Lens hood on the MX500

Steven Khong · March 16th, 2003, 10:04 AM

Over in Malaysia, if you look hard enough, you will see some MX300's over in QS Citifoto shops in big malls, Jusco MidValley, KLCC i.e. Best Denki. Though I've last seen them there in January of this year, selling real cheap i.e. 20% discount of the reccommended price of RM 8200.

In Sungai Wang & QS Citifoto you can still get the MX350.

Though I wouldn't gaureentee that they'll still be there...

These guys may want to palm off their stocks of MX300 & MX350 before stocking up on MX500s.

Yow Cheong Hoe · March 16th, 2003, 11:03 AM

<<<-- Originally posted by Tom Weir : Every now and then a ghostly reflection of the lens fills my screen... never noticed it shooting but when I hooked up a monitor.

I realised that it is the UV filter reflecting the lens.

I thought that it might be due to the sequence on my MX300: Lens - Hood - UV filter. The gap might be exacerbating the possibility that this woudl occur. But there was no way to hook the Hood on once the UV filter was attached directly to the lens.

Any thoughts? -->>>

You are right that the flares are caused by the filter being too far away from the lens. I will suggest that you get a good filter (super multi coated, anti-reflection, non-flaring, whatever) and attach it nearest to the cam. Good coated filters can be up to 4 times the price of un-coated good filters.

Then get a third party rubber/plastic hood, if the hood is really so important. I have been shooting on my MX350 without my third party rubber hood except for tele onto far objects with the sun nearby. Also, blow your filter to clear off the dust often, try not to wipe too much as wiping will spoil the coating.

Steven Khong · March 17th, 2003, 07:47 PM

With regards to the ghostly image, it's reflections.

The same will happen if you stand in front of a window with sunlight streaming in: the window will contain a reflection of you, like a sort of mirror. The angle of the sun & angle of the window to you also plays a part. The reason for the reflection is that the light goes through the window, hits you, lighting you up bright enough so that the window picks up your reflection.

If the window is multicoated, then the reflection is still there, minimized because it is no longer white, but perhaps green or pink or orange depending on the multi coating properties- so that reflections are not so obvious.

Even with my Hoya Super HMC filters (allows 99.7% of light to pass through without reflections, the top of the line most expensive range of Hoya filters) at the most extreme angle (sun far off to the extreme sides) there will be some reflection - but it's not that bad compared to normal uncoated filters.

The cheapest solution is to somehow manuever yourself so that the light doesn't hit your cam lenses or filters, so less reflections. BUT that may ruin the angle of your shot though.

What the pros do, in addition to having a lens hood, is to put a little "flag" - an external piece of cardboard that blocks out the light source's rays from hitting your cam lenses & filters. They actually get some hands to hold the flag.

If you don't have the luxury of extra hands - you can make a piece of square cardboard attached to a wire attached to a "crocodile clip" which then clips on to your cam i.e. lens hood.

Or use your own hand to block the light. Your hand can be moved dynamically unlike the flag. Watch out that your hand doesn't peek into the picture!

These tricks can also help you avoid that vertical "spear of light" (a shaft of light coming from the very bright light bulb, that stretches from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen) that appears when you vidcam a bright bulb - as long as you don't have the bulb in the picture or somehow shade it you'll be ok.

Hope that helps!

Yow Cheong Hoe · March 17th, 2003, 10:03 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by Steven Khong :

These tricks can also help you avoid that vertical "spear of light" (a shaft of light coming from the very bright light bulb, that stretches from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen) that appears when you vidcam a bright bulb - as long as you don't have the bulb in the picture or somehow shade it you'll be ok.
-->>>

Good advice from Steven. The 'spear of light' is known as streaking, extremely common in camcorders and most noticed in Sony's Carl-Zeiss lens (one of the reasons why I am not inito Sony cams).

Lens hood is a must, but at wide angles, you really have not much choise but to position your shooting angle wisely.

