Lens hood hack that I don't see much mention of

I recently purchased a used copy of a Sigma 85mm DG DN that was in very good condition except for it not having the original lens cap and missing the hood. So, I began the search for a suitable replacement hood, fortunately, I have the Nikon 85mm 1.4D which has a screw-in hood (HN-31) that was specifically made for it. It works well and is smaller than the original Sigma 85mm DG DN hood but still too large for my taste. So, I thought about getting a shorter generic hood or square hood... but I saw a post somewhere of the square hood clipping bokeh, and the short hood would probably not be effective enough. Then I decided to try my luck using a base of a plastic petal hood and adding some step down rings to it and it works like a charm. The plastic base also feels like it will add less wear to the filter thread of the lens. I use a 62mm lens cap at the end of this setup.

I did something similar with my Sigma 90mm i-series. This time I put a UV filter and added some step down rings to it. This way i don't even need to bother with a lens cap as the lens is recessed inside the stepped down rings. The taper of the layered step down rings also gives additional protection and mitigates the need for a longer hood.

Your thoughts?

Bijo S said:

I recently purchased a used copy of a Sigma 85mm DG DN that was in very good condition except for it not having the original lens cap and missing the hood. So, I began the search for a suitable replacement hood, fortunately, I have the Nikon 85mm 1.4D which has a screw-in hood (HN-31) that was specifically made for it. It works well and is smaller than the original Sigma 85mm DG DN hood but still too large for my taste. So, I thought about getting a shorter generic hood or square hood... but I saw a post somewhere of the square hood clipping bokeh, and the short hood would probably not be effective enough. Then I decided to try my luck using a base of a plastic petal hood and adding some step down rings to it and it works like a charm. The plastic base also feels like it will add less wear to the filter thread of the lens. I use a 62mm lens cap at the end of this setup.

Click to expand...

You are aware that the edge of the filter ring intrudes into the optical path of your lens?

daran said:

Bijo S said:

I recently purchased a used copy of a Sigma 85mm DG DN that was in very good condition except for it not having the original lens cap and missing the hood. So, I began the search for a suitable replacement hood, fortunately, I have the Nikon 85mm 1.4D which has a screw-in hood (HN-31) that was specifically made for it. It works well and is smaller than the original Sigma 85mm DG DN hood but still too large for my taste. So, I thought about getting a shorter generic hood or square hood... but I saw a post somewhere of the square hood clipping bokeh, and the short hood would probably not be effective enough. Then I decided to try my luck using a base of a plastic petal hood and adding some step down rings to it and it works like a charm. The plastic base also feels like it will add less wear to the filter thread of the lens. I use a 62mm lens cap at the end of this setup.

Click to expand...

You are aware that the edge of the filter ring intrudes into the optical path of your lens?

Click to expand...

No, it wont. The diameter of the front of the lens is less than my smallest step down ring in both these cases. Also these are both fairly long focal length lenses which allows me to go a bit narrower with the hood.

Bijo S said:

daran said:

Bijo S said:

I recently purchased a used copy of a Sigma 85mm DG DN that was in very good condition except for it not having the original lens cap and missing the hood. So, I began the search for a suitable replacement hood, fortunately, I have the Nikon 85mm 1.4D which has a screw-in hood (HN-31) that was specifically made for it. It works well and is smaller than the original Sigma 85mm DG DN hood but still too large for my taste. So, I thought about getting a shorter generic hood or square hood... but I saw a post somewhere of the square hood clipping bokeh, and the short hood would probably not be effective enough. Then I decided to try my luck using a base of a plastic petal hood and adding some step down rings to it and it works like a charm. The plastic base also feels like it will add less wear to the filter thread of the lens. I use a 62mm lens cap at the end of this setup.

Click to expand...

You are aware that the edge of the filter ring intrudes into the optical path of your lens?

Click to expand...

No, it wont. The diameter of the front of the lens is less than my smallest step down ring in both these cases. Also these are both fairly long focal length lenses which allows me to go a bit narrower with the hood.

Click to expand...

If you say so. The optical path does grow wider in front of the lens, though.

