The no lens hood epidemic

Think again bucko!  They do double duty as lens bumpers to keep people, hard objects (walls, fences, dog tongues, cars, etc.) from impacting your lens! They've saved my butt on many occasions!

Just helped a photog from Italy in Times Square NYC remove what was left of his UV protection filter from his zoom... seems he dropped it to the pavement and thankfully the filter absorbed the majority of the impact energy (glass shattered)... had he used a petal hood he might have gotten away scott free, but still his cheapo non multi-coated filter was a bargain compared to the Nikkor zoom it was mounted on!

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Holding a camera, any camera, reduces my blood pressure, calms my nerves, and gives me a sense of opportunity!