I'm looking at this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/21878-REG/Heliopan_701067_67mm_Rubber_Lens_Hood.html I want to replace my Tamron's plastic lens hood with a rubber one that fully collapses so it's flush with the front of the lens. I can see in the product description that you can roll back the hood for a wide-angle lens, but what's not clear is, can I collapse the hood so it's flush with the front of the lens?
when I was using them I use the hard now, I got them at Ritz Camera, Im sure other places have them also, they are inexpensive
Hard plastic is better. If you accidentally drop your lens, that rubber will do nothing to stop your front element from hitting the ground. With plastic you've got a better chance at protecting it. The pro I shoot with keeps his on all the time just in case he bumps into something accidentally. To each his own though....
Good point, Mike. Maybe I'll stick with the plastic. I like the rubber hoods because usually you can keep them on all the time and just basically pull to extend it. Very quick and easy.
Yeah, but some of them (when mounted backwards) block the focus ring, making manual focus either difficult or impossible. That's the only catch.
That is very true. But I keep the lens hood backwards if I am using auto focus and The light is fine. But you can always put your hands over the top of the lens or some paper if you don't have the lens hood with you while taking a fast pic.
Some also block the zoom ring, so for some lenses this really isn't an option. Just an opinion on the rubber ones, they are crap. I'm not sure if I ended up with just poor quality ones, but I used it on my 50mm for a while, and it broke after half a year. The bit of rubber in the bend which allows it to collapse started cracking through. This could be from lack of humidity, but that isn't a solution either since I'd rather store my lens in a humid free environment then put up with fungal growth.
I prefer the built on metal ones but.....if they don't have them I'd much rather have the plastic ones, far more relyable and better longevity.
If rubber collapses when you push it down, it'll also collapse when (or IF) you drop your lens on the ground! I'd go for hard plastic; if they do break, they're cheap to repair. Sure, if you drop your lens on the ground, it'll be £15 or so to replace the hood, but better than £280 to replace the lens
I just picked up the Nikon HR-2 rubber collapsible hood for their 50mm lenses. So far I really like it. It seems to help with the contrast wash out issues especially on the f/1.4 (or faster) when you've got bright off angle light hitting the lens, and otherwise collapses down to nothing and stays the hell out of the way when you don't need it or are storing it. And it was only $15. I'm good with my gear and don't have issues with banging into things or dropping stuff.
