Camera Labs

Hi all,

Apologies if the this is the wrong but could anyone point me in the direction or recommend a lens hood for the 18mm-200mm VRII lens?

I have one of the flower / petal types but get shadowing and darkness around the edges when using. I did have a bayonet fit 'tube' style one (if that makes sense) but I've lost it. Gutted.

Any links / sellers would be appreciated.

Cheers

Stef

_________________
Gear:
Nikon D3000
Lenses: Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II, Nikon AF NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8D Lens
Flash: Nikon Speedlight SB-400 Flash
Tripod: Joby Gorilla Pod
Bag: Lowepro SlingShot 202AW, Lowepro Toploader Zoom 55AW

Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefbusby/

I think what you are experiencing is vignetting by the lens' optical construction?
Stopping the lens down (making the aperture smaller) usually prevents most of the vignetting.

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- Wout -
Nikon D80 with 18-70 DX, 70-300 VR, 35 1.8 DX
Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod with 488RC0 midi ballhead
Lowepro CompuRover AW and Nova 200 AW

I find the rigid plastic hoods taking up too much space (unattached) or inconvenient (attached and reversed). Moreover, they place some stress on the part of the barrel that moves when mounting. I don't usually carry mine.

My (not totally adequate) solution is to mount a collapsible wideangle rubber hood when I need it - one that screws into the filter threads. This marks me down as a rather old person and a refugee from the film days.

However, a hood isn't needed at all times and the rubber ones fold down to almost nothing. The disadvantage is that it is a wideangle hood, but it does give some useful extra shade (and the cutouts reduce the effectiveness of the dedicated shades in any case).

But this is just my way of doing things. More than a few times I've used the always available "hand" solution, with occasional interesting effects in the sky!

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HCC
Nikon DSLRs, film cameras from Leica to Linhof

Hi folks,

Thank you for your responses. I'll try to reduce the vignettting and if no luck, see at trying out one of the rubber style hoods Hilary has mentioned.

Cheers

Stef

_________________
Gear:
Nikon D3000
Lenses: Nikon AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II, Nikon AF NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8D Lens
Flash: Nikon Speedlight SB-400 Flash
Tripod: Joby Gorilla Pod
Bag: Lowepro SlingShot 202AW, Lowepro Toploader Zoom 55AW

Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefbusby/