Loose Canon FD lens hood

<p>I'm sure there is a quick fix for this: I have both metal and plastic lens hoods, a BS-55, a BT-55 and a plastic BT-58 all in rather pristine condition, but with a loose fit I've been advised that melting white paraffin wax, then rubbing a very thin coat on the inside edge would solve this problem. Not sure, but I am betting there's someone here who's had this problem and solved it.</p>

<p>There are little white plastic bits in the mount of the hood that are supposed to keep the hood tight. These turn soft and waxy with age and you'll find that the corresponding mounting flanges on the lens are sticky with this residue. I used a tiny flathead screwdriver to dig the waxy stuff out of the hood, then cut small pieces out of an old credit card to fit into the remaining holes. I cut the credit card pieces with a slight peak on the side that contacts the lens -- this allows it to "click" onto the end of the mounting flange. I've done this with a BS-55 and a BT-55 and they've worked fine ever since. I didn't use any glue or anything to hold the pieces of credit card in place, the remaining stickiness of the old waxy plastic seems to take care of that.</p>

<p>To clean the stickiness from the lens flanges, I used a bit of rubbing alcohol.</p>

<p>The problem are the "nubbies" ;)<br>

http://www.photo.net/canon-fd-camera-forum/00XJuV<br>

http://www.photo.net/canon-fd-camera-forum/00b4Hm<br>

and links therein.</p>

<p>And to think, before I joined P.net, I had no idea what a nubbie was. Now I am answering questions about them. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?</p>

<p>Here's another thread on this topic:</p>

<p><a href="/canon-fd-camera-forum/00S1eH">http://www.photo.net/canon-fd-camera-forum/00S1eH</a></p>

<p>Note that the older metal hoods are easier to repair because they can be disassembled. I've replaced the original friction material ("nubbies") with neoprene O-rings cut to the appropriate size.</p>

<p>I've done several hoods with a white plastic washer that I picked up at a hardware store and it works perfectly. Make sure you remove the old nubbie first and then insert the new nubbie. I learned that technique from this forum years ago.</p>

<p>Oh, lordie, I have to go check and see what these white nubbies look like. I see nary a nub or a bump or white thingie. Adventure awaits.</p>

<p>Hyar is where a nubbie once were, in this case the hood is very tight, even without the nubbies still in place. Note white nubbie 'tracks'.</p>

<p>Canon BS-52 lens hood.</p>

<div></div>

<p>wow ... so we're not talking about anything too easy to spot, then, right ? ok ... I'm off to check my loose fitting lens hoods. Thank you for that photo JDM. I'm going to compare my loose hoods with the tight ones first.</p>

<p>They are pretty obvious when they're still in place, but lots have worn out, been scraped out, or otherwise displaced.</p>

<p>I just tried to see if I could find some pictures on the net showing nubbies in place, but all I found was (<a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nubbies">link</a>) on the Urban Dictionary site.</p>

<p>yes, I found some nubbies ! I couldn't see them at first but on the lens hoods that still fit tight I suspected they were lurking beneath. I'm sure if I follow the directions on previous links I'll get something to work on those that need a refresh. Now about that Urban Dictionary site ... that was ah, interesting, to say the least.</p>

<p>I found that the black plastic caps from Ilford film pots make a good replacement material for the original. I scraped out everything I could from the channels, cut some strips about 6mm * 10mm, cut the short side's corners slightly at 45 degrees and smeared super glue over the chamfered ends and poked them in the slots. When the glue dried I cut them off flush with a modelling knife. It seems to be working quite well so far. The caps are about the right thickness and a bit more springy than credit card material.</p>

<p>The original metal hoods are the easier ones to fix because they can be disassembled. Once you've repaired one, you'll understand how to go about repairing a plastic hood which cannot be disassembled. Three screws hold the chromed plate at the back of the hood in place. Removing the plate gives you direct access to the friction washers ("nubbies"). There are six of them in evenly spaced slots:</p>

<p><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/17543095-lg.jpg" alt="Canon FD Hood Repair" width="571" height="373" border="0" /></p>

<p>Pictured at the left is a metal BS-58 hood. The disassembled metal BS-55 hood to its right has been repaired with sections cut from a neoprene O-ring. Note that the replacements inserted on the inside face of the chromed plate must extend far enough inside to compress under the pressure of the bayonet ring on the lens. The small white D-shaped object inside the chrome plate is a friction washer I cut from styrene plastic and is similar to the original ones.</p>

<p>The fact that the plastic hoods cannot be disassembled means more work is involved in removing and replacing the old washers from their slots, but it's not all that difficult.</p>

<p>Way to go Gordon! You should have been a Technical Publication Writer/Illustrator.</p>

<p>As another alternative, I've made them tight again just by snipping a 1/4" wide x 1/2" long strip of black electrical or black duct tape, and folding / sticking them over each of the 3 "nubbie" locations. The yellow is for illustration purposes, but I use black in practice...see 8:00 O'clock position in 2nd photo.<br>

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/roundball/PHOTOGRAPHY/EQUIPMENT/A-yellowtape_zpsee739cf8.jpg" alt="" /><br>

<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/roundball/PHOTOGRAPHY/EQUIPMENT/B-blacktape_zps22255e14.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>Lens Hood Update: for the hoods I use most frequently I am using the duct tape process. It works. I am out shooting again with a safely attached lens hood. I got my almost 90 year old dad involved and he said "go with the electrical / duct tape idea and who's to argue with wisdom? Thanks and thanks again. You guys know it all! Now my lens hood quest has led me to another lens hood question. I have a Canon FDn 50mm Macro on which I have used a BS-52 but the BW-52 is the recommended hood (scarcer than hens teeth too). But a nice clean breech mount 50mm Macro has found it's way to me recently and it's a mystery which lens hood is proper? BS-55 is my guess. Would the BW-55 which works for the 35mm FD wide, be ok ? It too is a hard item to find. Btw, the breech and the bayonet really do seem like two different lenses although I know it's just a matter of plastics. At least that's what I learned from watching the movie "The Graduate".</p>

<p>Because of its deeply recessed front element, Canon never designated a lens hood for the breech lock FD 50mm f/3.5 SSC Macro lens, stating that a hood was "not necessary." For normal, non-macro use, you might be able to use one of the BW-55 hoods with minimal or no vignetting. A BS-55 will likely result in some falloff at the corners.</p>

<p>For the New FD 50mm Macro, the BW-52A hood was specified, the same one designated for the New FD 35mm f/2 and f/2.8 lenses. Interestingly, the BW-52A, BS-52 and BT-52 hoods have the same diameters, differing only in their lengths. The much more common BS-52 and BT-52 are, respectively, about 4mm and 11mm longer than the BW-52A. The quick and dirty solution would be to simply shorten one of these hoods. If you're really industrious, you could convert one of these to a more effective petal style hood. Also, take a look at the following thread:</p>

<p><a href="/canon-fd-camera-forum/00Xij4">http://www.photo.net/canon-fd-camera-forum/00Xij4</a></p>

<p ><strong><a href="/photodb/user?user_id=7215166">Robb Flick</a>, Oct 04, 2013; 03:07 a.m.</strong><br /><strong>Lens Hood Update: for the hoods I use most frequently I am using the duct tape process. It works. I am out shooting again with a safely attached lens hood.</strong></p>

<p >================================================================</p>

<p >PS:<br />I found that the black duct tape I use holds up better / longer than the plastic electrical tape.</p>

<p>Dang! I wish I had bumped into this before I lost one of my loose lens hoods out in the middle of an alfalfa field. I'm now using electrical tape instead of duct tape and it seem to work great.</p>