For a modest cost you can get the stock hood. Why kluge up a nice lens?

daran said:

Bijo S said:

daran said:

Bijo S said:

I recently purchased a used copy of a Sigma 85mm DG DN that was in very good condition except for it not having the original lens cap and missing the hood. So, I began the search for a suitable replacement hood, fortunately, I have the Nikon 85mm 1.4D which has a screw-in hood (HN-31) that was specifically made for it. It works well and is smaller than the original Sigma 85mm DG DN hood but still too large for my taste. So, I thought about getting a shorter generic hood or square hood... but I saw a post somewhere of the square hood clipping bokeh, and the short hood would probably not be effective enough. Then I decided to try my luck using a base of a plastic petal hood and adding some step down rings to it and it works like a charm. The plastic base also feels like it will add less wear to the filter thread of the lens. I use a 62mm lens cap at the end of this setup.

Click to expand...

You are aware that the edge of the filter ring intrudes into the optical path of your lens?

Click to expand...

No, it wont. The diameter of the front of the lens is less than my smallest step down ring in both these cases. Also these are both fairly long focal length lenses which allows me to go a bit narrower with the hood.

Click to expand...

If you say so. The optical path does grow wider in front of the lens, though.

Click to expand...

If it did I would notice the vignetting from it…simple.

TomV1 said:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1581243-REG/sigma_lh828_02_lens_hood.html

For a modest cost you can get the stock hood. Why kluge up a nice lens?

Click to expand...

The stock hood is too large for my taste.

Bijo S said:

TomV1 said:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1581243-REG/sigma_lh828_02_lens_hood.html

For a modest cost you can get the stock hood. Why kluge up a nice lens?

Click to expand...

The stock hood is too large for my taste.

Click to expand...

But you can reverse the hood if it's in your bag, no?

daran said:

Bijo S said:

daran said:

Bijo S said:

I recently purchased a used copy of a Sigma 85mm DG DN that was in very good condition except for it not having the original lens cap and missing the hood. So, I began the search for a suitable replacement hood, fortunately, I have the Nikon 85mm 1.4D which has a screw-in hood (HN-31) that was specifically made for it. It works well and is smaller than the original Sigma 85mm DG DN hood but still too large for my taste. So, I thought about getting a shorter generic hood or square hood... but I saw a post somewhere of the square hood clipping bokeh, and the short hood would probably not be effective enough. Then I decided to try my luck using a base of a plastic petal hood and adding some step down rings to it and it works like a charm. The plastic base also feels like it will add less wear to the filter thread of the lens. I use a 62mm lens cap at the end of this setup.

Click to expand...

You are aware that the edge of the filter ring intrudes into the optical path of your lens?

Click to expand...

No, it wont. The diameter of the front of the lens is less than my smallest step down ring in both these cases. Also these are both fairly long focal length lenses which allows me to go a bit narrower with the hood.

Click to expand...

If you say so. The optical path does grow wider in front of the lens, though.

Click to expand...

Many lenses (certainly not all) have some redundancy in their filter thread size. The manufacturers allow for users stacking multiple filters, very thick filters, or mounting square filter frames of variable thickness, etc. The thread size may also be partly chosen because lens body diameters have to be big enough to accommodate AF mechanisms and electronics as well as the optics.

What this means in practice is that you can often use step-down rings and smaller filters than the native thread size. You'll tend to find this more on telephoto lenses, as the OP has here, because of the narrower FOV, and less so on WA lenses. Eg The 70-200/4Gii has a 72mm thread, but will accept a step-down ring and filters several sizes smaller without vignetting. By contrast, the 20-70 also has a 72mm thread, but has no latitude at all to take smaller filters.

You can stack successive step down rings, or I prefer a single wide step-down ring (which can be ordered on e-Bay from the wonderful Chinese accessory market). For suitable lenses a wide flat step-down ring can make a very neat substitute for a honking great hood, and uses almost zero space in the case. As always with gear, the thing to do is test.

