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Posted by Doug Clifford on July 20, 2001 at 04:09:14:
In Reply to: Question about lens hood posted by Stuart on July 19, 2001 at 18:49:35:
: I recently purchased the Tamron AF28-200mm Super II-zoom, macro (F/3.8-5.6) for Pentax-AF. I was wondering if you could answer a technical question about the lens. Specifically, my question concerns the lens hood. I prefer not using one. But I am concerned that my photographs might be compromised if I don't use it. I would appreciate it if you could tell me the possible consequences of shooting without the hood. I have been using a Sigma AF-28-80mm zoom, macro (55mm lens diameter) and I have not experienced any detrimental affects by not employing the hood. Is it more essential to use the hood with this larger diameter lens (72mm)? Any feedback you could give me would be very much appreciated. I can be reached at stubert53@aol.com. Thanks much, Stuart
Stuart, the answer is it depends. A lens hood (sometimes called a sun shade) dramatically reduces the risk of lens flare on bright sunny days or when there's a lot of reflective material (such as snow or water.) Any light source entering the lens at at angle can reduce the contrast in the picture, robbing saturated color from objects. The best lens hoods are made from metal or rigid plastic. The collapsible rubber lens shades are not deep enough to offer much protection. The downside to lens shades is when used with wide angle lenses (such as when your zoom lens is being used in the 28mm position) there's a definite possibility the lens will see the sunshade, causing the corners of your picture to be darkened; this is called "vignetting". Same thing happens when people stack several filters on their camera.
I use a rigid lens shade outdoors on most shots but I don't use zoom lenses.
Regards,
Doug Clifford
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