The FZ200 hood - A caution

The hood for the FZ200 mounts to the lens with a firm click.  It takes a fair amount of force to mount or dismount it.

So, be very careful to mount of dismount the hood with the camera turned OFF and the lens fully retracted.  Mounting or dismounting the hood with the camera ON seems to upset the AF and images are noticeably less sharp or out of focus.

Turning the camera OFF and back ON again seems to reset the lens to full sharpness if you do forget and mount the hood with the camera ON.

I think this may explain some of the unsharp images I (and others) have had from time to time.

I am going to look into modifying the hood to reduce the amount of force needed, and if I am successful I will report back here in a new thread.

--
Jerry