lens hood

[timparkin]

Robert's article prompted me to make a similar thing out of a set of Dedolight 8 leaf barndoors like these:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ndoor_Set.html

It wasn't that cheap (~$120) or easy as they needed some metal work at a shop to help adapt them. If anyone wants me to take a picture I will, I've used Neodym magnets mounted in a Cokin P adaptor to hold the shade in place. Wasn't able to improve on the scrunchy concept though

I'm not sure about their effect on contrast given I am using a late multicoated lens but they are fantastic at eliminating obvious flair, especially at night with strong light sources just outside the picture area. People might say that I could use my hand to block such light sources but it gets hard to do that for 15 minutes or when there are multiple light sources.

Hi Matt,

I'm very interested in your 8 Door Shade conversion! Any chance of posting a few pics.. I made a magnet mounted Lee wide angle shade so that it would work with my 80mm SSXL but would like to have some more adaptable from my longer lenses..

Is each flap (of the four) able to be adjusted independently?

Tim

p.s. Here is my Lee filter adaption and a little talk on why it's needed with large image circle lenses..

http://blog.timparkin.co.uk/2008/05/...e-adapter.html

[Mattg]

I'll take a photo Tim, apologies in advance for my average digi shots. It looks very much like a case of great minds thinking alike You adaptor is almost exactly what I've done with the magnets.

Each flap can move independently and the two smaller flaps each have two smaller leaves that can be spread to seal the box.

I am really happy to have this, it has already proved its worth in the first week that I've been using it. I recently reshot this scene because of a scratched neg and have now managed to eliminate some flare that was previously difficult to control with 3 large spotlights above, and slightly in front of, the camera.

[BrianShaw]

Thanks Brian for your prompt reply. Now I know this is truly a dynamic forum. If want to use lens hood, which is the best option.

I'm a compendium user for studio and field wtih view cameras. But I use press cameras a lot and for them I use series filters and the associated slip-on-the-lens hoods. The compendium is the best solution in my opinion; the slip-on hoods are much better than nothing. I don't like the hand or dark slide option because I've mroe than once found evidence of had or dark slide on the neg. My bad... and probably just a sign that I should practice those techniques more!

[Nana Sousa Dias]

I use my dark slide, my hat, and sometimes, a black umbrella, wich is the cheapest, biggest and best lens shade I've ever seen.

[Louie Powell]

A lens shade is a good idea, but its one more thing to have to carry.

I have a set of Cokin shades that clip onto a Cokin P-series holder. But I rarely use them because of the convenience factor.

I do carry another form of shade, however. It's a double-bulldog clip - essentially a pair of large office-style spring-type paper clips that are attached to each other through a common handle arrangement. I clip one end to the front standard of the camera, and then clip a shade to the other end.

For the shade, I could use the gray card that I carry with me. But a better choice is a small sheet of dark gray plastic foam - actually, packing material that came in a computer card box that I normally use to protect my ground glass from physical damage but that serves double duty as a shade.

Incidentally, one of the challenges for LF photographers is that we often need a shade on the back of the camera as well as the front - to keep light from entering through the slot in the film holder. I usually wear a hat when photographing, and if the orientation of the camera has that slot facing the sun, I use my hat as the second shade.

[Brian Ellis]

Contrary to what some have suggested, I wouldn't recommend using your hand, hat, or dark slide. Those things may work fine if the sun is striking the lens directly. But they're of little use when the light is more diffuse. In that situation there's no substitute for a compendium shade IMHO.

[epack]

Thank you all for your very useful discussion. What is easy and simple for small format phtography seems that complex when it come to LF. I just can't understand why LF lens don't come with a standard hood. Someone said to me that LF photographers don't suffer from issues like flare, because the lens design is different. I can't buy in that argument at all. Then if a lens hood is necessary, I beg to have a compact lens hood as seen on any lens for small format.

[Frank Petronio]

When you apply movements then you are changing the optimal depth, and position of the shade that you need, so a universal all-purpose hood will not work, it will vignette a corner of the image.

When you use a handheld 4x5, like a Crown Graphic or Technika, or any camera with limited movements, you can get away with a screw-in regular style hood like you would use with a medium or small format camera because you rarely use movements when working handheld.

When you use more extreme movements, you end up needing a flexible compendium hood, which can adjusted to have one corner extend out further than the others, or using the hat/hand/card technique to shield the lens.

In practice I just use a shallow screw-in hood for a bit of minimal protection and supplement it by blocking any obvious light source that reflects onto the lens -- using cards, my hand, or my fat ass.

[GPS]

Thank you all for your very useful discussion. What is easy and simple for small format phtography seems that complex when it come to LF. I just can't understand why LF lens don't come with a standard hood. Someone said to me that LF photographers don't suffer from issues like flare, because the lens design is different. I can't buy in that argument at all. Then if a lens hood is necessary, I beg to have a compact lens hood as seen on any lens for small format.

The fact that LF lens doesn't come with a standard hood has to do with the fact that you often use it with movements (shifts) unlike a small format lens. That leads to a bigger lens shade (together with a fact that a bigger film format needs a bigger shade)i.e. less efficient than a shade strictly constructed for a fixed lens. Also, a LF lens can be used for many different film formats demanding different hoods dimension.
The fact that LF photographers (amateurs especially) don't use a proper lens shade has to do with ignorance more than anything else.

[cjbroadbent]

One compendium, one set of filters with many rings for lenses. There's a Cokin compendium and a Lee for big lenses. It does make a difference. (For who's new: Shifts with a compedium require finesse. Squint throught the corners of the ground glass to adjust the compendium until it is touching the picture. When you stop down the vignetting goes away).