Has a lens hood or filter ever saved one of your lenses?

[FlyingPete]

Just reading a thread about lens hoods, and it got me thinking, my lens ood has saved my 28-105 on one occasion, but none of my UV filters have ever been damaged in anyway.

Now I know people often have UV's to protect lenses, has anyone actually had them do this job?

[nosquare2003]

My friend accidentally dropped my Tokina 17/3.5 at 3-4 feet. The hood was broken but my lens was saved.

[Tom W]

I have to give a definate maybe - my 24-70's hood has plenty of scuff marks on it, but the lens is still pristine. Mostly bumps that were probably non-hazardous to the lens, but would have scuffed it up a bit.

[FlyingPete]

I have to give a definate maybe - my 24-70's hood has plenty of scuff marks on it, but the lens is still pristine. Mostly bumps that were probably non-hazardous to the lens, but would have scuffed it up a bit.

I do wonder how many of my scuffs are from the fact it just sticks out more, I have had a definite though, and the mark to show for it.

I do know a guy who dropped there non-Canon SLR, took a good wack on the front of the lens, no filter or lens hood on. Lens still works fine, just can't attach any filters anymore. The filter tread 'ring' was metal, I wonder what would have happened if it were plastic?

[blinking8s]

i got plowed over at the basketball game tonight...haha...ball smoked the lens hood right on

[michael.luczkow]

My friend accidentally dropped my Tokina 17/3.5 at 3-4 feet. The hood was broken but my lens was saved.


how was your friend after you kicked his ass?

[DocFrankenstein]

i got plowed over at the basketball game tonight...haha...ball smoked the lens hood right on
:shock::shock:

How's the lens? What lens was it?


BTT: I was walking through branches with my 70-200 and noticed that the branch was "in" the lens...

Had it not been for the lens hood, I'd have a nice smudge of organic chemicals on the lens.

[Citizensmith]

I had a lens with a hood and filter knocked off a table onto a hard floor. Dead lens, the barrel was messed up. I still always uses hoods and often use filters, but in that instance they made no difference.

[nosquare2003]

how was your friend after you kicked his ass?

Certainly, I got a new hood.

[CyberDyneSystems]

All I know is I have a 77mm UV filter that is really scratched up!

No Idea how,. no story,. it just is. I allways have hoods too,. but in this case it is clear that if the filter weren't there my lens would most likely be scratched instead.

[Persian-Rice]

My UV filters get quite dirty. So I guess it saves the actual lens from touching all that nastyness.
Oh btw, I noticed it keeps tons of dust out.

But I havent had them save anything on a single event kinda thing.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Indeed,. most "L" lenses that are "Environmentally sealed" say that you must use a filter for the highest level of environmental protection.

[wintoid]

Depends if you count this sort of thing...

[René Damkot]

Should be an option 'a filter might have saved my lense' . . . When shooting a concert someone accidentally tipped a glass of beer inso my camera bag. All lenses' hoods filled nicely up. Never unpacked my bag as quick.... Cleaned and dried everything, but after a week I noticed my 100mm f/2.0 got some beer between the front lens element. A filter might have saved my lens. The hood surely didn't....

[CoolToolGuy]

In some cases, you won't know.

Cleaning the glass can remove the coating. Over time it can be completely removed. I would rather replace the filter if this happens than the lens.

Have Fun,

[Jon]

I voted for "hood", but I think that it's a somewhat misleading question. You're going to remember the catastrophic situations (dropped lens) where a hood will provide better protection than you are the countless times you put your fingers all over the filter rather than the front element.

[CaseyScofield]

I voted for the "I don't use 'protective' filters or lens hoods " . . . however if I had had a hood on my 70-300mm I wouldn't have scuffed it up by nearly dropping it in a river near Telluride! eeeekk! :mad:

[ben_r_]

Resurrecting this thread! A lens hood has saved a couple of my lenses several times. Havent had anything get close enough to try the filter for protection thankfully! But Im 100% having one on there will certainly add an additional degree of protection!

[SkipD]

Resurrecting this thread! A lens hood has saved a couple of my lenses several times. Havent had anything get close enough to try the filter for protection thankfully! But Im 100% having one on there will certainly add an additional degree of protection!A filter can do very little (almost nothing) to protect a lens from a significant physical impact.

There's nothing in a filter that will absorb energy over time to reduce the peak impact "felt" by the lens. One would think that the glass (which is VERY brittle) breaking up would absorb energy, and it will but only a very tiny amount before it shatters. The filter's ring cannot be compressed enough to absorb significant energy.

A rigid lens hood, on the other hand, can be crushed, bent, or broken up over a relatively significant time. This action significantly reduces the peak forces that get into the lens' innards. A hood that fastens to the non-moving outer shell of the lens (as it does for all three of my "L" zoom lenses) is even better, because the energy that is transferred to the lens does not get into the inner workings but only to the outer shell of the lens. The slowing of the impact reduces the inertia of the deceleration as well as any directly applied forces.

