lens hood

[sudaplatov]

How crucial to use a hood on lens?
May be my question is too stupid or evern worse.
I am kind of amature in photography and I was shooting
mostly without hoods on such lens as Canon 50 f/1.4,
Canon 28-70 f/2.8 and Canon 70-200 f/2.8.
I tried them with hoods as well but didn't mentioned big
difference in output however using hoods are inconvinient.
Hood can help a lot to get rid of sun's rays going
into lens of course but anyway...
What is hood usage statistic?
I mean how often do you use hoods with lens?
For example - 100%/70%/50%?
Where? Outdoors? Indoors?
When? Sunny days? Always?
Etc.

[Rudi]

Hi,

I use lens hood at all times with any lenses that were supplied with one! :) (Which means all my non-Canon lenses, and my one Canon L lens).

I find that I can get away with shooting without a lens hood on my 28-135 IS and my 50/1.4. In extreme situations, shooting into the Sun and similar, you can always use your free hand to shade the lens from the Sun.

I refuse to pay extra for lens hoods that should be included in the purchase price of the lens, IMO! Having said that, I would NOT use a wide angle lens without a hood, and if I had Canon, I would make an exception and purchase a hood for it. Luckily, I purchased a Tokina 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 zoom that performs as well as the Canon 20-35mm zoom for half the price, and the lens hood was suplied with the lens!

Sorry to get on my hobby-horse here, but I feel that it is piss-poor performance on Canon's part to charge ridiculous amounts of money for bits of plastic that should have been included in the deal from the start...

[rickm]

Rudi wrote:
but I feel that it is piss-poor performance on Canon's part to charge ridiculous amounts of money for bits of plastic that should have been included in the deal from the start...

Actually, Canon may have taken that page out of the dealers books. Remember, years ago, certain NY dealers would open the box and grab all the accessories out of it and want to charge extra for them. So in essence, it's business like in the old days... "do you want the lens hood, camera strap, battery charger, etc...?"