Cheers, Rod

dazzerfong said:

Bijo S said:

TomV1 said:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1581243-REG/sigma_lh828_02_lens_hood.html

For a modest cost you can get the stock hood. Why kluge up a nice lens?

Click to expand...

The stock hood is too large for my taste.

Click to expand...

But you can reverse the hood if it's in your bag, no?

Click to expand...

Some lens hoods fit reversed, some don't. The other thing that I've found is that in order to deal with today's total inconsistency in filter thread sizes, I use step up and down rings to ensure that my lenses take the same filters and cap sizes. Unfortunately, the OEM hoods then don't fit the lenses with a step-up ring. It's an ongoing frustration - like you are compelled to choose between either consistent filter sizes or OEM hoods and inconsistent filter sizes.

Cheers, R

Bijo S said:

daran said:

Bijo S said:

daran said:

Bijo S said:

I recently purchased a used copy of a Sigma 85mm DG DN that was in very good condition except for it not having the original lens cap and missing the hood. So, I began the search for a suitable replacement hood, fortunately, I have the Nikon 85mm 1.4D which has a screw-in hood (HN-31) that was specifically made for it. It works well and is smaller than the original Sigma 85mm DG DN hood but still too large for my taste. So, I thought about getting a shorter generic hood or square hood... but I saw a post somewhere of the square hood clipping bokeh, and the short hood would probably not be effective enough. Then I decided to try my luck using a base of a plastic petal hood and adding some step down rings to it and it works like a charm. The plastic base also feels like it will add less wear to the filter thread of the lens. I use a 62mm lens cap at the end of this setup.

Click to expand...

You are aware that the edge of the filter ring intrudes into the optical path of your lens?

Click to expand...

No, it wont. The diameter of the front of the lens is less than my smallest step down ring in both these cases. Also these are both fairly long focal length lenses which allows me to go a bit narrower with the hood.

Click to expand...

If you say so. The optical path does grow wider in front of the lens, though.

Click to expand...

If it did I would notice the vignetting from it…simple.

Click to expand...

I used step down rings on an older lens to stop it down (because of round bokeh balls), no vignetting with this setup. Would be interesting to investigate when you get vignetting and when you stop down the lens.

Rod McD said:

daran said:

Bijo S said:

daran said:

Bijo S said:

I recently purchased a used copy of a Sigma 85mm DG DN that was in very good condition except for it not having the original lens cap and missing the hood. So, I began the search for a suitable replacement hood, fortunately, I have the Nikon 85mm 1.4D which has a screw-in hood (HN-31) that was specifically made for it. It works well and is smaller than the original Sigma 85mm DG DN hood but still too large for my taste. So, I thought about getting a shorter generic hood or square hood... but I saw a post somewhere of the square hood clipping bokeh, and the short hood would probably not be effective enough. Then I decided to try my luck using a base of a plastic petal hood and adding some step down rings to it and it works like a charm. The plastic base also feels like it will add less wear to the filter thread of the lens. I use a 62mm lens cap at the end of this setup.

Click to expand...

You are aware that the edge of the filter ring intrudes into the optical path of your lens?

Click to expand...

No, it wont. The diameter of the front of the lens is less than my smallest step down ring in both these cases. Also these are both fairly long focal length lenses which allows me to go a bit narrower with the hood.

Click to expand...

If you say so. The optical path does grow wider in front of the lens, though.

Click to expand...

Many lenses (certainly not all) have some redundancy in their filter thread size. The manufacturers allow for users stacking multiple filters, very thick filters, or mounting square filter frames of variable thickness, etc. The thread size may also be partly chosen because lens body diameters have to be big enough to accommodate AF mechanisms and electronics as well as the optics.

What this means in practice is that you can often use step-down rings and smaller filters than the native thread size. You'll tend to find this more on telephoto lenses, as the OP has here, because of the narrower FOV, and less so on WA lenses. Eg The 70-200/4Gii has a 72mm thread, but will accept a step-down ring and filters several sizes smaller without vignetting. By contrast, the 20-70 also has a 72mm thread, but has no latitude at all to take smaller filters.

