What is a camera hood and when to use it?

Hood is a device installed at the front of photographic lens, digital camera and video camera to block harmful light, and it is also one of the most commonly used photographic accessories. The hood is made of metal, hard plastic, soft rubber and other materials. Most 135 lenses come standard with a hood, and some lenses need to be purchased separately. Different lenses use different models of hoods and cannot be used interchangeably. Hood is an indispensable accessory for visible light lens!

When shooting outdoors, you should try to use a hood, which is very beneficial to improve the shooting quality. A group of experiments were carried out under the same test conditions (side backlight, foreground). Shoot two groups with and without hoods. Among them, the picture quality of a group of pictures with a hood is much better than that of a group of pictures without a hood! The halo in the upper right corner of a group of pictures using a hood disappears, and the color saturation and clarity of the pictures are obviously improved.

The function of the hood is to prevent stray light from entering the lens, thus eliminating fog and improving the clarity and color reproduction of imaging. Its main uses are as follows:

1, when shooting with backlight, side light or flash, it can prevent non-imaging light from entering and avoid fogging;

2. When shooting in front light and side light, it can prevent the surrounding scattered light from entering the lens;

lens hood

3. In lighting photography or night photography, it can avoid the surrounding interference light from entering the lens;

4. The hood can also prevent accidental damage to the lens, prevent fingers from touching the lens surface by mistake, and shield the lens from wind, sand, rain and snow to some extent.

Backlight photography widely uses a hood, which can generally avoid glare. However, if the light source is close, glare may still appear. At this time, you can block the hood by hand at the side where the light source is located, and whether to eliminate glare can directly observe the effect in the viewfinder. In addition to the optical quality of the lens itself, the role of the hood is also very obvious. The picture without hood is not ideal in color, sharpness and contrast, but the picture with hood has good performance in these aspects. The hood is small and the effect is different.

Using a hood is not only a means to improve the image quality, but also a good professional habit, and it is also a manifestation of a rigorous photographer's professionalism!