I use my hood, plus my hand and sometimes I'll rip my Australian leather 'cowboy' hat off my head and use that as a shield.

Tom Weir · March 18th, 2003, 03:06 AM

Thanks both of you. I will check out a more expensive UV filter and a 3rd party hood...

hands to the ready...

Frank Granovski · March 18th, 2003, 03:55 AM

Tom,

I bought a very expensive Heliopan slim line UV filter for my MX300. I first was going to buy a Leica UV. It was even more expensive. BUT..., the darn thing wouldn't screw on! The Leica filter threads are at a different pitch! So I ended up with the Heliopan instead. One problem though.

The Heliopan smears like crazy. It seems like that the light bounces off the MX Leica lens and stops on the filter. Crazy. Anyways, I then bought an inexpensive Cokin UV, and now everything works fine. I'm sure the Hoya and Tiffen are good too.

Tom Weir · March 18th, 2003, 04:20 PM

Frank, the UV filter I got with the cam was a pretty cheap Hama at about 10 EU.

I will probably want to change the lens hood first for one that comes with a 43mm thread so i can try it with the UV filter closer to the lens. Maybe a lens hood with a bit more depth also.

Frank Granovski · March 18th, 2003, 05:34 PM

Yes, a good lens hood is a must. I find. I always have one screwed on my Nikon (on top of the filter). One thing that really sucks is that no where in town can I find a 37mm thread lens hood for my DVL9500s. One of these days I'll have to order one from that lens hood .com place (something like that). I've lost their link, though, and I have to use a computer other than my home computer since last time I was there, the coding locked up my computer. Does anyone recall that website which sells hoods? Thanks.

Yow Cheong Hoe · March 18th, 2003, 07:05 PM

Stepping up for hood is fine, you can get a 37 to 49mm step up then use a 49mm hood, which should be quite readily available.

Frank Granovski · March 19th, 2003, 12:49 AM

Here's that website I was trying to recall:

http://www.hoodmanusa.com

Yow Cheong Hoe · March 19th, 2003, 01:51 AM

Frank,

Hoodman USA is selling hoods for the LCD, I can't seem to find the lens hoods though. They do lens hoods too?

Actually, I have just gotten my wife to sew me a copy of what you have shown sticking on your MX300 (the one with the Photoshop blue background). Could have saved the trouble by just buying a Hoodman.

I am now rushing out a rain shelter for my cam to use outdoors. I am cutting up an old PVC handbag and throwing it over my cam with some velcro and elastic bands. Will keep you guys informed.

Frank Granovski · March 19th, 2003, 02:06 AM

I have to dig up the site for lens / viewfinder hoods. That's not the right link. Sorry. I'll keep digging.

Bryan Beasleigh · March 19th, 2003, 05:02 PM

http://www.cavision.com/LensHood/sunshade.htm

Yow Cheong Hoe · March 19th, 2003, 09:43 PM

Wow Bryan, pretty large hoods!

Thanks for the link.

BTW, I have completed my rain sheild for my cam.

I use two bands of cloth, about 15mm across, and sew velcros to them. These two bands wrap around the battery over the viewfinder at the back, and the focus ring and my adpator rings on the front.

A piece of heavier PVC is then thrown over, attached to bits of velcro on the bands to be held in place.

Coupled with a rubber hood, the set-up will work in a drizzle, and I may even risk a light rain on a non-windy day.

