why use a lenshood (if not for protection)

[y75stingray]

A hood will also help cut down on unwanted fringing

 

[orb9220]

Yep don't use filters myself unless a situation would call for it. Like woods & muck,Beach and party events of flying champagne and cake. Or curious little creatures known as the dirty finger gnomes or also known as children. But that is a small time frame for me.

I don't use filters as they have a problem of setting up secondary reflections with directional light sources. Lamps,street lights,reflections of building windows,etc.

I have never equated filters as protection from shock. But I do equate protection with hoods. And also the added benefit of minimizing flare.

There is no way that a flimsy thin filter equals the toughness of a lens element. Which is a lot thicker & tougher then people give them credit for. And as mentioned a possibility is shards from filter could scratch the lens element.

In 3 yrs. of using hoods with no filters 24/7 have dropped & banged multiple occasions where I know a filter would have most likely shattered. But the lens came thru without a scratch. I also don't use lens caps as just another thing to forget to remove or lose and miss the shot. Even in my bag the lens hood is mounted and gives protection from the lens element touching anything. And is ready for the shot at a moments notice. And my lenses are still pristine with zero scratches or wear.

I might be giving bad advice here. And apologize if some see it as such. Just sharing my experiences of the issue.
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[Davor]

Because it makes you lens look bigger. . .. and we all know a girl likes a man with a big lens.

that's why i put mine on lol. But all jokes aside, i really do use it when im out taking pictures in sunny days.

 

[NielsSw]

Thanks for all the replies! It really helps to give me a better idea of why and when i want to use it. Specially the improved contrast I didn't know about.

The reason why the hood bothers me is that the camera doesn't fit in my bag with the hood on straight, and when i put it on backwards i can't get to my zoom (and the hood wont offer protection anymore).

But one of these days I will go out for a serious testing of with and without hood and filter and I will think about using the hood as protection despite it's bigger size.

When I use the hood, does it still make any sense to also use my filter? Like against sand scratches or I don't know what? Or is that just plain stupid and can it only reduce my pictures..? (although the filter shouldn't have any real effect)

Because it makes you lens look bigger. . .. and we all know a girl likes a man with a big lens.

:lmao:

A hood will also help cut down on unwanted fringing

I'm not familiar yet with what this means. *reads wikipedia* Maybe i should start another thread or read more to really understand fringing and chromatic abberation..

 

[Scatterbrained]

Thanks for all the replies! It really helps to give me a better idea of why and when i want to use it. Specially the improved contrast I didn't know about.

The reason why the hood bothers me is that the camera doesn't fit in my bag with the hood on straight, and when i put it on backwards i can't get to my zoom (and the hood wont offer protection anymore). Turn the hood around when the camera is in the bag, and turn it back around when you are shooting. Problem solved.

But one of these days I will go out for a serious testing of with and without hood and filter and I will think about using the hood as protection despite it's bigger size.

When I use the hood, does it still make any sense to also use my filter? Like against sand scratches or I don't know what? Or is that just plain stupid and can it only reduce my pictures..? (although the filter shouldn't have any real effect)

Because it makes you lens look bigger. . .. and we all know a girl likes a man with a big lens.

:lmao:

A hood will also help cut down on unwanted fringing

I'm not familiar yet with what this means. *reads wikipedia* Maybe i should start another thread or read more to really understand fringing and chromatic abberation..

If you have CA you'll know it, it is basically "fringes" of color around an object. As far as filters go, I always have UV filters on my lenses and have not seen any issues; of course some lenses require a filter to be fully weathersealed. The problem with UV filters (and any filters really but UV especially) if you buy a cheap filter you can do more harm than good to your images and lens. I've seen lenses sold because they were "soft" only for the second owner to remove the cheap filter to find that the lens was quite sharp. I've seen cheap filters get stuck to lenses too.

 

[DerekSalem]

I always thought it was just to look like a professional...

umm, no.

I made the mistake of saying something like that when I was still new too... I got my ass handed to me more or less...

It was something along the lines of, "a petal shaped lens hood makes you look more professional"... Yeah, it has nothing to do with looking professional. None of my lens hoods are petal shaped... I use them more for protection than anything.

I remember that thread. If I remember correctly you (or the OP of the thread) asked what the difference is between a round and petal-shaped hood.

Truth be told there isn't one. The petal-shaped hoods *do* look more professional and that's about the only reason they're made like that. A lot of $2k-$3k lenses come with round hoods and it makes no difference in picture quality or contrast.

 

[Scatterbrained]

I always thought it was just to look like a professional...

umm, no.

I made the mistake of saying something like that when I was still new too... I got my ass handed to me more or less...

It was something along the lines of, "a petal shaped lens hood makes you look more professional"... Yeah, it has nothing to do with looking professional. None of my lens hoods are petal shaped... I use them more for protection than anything.

I remember that thread. If I remember correctly you (or the OP of the thread) asked what the difference is between a round and petal-shaped hood.

Truth be told there isn't one. The petal-shaped hoods *do* look more professional and that's about the only reason they're made like that. A lot of $2k-$3k lenses come with round hoods and it makes no difference in picture quality or contrast.

The petal shaped hoods are designed to accommodate the shape of the sensor, it prevents the corners of the images from vignetting at the widest focal lengths the lens achieves on FF cameras.
edit: this is why you only see them on zoom lenses and even then usually only EF lenses.

 

[Derrel]

I use a lens hood about 99 percent of the time. I think that they make me look cool.

 

[jake337]

go out and take two pictures in a row on a sunny day or in a parking gaage for that matter and look at the difference between the two pictures.

 

[jake337]

Because it makes you lens look bigger. . .. and we all know a girl likes a man with a big lens.

that's why i put mine on lol. But all jokes aside, i really do use it when im out taking pictures in sunny days.

Wether its sunny or not stray beams of light can hit your lense at angles not wanted. Light is still light no matter where it comes from or power/strength/brightness.

 

[xjoewhitex]

How well does a sun visor work when the suns at about a 45 degree angle above and in front of you? Blocks the beams, and you can see again right? Same effect.