The material from which a hood is made should have little or no influence on performance, all else being equal. I prefer some rubber hoods to plastic hoods, as plastic hoods often have a shiny or reflective inner surface. A number of people have flocked their plastic hoods. Also, I have a strong dislike for plastic, much preferring metal.
Most rubber hoods are of poor to medium quality, and, IMO, won't last as long as a metal hood. I do have a 49mm Vivitar rubber hood that I love, but I've never seen another rubber hood so well constructed and with such heavy-duty rubber. One thing that's nice about round metal hoods is that they are easier to use with a Pol filter. Mount the filter to the lens, the hood to the filter, and then turn the hood to adjust the filter. Rubber hoods tend to collapse to some degree when doing this, making such use more difficult. The absolute worst rubber hood I've ever seen or used was, unfortunately, a Pentax hood. It was the original hood for the A24~50. Shel > [Original Message] > From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > What about rubber hoods? I got one for my Canon 50mm 1.8 because it was > cheaper. I was happy to find it was better than I thought it would be. Of course, > it's a short lens. > > So what's the take on rubber hoods? (I have one other lens without a hood. > Although, come to think of it, I haven't played around and seen if one of my > existing hoods would work.)
