Lens Hood

[ke98ith]

Hi
Have just brought a Lens hood I haven't used one before are they any good?

[mdr]

Why did you buy it? ;)

[Belmondo]

Unless you always shoot with the sun directly behind you, they're essential. (the serious answer)

Besides, they make your lens look bigger. :lol: (the stupid answer)

[ke98ith]

Thanks

[RJSorensen]

Looks like you have your answer(s) . . . but as an aside, I think that hoods improve image quality. Most likely from keeping 'stray' light out of the lens but, and I am not the expert here, side light and or reflections of light out of the shot.

I try to keep a hood on at all times, except with polarizers filters . . . lens protection is another reason to 'wear' them.

[ke98ith]

Hi
I brought the lens hood because I was recommended from a friend he say's they are good, just though I get a second opinion that's all ??

[mdr]

I fully agree with belmondo. I always use one to prevent flare from the sun or in fact any other bright lights such as street lights with night photography. Only exception is when using my 100mm macro lens for obvious reasons.

Due to the 1.6x crop factor of the 300D and 20D you can actually reduce the potential effects of flare further by buying a hood meant for a slightly longer lens than the one you have. For example, I use Canon's EW83DII hood meant for the 24mm f1.4 L lens on my 17-40mm L lens without any fignetting.

Still wonder though what your reasons were for buying the hood if you didn't know why you should use it.

[mdr]

That is also why you should use an eyepiece cover when taking shots without your eye pressed against the viewfinder glass. It stops stray light coming in from this direction as well.

[ke98ith]

Thanks very much.

[steven]

That is also why you should use an eyepiece cover when taking shots without your eye pressed against the viewfinder glass. It stops stray light coming in from this direction as well.

I'm confused by what you are saying here (nothing new;)

The only reason I know of for eyepiece cover is to keep you meeter from reading incorrectly from light coming in from the eyepiece. I has no effect on the picture being taken other than changing your meeter reading, and for me since I use manual has no effect.

[mdr]

I agree with traditional film, but the digital sensor is pretty sensitive to stray light. The meter of the Nikon F80 I had 5 years ago would change by about a stop between covered and not!

The new digital lenses are now coated to minimise any reflections between the sensor and the rear element affecting the picture. Would have thought stray light from the viewfinder could potentially fall into this category.

[Monito]

When picture is taken, the mirror flips up and seals the image chamber so that no light gets in from the viewfinder. Otherwise, many pictures would be ruined. The eyepiece cover prevents viewfinder light from affecting the meter and auto-focus, which operate before the mirror goes up.