Lens shade or just using the hand

[E. von Hoegh]

Don't just test but look at whether it fits into your work method and subject matter. There is nothing lazy about not using a compendium. Its a choice one makes balancing many factors. It has a lot to do with your work style and subject matter. I travel light and shoot quick usually in rapidly changing light or trying to catch moving clouds etc. I oftentimes need to be set up and shooting in under 2 minutes. I don't need anything that slows me down more, catches the wind more or adds more weight to my kit.

If one needs confirmation look at all the extraordinary LF landscape photographers in the modern era who didn't use one. Lazy? I think not? Prevented them from creating exquisite work? Hardly.

One can be simply too anal and miss the light, which is what I did when I first started. Perfectly Zone placed exposures, perfectly individually developed negatives-perfectly boring images-but technically perfect.

I rode a motorcycle over 100MPH wearing cutoff jeans shorts, a T-shirt, and Bass loafers. Why waste money on leathers, I never needed them.

OK, maybe not the best analogy.
A properly adjusted comepndium will exclude any and all light that does not go into forming the image, and it can and usually does make a difference even with MC lenses.

[Jac@stafford.net]

A person can never have enough lens shade.

[jeroldharter]

I have a nice Arca Swiss compendium adapted to use on a Wehman 8x10 as well as the Arca 4x5. I prefer to use the hood because it works much better than my hand or a dark slide; holds its place for long exposures; is less prone to clip a corner of the frame with wide angle lenses; and blocks more extraneous light.

However, it is one more trinket, one more step. So I use the the compendium more for static objects in static light and less out in the field when the environment is more changeable.

I looked into the Lee compendium but they found them too small for 8x10 or large lenses and the cost of all the adapter rings adds up. I prefer a compendium that attaches to the front standard rather than the lens.

[wiggywag]

I have a nice Arca Swiss compendium adapted to use on a Wehman 8x10 as well as the Arca 4x5. I prefer to use the hood because it works much better than my hand or a dark slide; holds its place for long exposures; is less prone to clip a corner of the frame with wide angle lenses; and blocks more extraneous light.

However, it is one more trinket, one more step. So I use the the compendium more for static objects in static light and less out in the field when the environment is more changeable.

I looked into the Lee compendium but they found them too small for 8x10 or large lenses and the cost of all the adapter rings adds up. I prefer a compendium that attaches to the front standard rather than the lens.

Same her now! Very satisfied with my Arca compendium

[Leszek Vogt]

My compendium acts like a sail and it takes too much to set. I think I'll use a flexible goosneck with a slide (or some other dark metal sheet)....Bogen used to make those specifically to shade off a lens from strong light (as in cinema)....and this thing is adaptable (by a clip) to any camera....so it's possible to use on (oh gasp) digi or any film rig.

Les

[Tin Can]

Reef that sail...

My compendium acts like a sail and it takes too much to set. I think I'll use a flexible goosneck with a slide (or some other dark metal sheet)....Bogen used to make those specifically to shade off a lens from strong light (as in cinema)....and this thing is adaptable (by a clip) to any camera....so it's possible to use on (oh gasp) digi or any film rig.

Les

[Andrew O'Neill]

I've always wanted a compendium shade but too expensive and it's just another thing to hump around. I'll use that money to buy film and stick with the darkslide lens shade!

[Stephen Willard]

It depends a lot on the exact lens and camera.

If you're shooting a lens with an IC much larger than required for the film, you may find stray light hitting the inside
of the bellows. That can bounce around and reduce the contrast of the image.

A compendium can be used to restrict the field of view of the lens to eliminate much of that stray light.
Since these are typically square, the vignetting effect is not perfect for a non-square film format, but it's close.

Accomplishing the same thing with a hand or hat (or both) would require significant contortion, and a square hat.

- Leigh

I read an article a number of years ago that talked about stray light. The author used a barn door type lens shade and developed a method so that he could quickly remove all stray light hitting the interior of the bellows by adjusting the barn doors of his lens shade. He said the compendium lens hood provided only about a 70% solution. He had pictures with the compendium lens hood and with his barn door lens shade and the results were striking. The improvement in contrast was amazing.

I personally do not use the barn door lens shade because I tend to shoot in highly directional light over my shoulder in morning and evening where stray light is almost non existent. However, I still have not forgotten the article, and in time, I do plan on testing the a barn door lens shade solution.

That said, there are times when you are shooting in the moment and the use of a hat or hand is all you have time for so you need to be good at improvising. However, there are many times when the photograph is premeditate requiring long periods of waiting or revisiting. During these times, it is my belief that a good lens shade is well worth the effort.

-Stephen

[Tin Can]

I suppose there is a good reason Sinar sells a compendium and barn doors that can be used simultaneously.

Now I need just one more thing...