Lens hood for 300mm ?

[Chris S]

Hi again, well I finally settled on a Rodenstock 300mm 5.6 Sironar-N MC for my first 8x10 lens.It has an 86mm screw in filter size.Since I haven't been able to find a compendium shade for my C-1 yet, what would you guys reccomend for a lens shade for this lens?Would one of the Lee compendium shades work, or how about the 86mm screw in shades from Heliopan?As always thanks for the advice, you guys have made my 8x10 learning curve much shorter!

Chris

[Richard Kelham]

If there is a light source likely to cause flare I use the slide from the DDS filmholder as a sort of impromptu french flag to shield the lens from the light source. It's free, and you never forget to take it with you!

[Eric Leppanen]

I think a Lee compendium would work fine, although I'm not sure about the best way to mount it. You have two options: 1) Use a standard Lee holder with 86mm adapter ring (the adapter ring screws into the filter threads), or 2) Use a Lee FK100 press-on filter holder with 90mm "doughnut" adapter ring (this holder fits over the lens barrel). In either case, the Lee compendium hood would attach to the outer rail of the filter holder. The standard holder would normally be the most straightforward option, but I'm not sure if it will vignette your lens if significant movements are applied. The press-on holder brings the filters and hood closer to the lens, thus reducing the potential for vignetting; I'm sure this setup would work fine with your lens. The press-on holder is more expensive and will work with far fewer of your other lenses, however.

Of course, a primary goal is to prevent any direct sunlight from hitting the lens front element, and in many cases a darkslide or hat will be sufficient to achieve this. However, if you are focusing near to the sun then a hood is the only way to go. For view cameras, a compendium is always preferred as it can be adjusted to accommodate camera movements, whereas a fixed lens shade cannot.

[Sanders McNew]

A cardboard grits canister makes a great hood for a big lens. Cover it in black gaffers tape to kill the glare and avoid unfortunate redneck jokes.

Sanders McNew (www.mcnew.net)

[Frank Petronio]

Ideally you use a compendium adjusted to maximize the protection just to the edge of vignetting. However, for a lot of your shoots, especially outdoors in the wind and such, it is more practical to use a shorter screw in shade along with the darkside (or your body) between the lens and the lightsource (sun). In the studio you can also rig flags, cards, etc. to help shade light sources from the lens (i.e. put a foamcore between the lightbank and your lens).

I like those inexpensive metal screw-in shades that S&W sells on eBay - about $15 for an 86mm. I'd get the wide angle one. It won't prevent all the flare but it cuts the worst and it helps protect the lens.

[Jeff Moore]

The Lee hoods work fine. If you are going to get one for 4x5, avoid the square hood and instead get the wide-angle hood. It's outside dimensions are in exact proportion to that of 4x5 film. I have seven lenses for my 4x5, ranging from a 58mm SA-XL to a 450mm Nikon. With the Lee adapter ring to fit my largest diameter lens and a series of step-up rings I use this hood with all of my lenses. One thing I really like about the Lee WA hood is that you can move it around to optimize for lens movements. One thing I discovered in my testing with this hood that surprised me is that the hood does not vignette when extended full with the 135, 180, 210, 300 or 450. Only when using the 58-XL and the 90-XL do I have to compress the hood. And with a little practice with these two lenses I can compress the hood the proper amount just by looking at it from the side. Of course, as a double-check I always check the ground glass. One other terrific benefit to the Lee WA hood is it has slots to allow the use of regtangular ND grads. For a landscape photgrapher, this is very nice.