Why I stopped using Lens Hoods...
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ค. 2021
- This video was sponsored by Adobe Stock. If you've got hard drives full of great images, let Adobe Stock help you make some money from them: bit.ly/Popsys-AdobeStock-signu...
This week I talk about why I rarely use lens hoods for my photography anymore, while taking pictures at blue hour here in Snowdonia, Wales. A also talk a bit again about why I don't like long exposures...
Check out the presets I used to edit this video: www.jamespopsys.com/store?cat...
The Latest Book: www.jamespopsys.com/store/201...
Prints: www.jamespopsys.com/store
Newsletter sign up: www.jamespopsys.com/newsletter
---
My Gear: www.jamespopsys.com/gear
---
MUSIC:
I get all my music for the videos from MusicBed, sign up for your free account: share.mscbd.fm/jamespopsys
---
Yes, I'm a big fan of imperfect photos. That's why I like all my photos - they're all imperfect.
My lens hood on my Fuji 16-55 f/2.8 saved my lens on the Pacific coast in 2017 when I lost my footing by Thor's Well and ended up on the ground. I ended in the hospital with a large, deep gash to my knee, but the lens hood took the impact and saved my lens and camera. The gouge on the hood remains as a reminder. But...I GOT THE SHOT.
Got the shot in camera & in hospital 🙋♂️
Lens hood are good like that, a friend in Ukraine got shot by Russian 125mm tank gun and the lens hood on his camera saved his life, apparently the lens hood deflected the incoming sabot round and it flew right back into the Russian tank and destroyed it.
Now I had to ask what was he smoking when he told me this, but then he reminded me that if I did not believe this I would have visit from Azov police, so I tend to believe in these things, now I wear a lens hood on my head.
The only time I ever scratched the front element of a lens was the only time I didn't use a lens hood... Yes... I'm THAT unlucky! xD
"The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw."
Havelock Ellis
Next: why i stopped using lenses. XD
haha!
Next after : why I stopped 😂
Next after: Why I?
@@user-bl4oq7fd8d ah yes the ultimate question... Plato would be proud. 👏🏾
I think James trying to use the Olympus body cap lenses would be interesting to watch. Might be a lot of profanity to filter though... :P
Thanks James. This is now my favorite channel on the tube. Good luck to you and Emily on the upcoming event 🍼
I've got to say I love lens flares- not all the time, but occasionally. I often use my vintage Praktica tele zoom or my Helios 44/2 to capture flare intentionally. It doesn't always work, but sometimes it's beautiful.
Without a hood you can get some ambient light dancing across the front element that gives your shots a washed out look, especially on bright days. I think 99% of shots taken without a hood would look better with the hood on, but to each their own. Occasionally a bit of flare is a nice element to have in a shot though.
I appreciate what you have shared about imperfect photos. I often prefer my images that have an element of realism to them that I don’t want to edit out and when other photographers see them I get all these suggestions on how to avoid that thing that I loved. Think this speaks to style, and being clear about what you want to say as a photographer and honouring it regardless if it fits the norm or not.
Great videos, your style when teaching about these topics is very real. Also you have spectacular shots and videos from these locations. In person workshops where you take people along with you would be epic. Thanks for the content!
What a brilliant looking place James. So many choices for photos.
Looking forward to seeing more from here later on.
Stay safe 😷🇦🇺
Loved this one James, good work!
Absolutely hooked on this channel, cheers for the advice and entertainment James keep it up :)
I love this channel. Just feels like hanging out with a buddy.
What a lovely morning indeed. Nice watch with a cuppa James, great shots 👌👍
You are never ready for that first baby but you'll be surprised how quickly you adapt 🙂 Thanks for another enjoyable video.
Yeah, it only takes around 18 yrs to adapt.
Difference in long exposure and imperfections to me is stark. Although we can argue that both reminds you that you are looking at a photo, the long exposure is unrealistic, whereas the imperfect reflection in your example, takes me right into the photo, making me wonder what giant ghost farted in that particular corner of the lake.
Jokes aside, what an incredibly beautiful location and fantastic photos. Love your channel and your advice and opinions are well appreciated.
Another brilliant video. Good to see you're an Alan Partridge fan too!