Back in 1967, I dropped one of my Nikon F cameras lens-first to a concrete sidewalk from four feet up when photographing a Formula 1 race in Monte Carlo. The metal lens hood folded in quite badly, absorbing a lot of the energy. The body took a ding on one corner, but that didn't hurt anything except its looks. Neither the body nor the lens was damaged in a way that required any repair work. I straightened the hood out and continued to use the camera. A couple of weeks later, I bought a new hood for aesthetic reasons. The camera and lens still work fine to this day.

[pixel_junkie]

A filter can do very little (almost nothing) to protect a lens from a significant physical impact.

A hood can do very little (almost nothing) to protect a lens from anything other than physical impact ... the wind suddenly picks up while you're at the beach and fills your lens with sand (good luck cleaning that out, that lens is toast), or water being sprayed directly into your lens front element the way it happened to me at Universal Studios when I least expected it ....

[CountryBoy]

While walking up to a barbed wire fence , I stepped in a hole and fell into the fence. The hood on my 100-300mm f/4 hit the fence first. It saved my lens and broke my fall. I don't gripe about the size of the hood anymore:D

[SkipD]

A hood can do very little (almost nothing) to protect a lens from anything other than physical impact ... the wind suddenly picks up while you're at the beach and fills your lens with sand (good luck cleaning that out, that lens is toast), or water being sprayed directly into your lens front element the way it happened to me at Universal Studios when I least expected it ....You're right. That's why I just don't take my camera to some places.

A direct splash of water or slug of fine sand that would do anything to the front of the lens will very likely do lots of other things to the camera & lens unless it's well sealed. Most of our DSLRs are not sealed against that sort of abuse.

[Persephone]

The strap on one of my lens pouches wrapped around my 20D and caused me to drop the 17-55mm once, and the filter shattered. I paid a camera shop to pry it off and then bought a new filter.

I then bought a cheap knockoff hood and have dropped it twice more after that - the hood took all the damage.

[xMClass]

I've gotten beer sprayed all over my lenses on multiple occasions. (Don't ask) The filter made cleaning much easier. That would have been bad for the front element if I didn't have a filter on it. And I've knocked my lens hoods around on wall corners more than once too. I'd say both. Hood stays on all the time and filters about 85% of the time.

[Echo63]

A filter has saved my Front element from being coated in Champagne on a few occasions,
my work lenses have a few little dingmarks on them, from before i got issued the gear, so they have saved the gear from damage already.

nothing could help this 16-35mm though (please excuse the blackberry pic)
it was mounted to a 1dmk2n and dropped from waist height, the hood hit the ground first, and sheared the lens about half an inch infront of the mount
$400ish Aussie dollars to repair.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m150/Echo63/IMG00123-20090929-1528.jpg
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m150/Echo63/IMG00122-20090929-1528.jpg

[Lani Kai]

I have a TS-E 17mm coming on Tuesday. It has no filter thread and no hood. What am I going to do now?

[brownbugger]

hood has saved me several times , i get bumped into a lot in journalistic situations

[nightcat]

Hoods are there to take the abuse so your lens doesn't have to. A banged up hood is a good thing!

[rral22]

My filters saved my 85 f1.8 just the other day. I was walking across the street and a drunk driver hit the person in front of me. I believe the extra weight of the filters in my bag slowed me down enough that I was behind the unfortunate person who was run over. I'm going out right away and buying more filters, just in case I should be going even slower through life.

Think about it for a second, people. How can anyone know if a filter or hood made something not happen? I think this thread is asking about something called "superstition".

[SkipD]

My filters saved my 85 f1.8 just the other day. I was walking across the street and a drunk driver hit the person in front of me. I believe the extra weight of the filters in my bag slowed me down enough that I was behind the unfortunate person who was run over. I'm going out right away and buying more filters, just in case I should be going even slower through life.422017

[Lowner]

A Cokin GND filter and holder helped to limit the damage to my 24-70L a while back. It still needed Canons care and attention so I cannot claim it was saved.

[Perfect_10]

While walking up to a barbed wire fence , I stepped in a hole and fell into the fence. The hood on my 100-300mm f/4 hit the fence first. It saved my lens and broke my fall. I don't gripe about the size of the hood anymore:D

Did you ever stop to think if the hood hadn't have been so big you may never have lost your balance in the first place ;)

[Shockey]

Well in 8 years of digital photography, never used a filter or hood for protection.
Can't imagine how many pictures I have taken in that time. I imagine I average 5 to 10,000 a month, depending on whats going on.
Never had a camera damaged or a lens scratched.