March 17th, 2003, 10:03 PM	#34
Yow Cheong Hoe Major Player Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Singapore, Passport: Malaysia Posts: 407	<<<-- Originally posted by Steven Khong : These tricks can also help you avoid that vertical "spear of light" (a shaft of light coming from the very bright light bulb, that stretches from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen) that appears when you vidcam a bright bulb - as long as you don't have the bulb in the picture or somehow shade it you'll be ok. -->>> Good advice from Steven. The 'spear of light' is known as streaking, extremely common in camcorders and most noticed in Sony's Carl-Zeiss lens (one of the reasons why I am not inito Sony cams). Lens hood is a must, but at wide angles, you really have not much choise but to position your shooting angle wisely. I use my hood, plus my hand and sometimes I'll rip my Australian leather 'cowboy' hat off my head and use that as a shield. __________________ Cam: Panasonic MX350EN, SOLD my MX8EN Mac: G3 400MHz PowerBook, 256 MB, OS 9 PC: Pentium 4 2800MHz, 512 MB, WindowsXP SW: iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, Ulead Video Studio, various little utilities

March 19th, 2003, 09:43 PM	#44
Yow Cheong Hoe Major Player Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Singapore, Passport: Malaysia Posts: 407	Wow Bryan, pretty large hoods! Thanks for the link. BTW, I have completed my rain sheild for my cam. I use two bands of cloth, about 15mm across, and sew velcros to them. These two bands wrap around the battery over the viewfinder at the back, and the focus ring and my adpator rings on the front. A piece of heavier PVC is then thrown over, attached to bits of velcro on the bands to be held in place. Coupled with a rubber hood, the set-up will work in a drizzle, and I may even risk a light rain on a non-windy day. __________________ Cam: Panasonic MX350EN, SOLD my MX8EN Mac: G3 400MHz PowerBook, 256 MB, OS 9 PC: Pentium 4 2800MHz, 512 MB, WindowsXP SW: iMovie, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, Ulead Video Studio, various little utilities

March 16th, 2003, 10:04 AM	#31
Steven Khong Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia Posts: 112	Over in Malaysia, if you look hard enough, you will see some MX300's over in QS Citifoto shops in big malls, Jusco MidValley, KLCC i.e. Best Denki. Though I've last seen them there in January of this year, selling real cheap i.e. 20% discount of the reccommended price of RM 8200. In Sungai Wang & QS Citifoto you can still get the MX350. Though I wouldn't gaureentee that they'll still be there... These guys may want to palm off their stocks of MX300 & MX350 before stocking up on MX500s.

March 16th, 2003, 11:03 AM	#32
Yow Cheong Hoe Major Player Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Singapore, Passport: Malaysia Posts: 407	<<<-- Originally posted by Tom Weir : Every now and then a ghostly reflection of the lens fills my screen... never noticed it shooting but when I hooked up a monitor. I realised that it is the UV filter reflecting the lens. I thought that it might be due to the sequence on my MX300: Lens - Hood - UV filter. The gap might be exacerbating the possibility that this woudl occur. But there was no way to hook the Hood on once the UV filter was attached directly to the lens. Any thoughts? -->>> You are right that the flares are caused by the filter being too far away from the lens. I will suggest that you get a good filter (super multi coated, anti-reflection, non-flaring, whatever) and attach it nearest to the cam. Good coated filters can be up to 4 times the price of un-coated good filters. Then get a third party rubber/plastic hood, if the hood is really so important. I have been shooting on my MX350 without my third party rubber hood except for tele onto far objects with the sun nearby. Also, blow your filter to clear off the dust often, try not to wipe too much as wiping will spoil the coating.