I love the final drone shot of the tree 🙂 Awesome composition.
Great video as usual James! Side note, that perfect reflection looks exactly like a close-up of a cucumber. I had to pause because I was so confused at what I was seeing at first. Feels very like the classic duck/rabbit drawing.
For some reason, this Saturday gem didn't show up for me yesterday. So glad I found it. Love the drone shot. -Elaine
Another great video James. Keep it up dude! Hopefully have a location booked for a shoot in North Wales coming up and a new vlog on its way. Thanks for sharing.
Good video James. Agree with you about long exposure photos of waterfalls etc, and don't mind a few flares. Some nice photos in this trip 👍
Thank you for the discussion. I'm sure many people have great reasons for using lens hoods, but to me they just make me feel uneasy. I've been shooting mainly on smaller cameras (e.g. Sony RX1 and A7C), and I like the idea of keeping my setup as compact and unintrusive as possible. I've tried using lens hoods many times after hearing so many photographers bash on those who don't, but every time I put one on I just feel less motivated to bring up my camera and actually shoot. Maybe I'm just weird but I prefer wanting to shoot photos to not wanting to shoot :P
Slap a vintage lens like a Helios on there for around £40. Bigger flares than Madchester in the 90s.
Clearly, like me, you are from Manchester 🐝
@@markstorer7204 I was born in Manchester but my family moved away from the industrial heart beat of the North to the exclusive stockbroker area that is Stockport 🤣🤣
My copy of Helios is wonderful and almost tack sharp! Wonderful bokeh, too. Fast. Full metal but light.
Actually would recommend!
My first SLR was a Zenit-E. Great camera to learn on. Pretty good glass too, for the £25 I paid!
Totally agree, bought a few vintage lenses during lockdown and loving the imperfections.
Just found your channel a couple weeks or so ago and im loving it. To the point where I decided to buy a lumix gx9 to try out m43 alongside my 35mm FM3a
Really good points, I never considered the wind issue
Lovely landscape
I’m positive the government of Wales pays James to make this video’s. Because this makes me consider of taking a month of an travel all around Wales
I sometimes used lens hoods depending on weather and risk of dropping, but I us Kase magnetic filters now with step up rings and that precludes hoods without some hassle. I agree James, I find the more and more i see long exposure photos, the less and less I find them interesting. There are a few that lean towards abstract and those can be worthwhile, but the effect is overused these days it appears.
FWIW, I make a point of sticking my lens caps in the same spot every time. Lens cap off; cap into my back right pocket. At this point, its muscle memory. Haven't lost a cap or cracked a lens in years. Luckily, on the Panasonic lenses I have, all the hoods fit backwards so they are always with me. The deep hood on my tele does a nice job of keeping drizzle off the lens when flare is not an issue, nice bonus. I loved the low drone shot, great example of switching perspective making a big diffference. Just wish drones were less hassle or I'd have kept mine! Good luck with the new Popsys!
James, I watched YV movie one time and a perfect example of lens flair appeared. The sun lit up the shutter shown as a flutter. They must have not thought anyone would notice but I did and I just shook my head.
I totally agree with regards to long exposure shots. I submitted 8 photos for a national competition last week and realized that even though the shots I chose where showing something different to what is normally shown of that area, the photos that won were all long exposure shots or photo shopped images.... which are showing someone's creativity and possibly that's why they win. I'm not that creative and really do prefer natural looking shots, maybe taking it from different angles instead
Another great video, thanks James. Can you do a video on the selection process for online stores like Adobe Stock and Shutterstock, as what is selected as in focus, no noise etc. always seems to change.
I always leave them at home because they won't let me use my (bigger round) filters. Ugly flares aren't a thing with the new Nikon Z lenses ...
I like your artistic sense and camera advice. I have a background in physics and amateur astronomy and might be able to help people make decisions about flare, like whether or not to use lens hoods. The lens front element admits light from many angles. In a perfect world, the light rays that should end up on the camera sensor all do so. In the same perfect world, all of the many light rays that should not reach the sensor get absorbed by baffles or black surfaces. Light that SHOULDN'T reach the sensor but DOES anyway is called flare. In the real world, even very expensive lenses have flare. Long story, but lens surfaces reflect and the blackest baffles aren't totally black.
