know, but I've been reading and watching videos about shooting in bright sunlight, and they all say that a hood is necessary, and even a CPL or UV filter is highly recommended. I don't want to spend all my money on accessories today. I'd rather save my allowance to get a good lens in a few months. Having said that, my first 33,217 pictures will probably be so bad that no hood could save them!