Shortly after I got my first DSLR (the Canon) a pro photographer mate of mine gave it the once over, and buried admidst the wealth of tips he imparted there was one I took to heart more than the others. He (along with a load of other people) prob’ly thinks I don’t pay much attention to what’s said to me… due no doubt to my semi-permanent vacant expression and habit of being quite forgetful. Wrong! So there!

Lens hoods!

Now, from the reading I’ve done it seems lens hoods (y’know, those dinky bits of plastic that fit on the end of lenses and, to the uninitiated, turn an ordinary camera into a professional looking affair) are intended principally to keep stray reflections and unwanted light off the lens. Makes perfect sense.

However, that wasn’t the reason my mate suggested I always use one. Oh no. Given the context in which I shoot a lot of my pics (protests, demos, and similar such activities) there’s a very real risk that at some point someone’s gonna object rather forcefully to being snapped and will try to prevent it by pushing the camera away… with palm on lens! Which can leave nasty greasy streaks and, worst case scenario, if they’re wearing a ring or something could conceivably scratch the glass. Oh horror; there goes a few hundred quid down the drain.

So, matey says to me “Make sure you always use a lens hood as it’ll help protect the lens”. Obvious really. And I’ve never forgotten it. And I always (apart from extremely rare occasions) have the hood attached.

Phew. This is getting to be a long story.

Anyway, along comes my new lens (yes, the same one that’s formed the topic of quite a few previous posts so far)… but no lens hood with it. Have to buy that as a separate accessory (£17 it cost me as well!). Not in stock at the local Jessops, so order it. And yesterday I get a text message from them letting me know its finally arrived and ready to be collected.

Wander into town, shoot a few pics, then head towards my favourite haunt – The Bear Public House – where another mate of mine (yes, I’ve actually got two) happens to be the bar manager. En route stopping of course at Jessops to pick up the lens hood.

In the Bear, plonk myself down at the bar and, given that its fairly quiet in there (as in very few customers around) its not too long before out our cameras come and we start “playing” again.

Now, good as gold, I’d attached the hood to the lens… but, cos I hadn’t really anticipated using the camera, I’d affixed it in its carrying position (i.e., reversed, so that it wasn’t actually projecting beyond the lens itself). But out come the cameras, and we start shooting various strange and bizarre items, from various strange and bizarre positions. Now at some stage I just happen to be somewhere where my mate wants to shoot, so he pushes me out the way (nothing unusual in that I must add). Or rather, he pushes my camera out the way. And I just happen to be using the Canon. And he just happens to inadvertently push it away by palm on lens.

I don’t believe it! So what do I find? A nasty greasy smear all across the lens! Ok, it cleaned off readily enough, but so far that’s the only time that anyone’s pushed me in some way or another, and it would have to be the one occasion when I didn’t have the lens hood properly attached. Naturally, having laboriously cleaned the lens off (with the greatest of care) I immediately affixed the hood the right way round… but it really was just shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

So hat off to you mate #1… you were absolutely right!

However (yes, I’m not finished yet)… the damage wouldn’t have been as disastrous as it could have been anyway. Thanks to another tip I’d picked up somewhere in my reading.

Lens filters!

UV or Skylight filters. Theoretically (that is, I still intend to test this) they don’t make a tremendous difference to the shot, but they do serve to protect the lens (I’m talking about the circular screw-on variety of filter of course). Consequently, all my lenses (and I’ve now got… um… five) have either UV or Skylight filters on permanently. Thank heaven!