All of the flare light is at least partially unfocused. If there is a lot of flare from the sun or other bright point light, some of that flare might even show up as an actual image. That is what most people think of as flare. However, most of the flare is much less focused. It is a fog that turns blacks muddy and robs texture and color contrast. If you are going for the effect of a light haze or morning fog, flare can be your friend. However, if it sucks all the life out of your shadows then you will use the best lenses you can and almost always use a lens hood.
This is a matter of artistic and personal choice. I mostly wanted to emphasize that the flare that bothers most photographers is the part you don't see.
That makes sense. I just used my lenses with lens hoods if they came with one and thought that they looked less foggy because the lenses had better quality but that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for your input, I learned something!
I've been taking photographs since I was 13. That's 56 years ago. I worked/managed a couple of camera stores for over 25 years, was a professional photographer for a couple of decades and a journalist writing about camera gear for 4 years. During all that time I've always used a lens hood, and if I could find one, a proper rubber lens hood. Rubber is better than plastic or metal shades to protect the camera during a fall, is foldable to avoid having to take off and put on all the time. AND, I can put the camera right on the glass of a window and shoot through it not having to worry about reflections on the glass.
When I was shooting medium or large format film I used a bellows shade that accepted drop-in Lee filters and effects masks.
There is indeed a big push toward "imperfect photography"! Seems that not a lot of people picked up on that, but seems crucial to my ears!
Ok James, just got a Lumix G95. Love it so far.....need to travel!
your go pro footage (4.07) looks so good. Graded in post or is that in camera? Keep up the good work!
Can’t wait for my trip to Wales next Month 🙌
Interesting thoughts on embracing the lens flare. I hear that, but have been a bit disappointed at a (admittedly very occasional) severe loss of contrast in the past. I usually don't use a hood if a) the prime I'm using didn't come with one, or b) the hood makes the camera too big for the tiny handlebar-mounted bag that I stuff my camera into. I've just realised that I always use the hood on my favourite prime simply because without the hood it looks a bit crap.
Happily modern lens coatings are amazing, and they deal with most of the loss of contrast/internal reflections for us.
Loved the video and the way most of your videos are made.
Just curious about how hand straps affect the photography since dropping a heavy camera might be an issue and unless you fall the arm strap should be secure enough. Only possible negative that I can think of is a tired arm I guess. I can't think of any other for hobby photography or people who just like to take photos on trips and such instead of professionally doing it since the number of photos and hours that the camera will be in hand are way less.
I'm with you on the long exposures: when they're long enough that it's obviously a long exposure, I tend to be pulled out of what's _in_ the image and instead just notice the _technique_ that was used.
That's the photographer talking. Most people that will watch the image don't know a thing about long exposure. I mean look at the works of Michael Kenna, Rachel Talibart or Jay Vulture. and the like. This is not about the technique. It's just art.
@@DerSystematiker I hear you, and possibly agree to some extent, but even before I got into photography, when I saw the more extreme examples of long exposures (milky-flat oceans, pinwheels of star trails, waterfalls that look like columns of smoke, etc.) it was the same for me, at least: "Ooh, look what the photographer did," versus "Ah, that's beautiful". But obviously a lot of people dig those things, and that's art for you. (Some people love Picasso, some don't.) :shrug:
I can see that with things like water but I love urban long exposures so much, its such a great aesthetic imo
James, you're never ready. But, that's what makes life such an adventure... marriage, raising kids, taking photos... it's all and adventure. No rule books. I think your going to make a fantastic Dad. The babies change your life, but I have to say it's in so many good ways. Here's to adventure! Thanks for continuing to share your process! What a pleasure it's been to watch you grow your channel and your skills all the while, helping people like myself grow our own skills! Cheers!
Beautiful location and images. Also, thanks for the tip. I always use lens hoods and it never occurred to me that they would catch the wind and act as a sail. Silly me! I will remember that.
