To lens hood or not to lens hood, that is the question?

[Chris 3754]

I use a lens hood when shooting ice hockey mostly because I have found in the excitement of moving quickly I regularly make contact with the 70-200 against the glass. I also use them when shooting outdoor sports or wildlife from a somewhat stationary position. Otherwise when hiking or street photography, if I find glare I just use my hand as a block. They just seem to be more of a pain when handling lenses and packing them into my small backpack. Granted I don’t shoot video, so that may be different. What do you all think, to me they don’t seem to provide that much value? Am I wrong about this?

 

[iamdlewis]

I too basically use the hood as protection and not for blocking light.

 

[Unframed Dave]

I never go out without a hood on. I've had too many near misses. I swiped the corner of a building the other day when I underestimated the over hang of my my a1 plus 600.

I also dropped the pair of them when I hadn't properly attached the gimbrel. Luckily, it was only from a hide shelf.

 

[sswildlife]

I always use a lens hood for wildlife photography. It's nice to prop the camera on, provides protection, and in my opinion cuts glare + improves contrast.

 

[rcreamer]

I always use mine because:
• Light from the side, even though it won't be in the picture, can still scatter onto the sensor causing some loss of contrast. I think.
• In direct sunlight to prevent lens flares.
• In my camera bag so jostling won't inadvertently knock off the lens caps. (But not my long lenses.)

Sometimes I take it off to more easily adjust the rotation angle of a CPL but put it back on before clicking. Some of my lens hoods have a little sliding door for adjusting a CPL but this is awkward at best.

 

[THXGEEK]

Always on. If not for protection, then for glare. I'm a 'two-handed' photographer and find that I can rarely spare my left hand for glare-blocking duty.

 

[Chris 3754]

Thank you all. It seems that the majority use the hood. I see some situations where I will still go commando , but will try to use it more. Also going to try some testing for a comparison. Thanks again, this is such a great forum!

 

[THXGEEK]

I see some situations where I will still go commando ...

Geez, thanks ALOT Chris. I damn near spilled my scotch laughing at this!!!