Purpose of Lens Hoods?

[Sahil]

I too was wondering the same, that hand should suffice. But it won't give the professional look

I don't want to start a new thread for this, but I came across this ND filter on e-bay. It is pretty cheap, $7 approx.
Is it good enough?I understand it won't be as good as Singh Ray filters, but at this price, will it suffice the purpose?
Here is the link to it.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Sahil,

I too was wondering the same, that hand should suffice. But it won't give the professional look

I use a hood almost all the time and although a hand isn't professional, at least it shows you know what you are doing, that said, you are now holding your precious DSLR with only one hand and there's a greater chance of camera shake. Now let me confess; I do on occasion use a hand myself if the zoom is zoomed and the hood not effective enough at the longer focal length, or I stand so as to put the lens in a shadow, but that can compromise the composition of the shot.

I don't want to start a new thread for this, but I came across this ND filter on e-bay. It is pretty cheap, $7 approx.
Is it good enough?I understand it won't be as good as Singh Ray filters, but at this price, will it suffice the purpose?
Here is the link to it.

I would avoid it.
The fact that they are stating what brands of camera they fit should be a warning; the filter thread is universal. It doesn't say whether or not it is multicoated, which in turn means it isn't (ok, I can't prove that, I know). So it is more likely to give reflections. I also doubt the optical flatness, to avoid distortions, is going to be great and it might even be made of plastic instead of glass, so could scratch easily the first time you clean it.

Of course I could be wrong, they might be the OEM filter supplier for all those manufacturers, but somehow, at that price, I doubt it.

If it looks to good to be true ....

HTH,

[Sahil]

Thanks, Dave. That really is helpful. Good, that I waited before ordering it. I was about to order it for its cheap price. I thought it would solve a bit of the purpose, though.

[Sahil]

I came across this photostream. And got amazed by the first five shots. I am going to the same place next week. I don't understand how these were taken. These are HDRs or ND filter was used to use slower shutter speed to have a sky that dynamic?
I am sure this is the weirdest questions asked here, ever, but I am sure I still will be helped

[Donald]

Interestingly, I've been exchanging posts with Peter, here, about polarising filters. Looks to me that a polariser has been on here, even though some are done with a very wide-angle. Also, there's a pretty heavy vignette on each of them. I assume this has been put on for artistic effect, although it doesn't appeal to me.

[Sahil]

Thanks, Donald. But the clouds? I wish I could see the EXIFs

[Donald]

You should post a message under one of the photos on his Flickr page. Hopefully he would come back to you with the information.

[Sahil]

He wouldn't

Anyways, thanks, Donald. The tutorial is great. I must have gone through it before, but it would not have made sense to me back then. I was just too new to these things.