Hi James! I'm with you when you say an imperfection ads some realism. But more important to me is keeping interest. When I see the next perfect photo and the next and the next..., it can become a bit boring. I like to be surprised; a perfect photo will not be remembered (there are exceptions of course), but a little imperfection keeps me looking a little bit longer. Changes are that I'm gonna remember the imperfect photo. Plus; life's so much more interesting and fun if you embrace the imperfections! 😉
Thanks for all the great uploads! Bianca
Hi James - another fun video. Next time I get back to the UK (2024 at this rate!) I'll spend some time with my elderly parents in Ruthin - so I'd love to know which lake that is as it can't be far away? Cheers! Also maybe a mini-tripod like the Leotripod MT-02+MTB-19 might be useful when in areas with rocks?
Here's an idea for a video: how to shoot images with a drone. Kit, setup, approach, etc. All the stuff you've done with your dslr. Just a thought (and a plea for help!)
Lens hoods are useful to keep your lens clean when its raining or snowing, mine came handy today and i took some great snowing shots.
Beautiful...
That place is amazing. I need to get back to Wales
Totally agree about long exposures of waterfalls, etc.; I much prefer some movement in the water. Great shots in this video; stills and drone. Yup, as a one-handed southpaw, I keep a lens hood on, unless it's absolutely necessary to take it off. I don't need any extra drama should I fall or drop my camera. Great channel James. Thanks for sharing.
Great pictures and such a beautiful location! I must say that I always use a lens hood, I am so afraid that I smash the lens against something if I don't use one..
Thanks for another informative video James. The son I never had. Daughter and a dog and three grandsons. Eager to hear news of the arrival of your offspring. Storks know where Way-ohz be.
You can use a filter holder ring for protecting the edge of the lens.
James, speaking of bright hoodies attracting Midges, I used to have a very bright neon green and black t-shirt when I was in high school. It attracted yellow jackets. They never stung me, but I also wore the shirt maybe twice, haha. I wasn't going to push my luck!
I love the pands at 02:34:) great job.
Given a choice between (a) a lens hood and (b) leaving my Kase magnetic ring on the front, (b) almost always wins. Thanks, always, James!
Me too Mark :)
Another peach of a video!!!!!
I stopped using a lens hood when one got stuck backwards on my 28-75, and finally after about a year of it being stuck there I had to take a scalpel and mini hacksaw to it to cut it off
Yeah for lens hoods as a protection against shocks. It has saved one of my lenses. I had to replace the hood but that was so much cheaper! And I could keep on using the lens immediately after the accident.
Just an anecdote, I don't use Lens Hoods because I constantly keep my filter holder adapter an CPL on the lenses (I'm lazy...). Some weeks ago I bought brand new expensive square filter holder. Unpacked it mounted it and my camera fell on the floor... camera fine, lens fine, filter holder and adapter ring destroyed. At least with the expensive stuff you can reorder broken parts separately. Thanks for the video, have a great weekend.
I’m terrible for leaving my lens hoods at home. I just can’t be bothered with them it’s one more thing to carry! The only time I miss a lens hood is if it starts to rain lightly. That’s very annoying.
(Also I have dinted the front element of about 70% of my lenses to the point that they can no longer accept screw filters. So yes. People should probably use lens hoods 🤣)
I wish you could buy lens hoods that didn't have a bottom half! I always find rain splashes from the bottom onto the front element... :)
@@JamesPopsysPhoto you mean like a baseball cap for the lens?
@@JamesPopsysPhoto You'd have to rotate it every time you want to make vertical photo's though. How can @Micro Four Nerds say it's one more thing to carry? Just flip it and mount it to the lens to save space. And they all weigh a few grams.
@@jeroenvdw I store all mine with the lens in revers
@@JamesPopsysPhoto you haven't heard of a hacksaw then LOL
Great video as ever.
Not sure about stone wash jeans at end
I rarely use hoods but do own a few "just in case". I do know with my early 50s / 60s Leica lenses contrast seems improved with a hood but those lenses had simple, single coatings and usually a touch of haze now days
It’s funny you should talk about imperfect photos in this video. I was struggling creatively recently, still am to be honest, and one thing I remembered was that when I started down my photography path, I use to love creating images for no reason than doing it. They may have not been the so called “perfect” photo, but they meant something to me and I loved them for the most part. When I view images from other photographers, very famous photographers, their images for the most part don’t fall in the “perfect” phot category. They are, however, something that triggers an emotion or interest and you really don’t care about the technical aspects so much because of the connection you make with it… now I am sounding like you with my rambling ☺️… what are your thoughts on this? I would be interested in a more depth discussion on this maybe in one of your upcoming videos, after the baby comes. Cheers, Rob.
