Lens Hood Recommendations?

[timberline12k]

I tried the hat method for my first shots, but would like to know what lens hood or shade more experienced photographers use. I have read a few posts about Lee products and a standard adapter ring.

I would like to be able to attach it to the equipment shown in my signature below.

[Aahx]

The Lee system is what I use, and it works quite well for both the lens hood and graduated ND filter use. The lens hood is a bellows hood, so one can adjust the coverage as needed (flexing it in or out). So one can draw it back when using a wider lens to eliminate vignetting, and pull it foward a few inches for your telephoto's as needed.

[timberline12k]

Do you always use a lens hood with large format?

I try to use a lens hood whenever possible on my digital camera.

Is the Lee system pretty much industry standard?

Does the Lee system work with all LF cameras? especially Chamonix?

[Archphoto]

Lee works with lenses and adapters for the front of those lenses, the place where you would put a filter.
I use this type of hood for both my MF's, one made for my Rollei SL66 and the other one for my Mamiya RB 67.

Peter

[jeroldharter]

One problem with Lee filters is that you need an adapter ring for each lenses and the rings are quite expensive. If you have just two lenses that is not so bad but I assume you will accumulate more with time. I like a compendium hood.

[lenser]

David,

While I have the Cokin system and will occasionally use one of their hoods, I actually find that I ignore the hoods as getting in the way of working with the shutter controls.

More often than not, I simply use the dark slide held off to the side and casting a shadow across the lens. This method works quite well, but when using a 90mm or shorter, be very aware that you have to hold the slide well out of the way of the field of view. But that's the same thing you worry about with a hood to begin with.

[Ed Pierce]

Always use a lens shade. The Lee system works well. They also make lens caps so you can leave the adapter ring on the lens. Yes the adapters are expensive, but if you're patient you can find them used.

Try this: set your camera up for a normal shot, and remove the back. Get under the dark cloth, and shade the lens with your hat. See how much stray light is bouncing around inside the bellows. Now try it with the lens shade...you'll see the difference.

[GPS]

I've helped Lee Filters to develop their lens shade. In my opinion it's the best lens shade on the market. But not the best possible. I make my lens shades typical to the lens and the film format in use, something that Lee cannot do for marketing reasons.
Using an effective lens shade is more important that using MC lenses.

[vinny]

One problem with Lee filters is that you need an adapter ring for each lenses and the rings are quite expensive. If you have just two lenses that is not so bad but I assume you will accumulate more with time. I like a compendium hood.

Why not use step up rings instead? They're cheap. I've got them on all my lenses so I can use 82mm filters which happens to be the diameter of my largest lens.
I know for wide angle lenses the added metal may get in the way but for everything else they'd work fine, right?

[Drew Wiley]

I have a quick system always attached to the camera, which holds a section of old
darkslide and instantly flips down. But for more serious circumstances I also pack
a bellows-style compendium with lens adapters. The best system I ever used was
Sinar's, where you attached a spare bellows with a simple frame and rod adapter.

[jeroldharter]

Why not use step up rings instead? They're cheap. I've got them on all my lenses so I can use 82mm filters which happens to be the diameter of my largest lens.
I know for wide angle lenses the added metal may get in the way but for everything else they'd work fine, right?

You still have to buy the adapter ring for each lens at $60 each. Looks like some are $30 which is about the same as using a UV filter, so maybe not so bad.

[rdenney]

One advantage to the Sinar is that you can use a spare standard bellows with a couple of plastic clips and a rod that slips into the front standard to create a very effective compendium shade. That's what I use. I also have the compendium shade for my Cambo, but it's a little more fiddly (though it also has a gel filter holder). These fit on the standard rather than the lens, and thus can be used with any lens. Maybe something like that could be adapted to the Chamonix.

I've seen some cheap compendium shades on ebay that could probably be adapted to just about anything with a little mechanical ingenuity.

The main advantage to compendium shades is their adjustability, both for focal length and camera movements. I arrange the shade after setting up the camera, making sure it doesn't vignette by using the corner openings in the ground glass. That makes it possible to shade very tightly, which is important for wide-field lenses that illuminate much of the inside the camera.

Rick "as meticulous about lens shading as possible even with small cameras" Denney

[Heroique]

I’ve also enjoyed Lee’s hood w/ their filter system. I especially enjoy its compendium design. As Rick suggests, one can shape the hood by moving any corner independently of the others. Very useful if your movements are unique, or the sun is shining from an odd angle.


You still have to buy the adapter ring for each lens at $60 each. Looks like some are $30 which is about the same as using a UV filter, so maybe not so bad.

There may be a little misunderstanding brewing above about the rings…

I make do with only two Lee adapter rings – 52mm and 77mm – though I have lenses with numerous thread sizes.

Much as Vinny describes, I simply step-up my smaller filter threads to Lee’s 52mm ring, and step-up filter threads larger than 52mm to Lee’s 77mm ring.

If money were no object, I’d get a Lee WA (aluminum) ring for each different filter thread. That’s because step-up rings – though cost-efficient – rob you of some degree of movements when used in combination with an adapter ring. That is, the step-up ring + adapter ring combination “pushes” the filter holder/hood more out in front of your lens.

BTW, Lee’s less-expensive plastic rings ($30 new) enjoy high quality, and may be worth the savings compared to their WA aluminum counterpart ($60 new). But, like the step-up ring + adapter ring combo, the plastic rings reduce movements compared to the WA version, because they don’t sit as far back.

[Struan Gray]

A Lee tip for Sinar users: the circular filter holder for the Sinar hex-rod system of compendiums, shades and filter holders has a 105 mm thread and is directly compatible with the 105 mm Lee adapter.

I used to carry around the extra bellows as a lens shade on my Sinar Norma, but in the field I quickly got tired of having extra bellows in the rucksack, and the system with just clips on the hex rod was a royal pain to adjust when using movements (with the auxiliary standard it's much better, but more to carry).

Now, I use the Lee hood attached to the 105 mm ring on an old polariser holder and a stub of hex rod an inch an a half long. I can pop the whole compendium on and off quickly when working out of a pack, and the polariser holder swings 180° out of the way when I want to fiddle with the shutter settings or change the lens. The same compendium works with all my lenses, and I don't have adapter rings blocking access to the controls and shutter speed indicator on the smaller shutters.

Similar arrangements could be rigged with the built-in compendium supports on other field cameras.

In MF I use the same compendium with a single Lee adapter, and combinations of step up rings and bayonet-to-thread adaptors.

[Eric Woodbury]

I think that lens hoods are a must and the image contrast can improve dramatically. That said, I have so many pictures of my hat and darkslides from all over the country. I've never found a lens hood that I could live with. They lack speed and convenience. Perhaps some compendium arrangement would work.

[GPS]

I think that lens hoods are a must and the image contrast can improve dramatically. That said, I have so many pictures of my hat and darkslides from all over the country. I've never found a lens hood that I could live with. They lack speed and convenience. Perhaps some compendium arrangement would work.

Depends on what you mean by convenience. I (usually) fasten lens shades on the outer front lens rim in about 5 seconds, the lens shades weigh like two or three rolls of 120 film or so. Nothing I would need to agonize over...