Camera Hoods When To Use

A lens hood s main purpose is to block light.

Camera hoods when to use. Keeps fingerprints off your lens. If the lens is a prime lens fixed focal length non zooming the hood will resemble a tube often larger at one end than the other. If it wasn t for the lens hood the lens itself would have been scratched in this way instead. Congratulations you ve just made your very own lens hood for your face.

It also helps protect the lens from damage if you bump into something. The lens hood is a piece of plastic that clips onto the front of a camera lens and extends beyond it. Therefore indoor flash photography and studio photography often require a lens hood. Night photography also benefits from using a lens hood as harsh lights.

Hoods usually come with certain lenses or can be bought separately and can be standard circular types or petal shaped that latter being arguably more effective as they re shaped to match both the aspect ratio of a sensor and the field of view of a lens though rectangular types also exist. Sometimes it can be easier to fit your lens hood and camera in your camera bag by attaching the lens hood in a reversed position as pictured above. I know this is a bit of an oversimplification but the lens hood on a camera is about the same as using your hand or a ball cap to block a bit of light when it s bright out. They re elegant and they re easy to deal with.

Lens hoods are plastic rings that attach to the end of a camera lens. Lens hoods serve two primary purposes. Also if you are using an off camera flash or just about any bright off camera light source you may find that your light source is generating a lens flare. Don t forget to return the lens hood to a normal position before you begin shooting.

This is the lens hood i often use and as you can see it has a lot of fine scratches on it. I think i like the screw on ones more. For those new to cameras and lenses it looks odd as it is often cut in a wave like pattern. I ve had hoods that you need to push twist and turn to attach to the lens and i ve had hoods that you need to screw on.

Why you should use a lens hood. In this case just remove the hood or use an external flash that doesn t have to be positioned too closely to your lens and hood. For zoom lenses the hood will have a curved opening at one end. If you are using a lens hood at such times unless it is an extreme case the lens face will be protected from any damage.

1 reducing lens flare and 2 protecting the lens from damage. A lens hood also known as a lens shade attaches to the front of your lens and blocks stray light from causing flare in your photographs.