How are you finding all those fantastic photogenic places like that lake? Omg, beautiful location, what's the name of it please? I'll have to put that on my list 😊 lovely pics as usual.
The reason I stopped was VNDs. Most of my lens hoods just don't work when I am using VNDs. Have to remember to cap my lenses now, since I have lost a couple of filters because of that
How did you get smooth walking shots? Does your camera have IBIS, or do you use a gimbal. I can’t get walking shots to look nice like that.
Totally agree with imperfect photos and avoiding long exposures - never saw a waterfall that looked all "creamy ". Great photo of the tree. Best wishes to Emily and you for the "new one'.
Couldn't agree with you more! I detest those 'silky' waterfall images that bear little semblance of reality.
I like a little bit of blur, just enough to show movement. Completely freezing motion can look water look more strange TBH
@@cccycling5835 This. ~1/4 second to give a river or water fall a little motion looks great imo. The frozen water image is as "unrealistic" as the super smooth long exposure one.
Hey james ive been watching your channel religiously lately haha, tryna get some tips for my upcoming trip.
Hi James.love your videos.
Did you use aeb in photo mode on your drone.my mini 2 has it and its awesome.this is a recent photo above a church
Couldn't ad my photo sorry.gutted.
I was at the same spot Saturday eve. But it was p...ng down! :)
Only time I don't use a lens hood is if I have a step-up ring on the lens for filters. As far as I'm concerned it's good to protect the lens, cuts down flares which personally I sometimes don't mind but don't want often (if you see one then you will know it's a photo exactly like you would with a long exposure surely?) and it also helps keeps light rain off the front of the lens. I'd rather shoot at a slightly higher ISO and have a faster shutter speed than inevitably drop my camera if I wasn't using a hood. Each to their own though.
I have Hoya NXT Plus UV filters on all of my lenses at all times as I'm paranoid of scratching or damaging the front element of all my lenses. Recently got the Sigma 24-70 ART for my Sony A7iii and the 82mm filters can be a bit pricy but well worth the peace of mind. I mainly shoot portraits and I was doing a Golf session and had a golfer shoot out of a sand bunker. The sand kicked up WAY further and faster than I had anticipated and at the time, was shooting on a Nikon D610 with a 24-70 Tamron G2 and the sand scratched the front element.
The Sigma 24-70 ART for Sony allows you to get so damn close to your subjects you can basically shoot macro. For that reason, I'm keeping my lens hood on that particular lens at all times unless I'm shooting video on my DJI Ronin RSC2 gimbal.
My 70-300 Sigma has a lens hood, but the kit lens doesn't. But it has occurred to me that a couple of super cheap filters, minus their filters, could double as a lens hood, just to protect the lens. You know, just the plastic threaded bit screwed on?
Non lens hood user here.... finally someone talks about shooting naked
Quite ironic, i get a youtube advert for Gitzo tripods at the beginning of a James Popsys vlog.
how the heck did you take that first photo??? Care to share your settings? thakns.
Some use a lens hood because they fear dropping their camera so the lens hood would add some protection. I don't have a lens hood (though maybe I should due to our very bright sunlight), but I don't worry about dropping my camera because I use a camera strap and either have it around my neck, hanging off my shoulder, or I wrap the strap around one of my wrists as I take a picture/video. The more preventive measures, the better, I figure!
I completely agree with the point you made about 'imperfect photos'. I personally can't stand to see a photo that looks absolutely perfect. To me it looks over processed and almost as if several photos have been stitched together 'in post' to make it look 'perfect'. I actually broke one of my lens hoods by trying to fit myself (on my mobility scooter) through one of those utterly stupid (in my opinion) 'A' gates that you so often find on pathways.
Hi James, have you tried the new af updates to the g9?
i noticed in a later reflection shot (7:52) the edit had more of the lower portion in frame so it felt like you were trying to show distance (ie that it wasnt perfectly equal top to bottom). that seems like a credible way to show that its a real life photo. is that right or am i way off?
