I have a hood and it's engraved with several lens models from 35 to 50 of varying aperatures. If the hood blocks stray light from a 50, how effective would it be on a 35? I suspect not much, but better than nothing. I use a Hassy 50 (E67) on my SWC w/no problem.

I read on this forum that some use the same hood for 35 through 135 if the front mount is same E39. I guess these people use the hood more for protection than light blocking (true?).

-- chris chen (chrischen@msn.com), March 19, 2002

Answers

Generally you can use a hood from the widest focal length up, although you get less than optimal shade. If you use a lens system with the same hood size mounts you can do this. Such as using the hood for the Nikon 24/2.8 on the 35/2.8 and on the 50/1.4. The Ficus hood for the LTM goes from 50 to 135.

-- Bob Haight (rhaigh5748@aol.com), March 19, 2002.

Those multi-purpose hoods are made to not vignette on the widest lens, so their effectiveness decreases with longer lenses. There isn't such a huge difference in coverage between a 35 and 50, but stretching those hoods to the 90/135 is, as you say, probably more protective than preemptive of flare. The pull-out hoods on the newer lenses are much more convenient, though not without their detractors.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), March 19, 2002.

a really effective lenshood for the longer lenses would block the viewfinder on an M camera. See the bellows hoods (or compendiums) for view cameras, or the "matte boxes" on motion picture cameras. We just have to live with it.

-- Mark Sampson (MSampson45@aol.com), March 19, 2002.

------- "If the hood blocks stray light from a 50, how effective would it be on a 35?" -------

i believe it will be more effective, since it is deeper. When i was using a EF35/2, the recommended hood was EW65. i'm quite sure ES65 fits just as well, but it was meant for the discontinued EF50/1.8mk1 so the hood became rare. i asked for a ET65 which was meant for EF85/1.8 and when i checked the edges through a 1n, i saw no vignetting at all. It looks Impressive when this mis-match are on camera but funny by themselves because the hood is longer than the physical length of the lens. BTW ET65 is shared also by 100/2 and 135/2.8SF.

Now having a 35LuxASPH, i leave the plastic hood and its hood cap at home and attach a generic 46mm rubber collapsible hood which is much deeper to offer better shielding. At f2.8 the darkening of corners sharpens to tell of an inappropriate hood in use. At f1.4 it is soft to the effect that is Noct-like. Moreover the rubber hood is so much more affordable to replace than Leica's original hood/cap.

-- y.shawee (shawee@pacific.net.sg), March 19, 2002.

I just bought the hood you mentioned. It seems that no lens cap can fit. Could somebody please advise.

-- WP Cheng (cwpcsl@netvigator.com), March 20, 2002.