My opinion is that Olympus took (notice my use of the PAST TENSE) hoods
pretty seriously. Actually, there aren't many multi-focal-length hoods in
the OM line, I can think of three (but here are probably more: 40/85/100,
90/135 macros, and 21/35 Shift). I do agree with the seemingly haphazard
attachment methodology though. I wish they'd all been bayonet and
rectangular, which is technically the best and most efficient format.
My Leica hoods are all bayonet, and that makes them MUCH easier to put on
and ensure that they don't fall off than any of the OM hoods. And all the
Leica wide angle hoods are rectangular bayonet ones, just as they "should" be.
BTW, Don't think Leica is perfect. The same metal, vented hood is
specified and supplied for the 50/2, 90/2.8, and 135/2.8 lenses. So at
least one other high-end manufacturer besides Olympus thought that they
could keep the hood proliferation down in this manner.
Also, IMO, you should ALWAYS shoot with a hood if you want the best, most
contrasty, most saturated pictures. And if the hood doesn't shade the lens
good enough, use your hand/hat or one of those gooseneck things with the
paddle on the end of it (don't remember the name). They look wacky, but I
bet they work good with some practice.
Skip
At 02:58 PM 6/7/01 -0700, you wrote:
I don't really think Olympus takes hoods seriously, except for the one on
the 35-70/3.6 which adjusts the angle depending on the focal length. If
the hood is perfect on the 40/2, that is, it blocks all light from outside
the the diagonal angle(56 degees) of that lens then it allows the 24
degree 100mm to be flooded with light outside its field of view. The other
thing that is half-a--ed in my opinion is the variability of attachment
including screw in(the wide angles), clamp on(50/1.4), slide out(135/2.8)
and bayonet(35-80/2.8). My 1964 Leica M3 had bayonet hoods that attached
quickly and easily, the same way for all the lenses, and each one seemed
to be carefully designed for the focal length and not to block the
rangefinder windows. Maybe Mr. Maitani, realizing that effectively shading
the lens with a hood is a crapshoot anyway, decided that it was better to
shoot without one and pay attention to the light falling on the lens with
every shot than to spend a lot of effort on something that even with the
best design would not be effective in every instance anyway. I know I paid
more attention when I shot without a hood than I do now. So you get
afterthought hoods for those, like me, who insist on them.
Winsor
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