DIY Lens Hood for DSLR Camera

Intro: DIY Lens Hood for DSLR Camera

When it comes to documenting a perfect project, each pictures must speak a thousand and only thing that makes all that possible is good photography equipment.

After getting a Nikon, I was looking to buy supportive accessories to help me get the job easily done. One of such accessory is a lens hood which improves the picture quality by blocking the Sun or other light source(s) to prevent glare and lens flare. Lens hoods may also be used to protect the lens from scratches and the elements without having to put on a lens cover.

Well there are good quality lens hood available at very cheap rates but being a DIYer, nothing seems more satisfying that making this lens hood from scratch.

So in this Instructable, we are going to built a Lens hood for our DSLR camera out of scratch.

Its time to grab this and that and lets get building....

STEP 1: Materials and Tools

The materials that we are going to need for this project must be lying in the corner of each one of our work spaces.

The list of the required materials is:

• 3 inch diameter UPVC pipe.
• Full scale diagram of front shape of a lens hood printed on an A4 sheet
• A 3mm plywood sheet
• A bunch of sticker sheets
• Spray paint

Note:

The tools that i have used for this project is a miter saw,a jig saw and a drill machine but its not a must because even a hand saw is good enough if it gets the job done along with a drill.

STEP 2:

The UPVC pipe is first cut down to have a perfectly flat end using a miter saw. Then a length of 3 inch is cut down ensuring a perfect cut followed by the miter saw one again. This piece is finished by sanding it a bit from both ends.

Note:

Before following this step please ensure that the pipe you are using is as round as possible as some times UPVC pipes gets oval in shape and that is not a good thing here.

STEP 3: Shaping the Pipe

The pipe is the cut to the required shape as of an actual lens hood and that is done with the help of a actual scale diagram of the front shape of a lens hood.This diagram is made on an A4 sheets of paper. first i have measured the actual diameter of the UPVC pipe and then cut a 2inch wide strip of paper. That strip is then divided into four sections and then i have hand drawn the shape of the lens hood on each section replicating the patterns available on google images.

After cutting this pattern to size i have pasted it to one end of UPVC pipe. Befor cutting the pipe to shape, I have drilled four holes in the inner edges followed by the shape of the lens hood and the followed by the cuts using the jig saw.

This piece is the finishes followed by a bit of filing and sanding down to the perfect shape as of a lens hood.

STEP 4: Making the Base Plate

The base plate or the back plate is made using a 3mm thick plywood sheet that is cut to the required diameter using a jig saw. Then the already finished UPVC pipe is glued to the back plate. the edges were then smoothen by filing and sanding . Later on a hole is made using a hole saw of the size that is close to the outer diameter of my 18-55mm lens. This hole is then sanded down very carefully to fit the lens perfectly.

A bit of sanding here and there and the lens hood is ready to be painted.

STEP 5: Painting and Finishing the Lens Hood

I love to personalise thing that i made by hands and the same goes with this lens hood .When I was about to paint the lens hood i thought how cool will it be if i get me channel name painted of this lens hood. So i have placed the name of my youtube channel on the lens hood using some sticker sheets. Later the lens hood is painted with a black spray paint.

When the paint dried up, I have removed the stickers and the end results were sleek enough to give the lens hood a very attractive look indeed.

If you like my project then don't forget to vote my project in built a tool contest

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Regards.

DIY KING.

Comments

[askgoldkleen]

Can you provide us a printing template for the hood front please?

[mxx]

Nicely done!

[victorg6546]

How are you actually attaching it to the lens? Are you threading it into the lens or are you clipping it on the outside of it like on a regular hood?

[DIY KING 00]

We made the inner dia of the lens hood of the size which fits to the upper grooving on the lens.

[TossManual]

The configuration of lens hoods is a pretty exact science. How did you determine the proper shape for your lens?

[DIY KING 00]

Not much science behind our design , we just estimated the size and give it a go. Glad it work preeti good.

[gm280]

I watched your video and like your project. However, I do have one question. Being how I am not into photography like so many others, why does the hood have cutouts on two sides?

[DIY KING 00]

It is jut to allow the sufficient light to make the photo good enough.

[BigAndRed]

have you considered using rectangle pipe for a hood, also 2 layers of ply to make the bayonette fitting?

[BigAndRed]

The camera has a rectangle view so without the cutouts on the side you would get vignetting (darkening) on the corners at wide angle view, for a telephoto lens this is not an issue and is not needed.

[caturbudi]

In a landscape position the lens need more space on both sides. That is why the hood needs to have cutouts to avoid obstructing the lens' side views.

[oragamiunicorn]

I suprised that the upvc pipe wasn't available in black to start with, saving a bit of paint

[srilyk]

Black PVC won't be as black as black paint. That being said, it may help keep things dark :)

[DIY KING 00]

A good paint job will get the deal done.

[sceecee]

And a job well done indeed ;-)

[baecker03]

should I use matte black paint over glossy?

[sceecee]

I would definitely recommend matte black for the hood, otherwise you'll most likely get some weird lighting effects.. Which, if planned for, can be cool, but for most shots, not so cool ;-) (I'm a full time professional photographer fyi;-))

[DIY KING 00]

That will be a good deal.