Lens hood help

[PhotoDude25]

Hi all,
I have been looking around for lens hoods for my Canon lenses and have found some off brands on Ebay to try and save a few bucks. They appear to have everything from the originals to screw in types and even clip ons. Would the off brands work as well as the original Canon hoods or should I steer clear and go for Canon brand? Suggestions anyone? . . . PhotoDude25

[Bodog]

I've bought the Canon originals for all my lenses off eBay for less than half the retail. Just need to be patient. :D

[Medic1]

Nothing beats using a Canon product, on a Canon product. A Canon lens hood was designed along with the lens it fits. I say stick with trying to get the original...

[jterlecki]

Off brands = off protection. The Canon lens hoods offer not only glare reduction and reduced possibilities of abberations, they also offer the ultimate in front end protection. They protect much better than any $30 piece of glass for protection without causing any added distortion. I've got more than 30 Canon lenses and I have the appropriate Canon hood for each and every one of them.

[lost]

WOW more than 30 lenses!!! Sweet!!! Just grab the one you use the least and send it my way. I will PM you the address :D ;)

[Cadenza]

Why hasn't someone invented an adjustable
lens hood system yet? Can't be that hard.

Of course, it wouldn't fit every lens in the
range, but I bet some kind of hook, with
flexible dark plastic moulding, adjustable
and held together with elastic bands, or
velcro, or tweezers, or mini-clamps, or
whatever could be attractively designed
and fashioned, which would fit most
commonly used lenses.

The advantages would be obvious, no need
to buy dozens of hoods for your collection,
and you only need to carry one or two of
these with your photo kit. Anyone with VC
out there feel free to contact me. I'll do the
R&D, build and market them.

Regards, Cadenza

[Cadwell]

Why hasn't someone invented an adjustable
lens hood system yet? Can't be that hard.


You answered your own question....


no need to buy dozens of hoods for your collection

Economics. Why would a hood manufacturer build a "one size fits all solution" when they can gouge the consumer by selling them a seperate, expensive hood for every lens?

[Anders Östberg]

There's a reason hoods are all different, they need to be, to not cause vignetting. Get the Canon hoods, they are designed to provide maximum possible shade for each lens. A shallow rubber screw-on hood will not provide much shade. In some cases (like using the hood from the 24/1.4 on a 17-40/4) you can use a deeper hood as it will not cause vignetting on a 1.6x or 1.3x camera.