March 17th, 2003, 07:47 PM	#33
Steven Khong Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia Posts: 112	With regards to the ghostly image, it's reflections. The same will happen if you stand in front of a window with sunlight streaming in: the window will contain a reflection of you, like a sort of mirror. The angle of the sun & angle of the window to you also plays a part. The reason for the reflection is that the light goes through the window, hits you, lighting you up bright enough so that the window picks up your reflection. If the window is multicoated, then the reflection is still there, minimized because it is no longer white, but perhaps green or pink or orange depending on the multi coating properties- so that reflections are not so obvious. Even with my Hoya Super HMC filters (allows 99.7% of light to pass through without reflections, the top of the line most expensive range of Hoya filters) at the most extreme angle (sun far off to the extreme sides) there will be some reflection - but it's not that bad compared to normal uncoated filters. The cheapest solution is to somehow manuever yourself so that the light doesn't hit your cam lenses or filters, so less reflections. BUT that may ruin the angle of your shot though. What the pros do, in addition to having a lens hood, is to put a little "flag" - an external piece of cardboard that blocks out the light source's rays from hitting your cam lenses & filters. They actually get some hands to hold the flag. If you don't have the luxury of extra hands - you can make a piece of square cardboard attached to a wire attached to a "crocodile clip" which then clips on to your cam i.e. lens hood. Or use your own hand to block the light. Your hand can be moved dynamically unlike the flag. Watch out that your hand doesn't peek into the picture! These tricks can also help you avoid that vertical "spear of light" (a shaft of light coming from the very bright light bulb, that stretches from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen) that appears when you vidcam a bright bulb - as long as you don't have the bulb in the picture or somehow shade it you'll be ok. Hope that helps!

March 18th, 2003, 03:06 AM	#35
Tom Weir New Boot Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Dromahaire, Leitrim, Ireland Posts: 15	Thanks both of you. I will check out a more expensive UV filter and a 3rd party hood... hands to the ready...

March 18th, 2003, 03:55 AM	#36
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	Tom, I bought a very expensive Heliopan slim line UV filter for my MX300. I first was going to buy a Leica UV. It was even more expensive. BUT..., the darn thing wouldn't screw on! The Leica filter threads are at a different pitch! So I ended up with the Heliopan instead. One problem though. The Heliopan smears like crazy. It seems like that the light bounces off the MX Leica lens and stops on the filter. Crazy. Anyways, I then bought an inexpensive Cokin UV, and now everything works fine. I'm sure the Hoya and Tiffen are good too.

March 18th, 2003, 04:20 PM	#37
Tom Weir New Boot Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Dromahaire, Leitrim, Ireland Posts: 15	Frank, the UV filter I got with the cam was a pretty cheap Hama at about 10 EU. I will probably want to change the lens hood first for one that comes with a 43mm thread so i can try it with the UV filter closer to the lens. Maybe a lens hood with a bit more depth also.

March 18th, 2003, 05:34 PM	#38
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	Yes, a good lens hood is a must. I find. I always have one screwed on my Nikon (on top of the filter). One thing that really sucks is that no where in town can I find a 37mm thread lens hood for my DVL9500s. One of these days I'll have to order one from that lens hood .com place (something like that). I've lost their link, though, and I have to use a computer other than my home computer since last time I was there, the coding locked up my computer. Does anyone recall that website which sells hoods? Thanks.

March 18th, 2003, 07:05 PM	#39
Yow Cheong Hoe Major Player Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Singapore, Passport: Malaysia Posts: 407	Stepping up for hood is fine, you can get a 37 to 49mm step up then use a 49mm hood, which should be quite readily available.

March 19th, 2003, 12:49 AM	#40
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	Here's that website I was trying to recall: http://www.hoodmanusa.com

March 19th, 2003, 01:51 AM	#41
Yow Cheong Hoe Major Player Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Singapore, Passport: Malaysia Posts: 407	Frank, Hoodman USA is selling hoods for the LCD, I can't seem to find the lens hoods though. They do lens hoods too? Actually, I have just gotten my wife to sew me a copy of what you have shown sticking on your MX300 (the one with the Photoshop blue background). Could have saved the trouble by just buying a Hoodman. I am now rushing out a rain shelter for my cam to use outdoors. I am cutting up an old PVC handbag and throwing it over my cam with some velcro and elastic bands. Will keep you guys informed.

March 19th, 2003, 02:06 AM	#42
Frank Granovski Outer Circle Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hope, BC Posts: 7,524	I have to dig up the site for lens / viewfinder hoods. That's not the right link. Sorry. I'll keep digging.

March 19th, 2003, 05:02 PM	#43
Bryan Beasleigh Trustee Join Date: May 2002 Location: Barrie, Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,922	http://www.cavision.com/LensHood/sunshade.htm