Lens Hoods Are Not Just To Prevent Stray Light

Long story short: I fell down today, holding my 30D with the 24-70mm lens. When I hit the ground the lens hood hit the pavement and absorbed the shock. If my lens hood had been removed, I could have busted the filter and maybe even damaged the lens. Everything seems to be fine except for my elbow. Keep the lens hoods on the lenses!

...except when the hood is a lever arm that snaps a L lens in half. A hood is for flare avoidance. It sometimes serves as a mechanical collision avoidance, but not always.

https://photography-on-the.net …php?p=7644573&p​ostcount=1

We don't know for sure if the hood was causing the lens to split due to the theoretical leverage. I don't have a 50L, so not sure about the construction, but it sounds like the front does come apart (https://photography-on-the.net …hp?p=7648144&po​stcount=42).

Yes. we'll never know if two lenses fell identically, one with hood and one without, would they both have broken into two.

(OTOH, so much for the 'L build' legend)

I had one of my students drop my camera onto the concrete floor. She is alive today because the hood hit first (actually a common thing) busted into 3 pieces, while the camera/lens had not a scratch. A little super glue and black spray paint and the hood is still in use. Yes, have a hood mounted on your lens at all times.

garyeaton wrote in post #8494220
Long story short: I fell down today, holding my 30D with the 24-70mm lens. When I hit the ground the lens hood hit the pavement and absorbed the shock. If my lens hood had been removed, I could have busted the filter and maybe even damaged the lens. Everything seems to be fine except for my elbow. Keep the lens hoods on the lenses!

I had an almost exact situation happen last winter. The hood saved everything! I'll let the next guy take his chances with a UV filter, I'll take the hood!

to the OP - I'm glad you are ok!

A hood might help with mechanical trauma, it might not help with mechanical trauma, it might even hurt more in mechanical trauma.

The only thing we know for certain is hoods aid in prevention of flare.

alright, not to start a debate but...

lens hood and uv filter or just lens hood? i have both but would take the filter off if it's unnecessary.

start a new topic, or go read one of dozens of religious wars about filters!

But if anyone needs a hood for a Tamron 17-50/2.8 or 28-75, I have a free one. PM me.

Hoods have given my lenses some protection from straight on bumps, but nothing very hard so far.

And sometimes seatbelts kill. I'll wear mine, thank you.

A lens hood is designed to combat flare and that is the only thing it is designed for. That is why they are different for different lenses. As a side benefit sometimes users get lucky when they are in unfortunate circumstances and the lens takes the brunt of a fall or hit. But to say it saved the lens is just a guess.

agreed with wilt and eagle... although my lens hood for the 17-55 did save that lens on a recent hiking trip. I had set the camera down on the ground while I was doing a couple other things, but somehow the strap got hooked on my foot -- next thing I knew, I had dragged the lens about two inches in sand (essentially). Taking off the hood was painful to hear -- but fortunately, nothing got on the front element or too far embedded in the rings... but without that hood...

Even a UV filter wouldn't have done anything, as the hood helped keep the rings from fully burying into the ground and dragging sand into the focus and zoom mechanisms.