One big thing I think you failed to mention was the fact the NOT using a lens hood can reduce contrast when the light is coming from the side of the lens.
**This!!** Times a thousand!!
I've taken away from. Shooting flat to shooting natural color in the camera settings when I want to show what I see, and shoot flat when I want to put on lightroom and have fun. Personally I like imperfections in photos, and can find certain things to add a certain signature to your photo
I shoot handheld, or from a monopod, or ground pod, rarely from a tripod because I mostly shoot very active wildlife, even birds and of course with a tele with IS with lens hood to protect the lens because the only filter I'd ever use for wildlife would be a CPL for birds on ponds, or sometimes in the mountain high country. That said when I shoot landscapes, or panos with a 35mm, I shoot from a tripod with leveling base and ARCA ball head , wired remote, CPL, or GND, mirror lock up when lighting allows, and I'll have the lens hood in place unless I desire the lens flare for artistic purposes. The lens hood shake by wind is minimal, especially with a good tripod with a weighty ball head like the RRS BH-55 Pano, and it pales in comparison to handshake even if you're steady, also if you compare pictures taken with, and without lens hood you will notice that your colors and blacks are less washed out in those taken with the hood. Unless you are heavily into retro, and grunge I don't see any benefit in omitting the lens hood and with it protection for my expensive glass, and giving up on everything I've learned in over five decades in my pursuit of better photographs.
I for one do _not_ hate a perfect photo. If I could just get the “perfect camera” to wales 😂❤️ this vid. Makes perfect sense
My main reason to not use lens hoods is to save space in the camera bag. Lens hoods often take a lot of additional space.
I also don't need lens hoods for its main purpose flare, because I can create an umbrella with my second hand if needed.
So the main reason for me to take a lens hood is the protection purpose ... to not rest the whole camera on the front element in the camera bag.
Makes sense to me, so does that say something about my thinking process?
Any tips on shutter speeds when shooting handheld? I've heard a lot that you should shoot 1/FL or something like that when shooting un-stabilized, but what's a good guideline for you?
Mostly just don't go below 1/60 and when using long lens try not to go below focal lenght with your time, like 200mm - 1/200, 350mm - 1/320
Many will disagree but I use b+w 007 filter to protect the front element since I never like to use the lens hood.
Adding realism back to photography is a great idea as if you want perfect you should make a CGI scene instead. That said I like the window into whatever I'm doing like recording rockets or unboxing a thing... So I'll stick with a lens hood that and I would really hate to lose a lens from a drop.
I alway leave my lens hood on more for protection since the camera is usually on my PD clip and there's always a slip or two hiking
yeah I typed this before even watching the video and have just hit the bit where you say it :D
One thought I had about not having a lens hood and being scared of smashing your front element. As much as it pains me to to say why not add a clear or UV filter to the lens so that gets smashed instead
I can take or leave lens flare, to be honest. Except - and this really grinds my gears - when some space science documentary gets some new grad to put together an image of a nebula, or a moon of Neptune, or an asteroid. You know that there's no way they put a camera up there complete with several hunks of glass in front of a non-existent sensor, so why do they add flare? If the image was composited at a desk in Milton Keynes, or Cambridge MA, or Aberystwyth - why put a faux flare on it? It just spoils it, and, into the bargain, gets my motor running! Prime culprit is the floppy haired prof, Brian Cox in his BBC series "The Planets", which was otherwise excellent.
There. I feel better now...
Excellent vid again, James - thanks. And no-one is ready...
Even the UK is looking dry this year!
Hmm, didn't you have a video a while back on not liking those kind of sites, like Unsplash, or am I missing something and Adobe Stock's different?
Awesome location, can't blame you for sitting there a while! Cheers James,
He did speak a while ago about how Unsplash was bad news because it doesn't pay any royalties at all to photographers. Adobe Stock does pay out though.
Great video. Always look forward to each one. Get some sleep before baby comes!
I am not ready. Nobody ever is!
Fantastic scenery, can I ask which location/lake?
Llynnau Mymbyr :)
@@JamesPopsysPhoto many thanks 👍. I’m definitely a hood on person, but I can see what you mean about the wind catching it.
Absolutely on imperfection, not least in landscape photography. Never considered lens hoods as windbreak.