You can stack successive step down rings, or I prefer a single wide step-down ring (which can be ordered on e-Bay from the wonderful Chinese accessory market). For suitable lenses a wide flat step-down ring can make a very neat substitute for a honking great hood, and uses almost zero space in the case. As always with gear, the thing to do is test.

Cheers, Rod

Click to expand...

You need to be careful with using single sudden step down rings for longer focal lengths as the clearance from the lens will not be sufficient to stop stray light from hitting the lens front element. I would say the sudden\immediate step down ring approach would be more suitable for the normal focal length range (35 to 50mm).

Another example from Pentaxforums

Stepdown ring as lens hood

moficera said:

I used step down rings on an older lens to stop it down (because of round bokeh balls), no vignetting with this setup. Would be interesting to investigate when you get vignetting and when you stop down the lens.

Click to expand...

I will test it and provide feedback. I will also test it wide open and closed down and minimal distance and for infinity. In theory, if there is no vignetting at wider apertures then there shouldn't be any at narrower ones.

Bijo S said:

Rod McD said:

daran said:

Bijo S said:

daran said:

Bijo S said:

I recently purchased a used copy of a Sigma 85mm DG DN that was in very good condition except for it not having the original lens cap and missing the hood. So, I began the search for a suitable replacement hood, fortunately, I have the Nikon 85mm 1.4D which has a screw-in hood (HN-31) that was specifically made for it. It works well and is smaller than the original Sigma 85mm DG DN hood but still too large for my taste. So, I thought about getting a shorter generic hood or square hood... but I saw a post somewhere of the square hood clipping bokeh, and the short hood would probably not be effective enough. Then I decided to try my luck using a base of a plastic petal hood and adding some step down rings to it and it works like a charm. The plastic base also feels like it will add less wear to the filter thread of the lens. I use a 62mm lens cap at the end of this setup.

Click to expand...

You are aware that the edge of the filter ring intrudes into the optical path of your lens?

Click to expand...

No, it wont. The diameter of the front of the lens is less than my smallest step down ring in both these cases. Also these are both fairly long focal length lenses which allows me to go a bit narrower with the hood.

Click to expand...

If you say so. The optical path does grow wider in front of the lens, though.

Click to expand...

Many lenses (certainly not all) have some redundancy in their filter thread size. The manufacturers allow for users stacking multiple filters, very thick filters, or mounting square filter frames of variable thickness, etc. The thread size may also be partly chosen because lens body diameters have to be big enough to accommodate AF mechanisms and electronics as well as the optics.

What this means in practice is that you can often use step-down rings and smaller filters than the native thread size. You'll tend to find this more on telephoto lenses, as the OP has here, because of the narrower FOV, and less so on WA lenses. Eg The 70-200/4Gii has a 72mm thread, but will accept a step-down ring and filters several sizes smaller without vignetting. By contrast, the 20-70 also has a 72mm thread, but has no latitude at all to take smaller filters.

You can stack successive step down rings, or I prefer a single wide step-down ring (which can be ordered on e-Bay from the wonderful Chinese accessory market). For suitable lenses a wide flat step-down ring can make a very neat substitute for a honking great hood, and uses almost zero space in the case. As always with gear, the thing to do is test.

Cheers, Rod

Click to expand...

You need to be careful with using single sudden step down rings for longer focal lengths as the clearance from the lens will not be sufficient to stop stray light from hitting the lens front element. I would say the sudden\immediate step down ring approach would be more suitable for the normal focal length range (35 to 50mm).

Click to expand...

Agreed. There have been many lenses with those little flat-ish domed lens hoods (eg various lenses from Fuji, Pentax, and Voigtlander, and Sony's 'Tiny G' series). They work well - that's where I first got the inspiration to use a step-down ring. But as always, If you're adapting anything that wasn't designed for purpose, one should consider the suitability carefully. If the front element of a lens is very close to the opening in the step-down ring, it may not be a suitable combination. In that case, a series of stepped rings may indeed be better. Another alternative is to add an old filter rim (or two) to deepen the "hood", but there's a limit - one has to check the point where it causes vignetting.

Cheers, R