Customer Reviews

Hoodman H-EYEC18 HoodEYE for most of the Canon 18mm SLR models

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I recently purchased the Hoodman eyecup for my Canon 50D and it fits perfectly as is. The trick (as often is the case:) is to follow the instructions!

As you begin to slide the eyecup onto the camera, you must tilt the top of the eyecup slightly towards the camera (assuming you are facing the rear of the camera), which moves that little plastic lip that everyone is shaving off slightly away from the eyepiece mount. Continue pushing downward until it stops and let go. Snap! It's in place, and more securely than if you've shaved off the lip. To remove it from the camera, just gently pull the bottom lip away from the camera and push upward.

So often as an amateur photographer, it is easy to forget some of the elements that go into creating a great photo. One of those elements is the need to truly be able to see what is being composed through your viewfinder. The Hoodeye blocks out all ambient light (especially in bright sunlight/outdoor photography) from the viewfinder with an extremely comfortable cup which can be rotated depending on orientation of the camera or the eye you shoot with. The Hoodeye is so comfortable and functional that I leave it on my 50D for all shooting situations...all the time!

Canon seems to have designed the standard eye piece for their EOS40D/50D to keep a low profile on the backside of the camera. It "works", but experimentation in various ambient light situations clearly demonstrates how much variance one can get in captured picture color and brightness, depending on where the sun is, or lights are, how tightly you press your eye to the standard eye piece, and even whether your raincoat hood on your head extends out over the camera or not. These are simple experiments anyone can try, including the case of completely blocking the eye piece opening with a finger for total darkness. You'll probably be surprised at the difference these factors can have on your finished product.

While some of this variance can be compensated for with post processing of images, what you REALLY want is consistency, so that you can apply one correction process for all the shots taken with the same lighting. Who wants to have to individually process EACH picture differently?

What the Hoodman eye cup does is provide a much better "fit" to most people's eye socket. With experimentation, I found overhead bright lights, direct sunlight behind me, and other varying lighting conditions were LARGELY masked by this eye cup, without any great care on my part to fit my face tightly to the cup. A tight fit seems natural, and comfortable with this unit. And once mounted, the eye cup can be rotated to any 360 degree position for Left, Right, or angled shooting. This makes shooting between landscape and portrait trivial to adjust for. The cup is tight, and retains its orientation well, but at the same time is easy to rotate.

Your camera/lens combo is now a bit longer - by about 1" - which can make for a tighter fit in a camera bag, but the cup is soft and will conform.

My one gripe with this unit is how nearly impossible it is, straight out of the package, to mount on a Canon EOS 50D. In fact, I gave up. I did a lot of Googling and found many others who had the same experience, so I knew it wasn't user error.

The problem is a plastic retaining "lip" along the bottom of the eye cup, that's designed to snap in to place and retain the eye cup so it doesn't get "brushed off" in the field or in your camera case. This lip sticks out so far that I (and many other reviewers) were afraid of breaking the camera cup mount, or the cup itself. Then I got to thinking that *if* I somehow managed to get it on, I'd probably never get it off.

What I decided to do was to pocketknife the thickness of the soft plastic retaining clip down just a bit, and that solved the problem. It's a trivial thing to do, believe me. Now it slides on and locks easily, stays locked in place, and yet can be removed as easily as the original Canon eye piece. While it's EASY to make this trim adjustment, I'd pass along one caution - ONLY SHAVE A SMALL AMOUNT OFF AT A TIME, and trial fit often. You don't have to remove much at all, and then it fits like a glove, while staying securely locked in place.

I gave it a 4-star rating only because I still don't think one would EVER want to force-snap this on to their 50D without modifying it, and I think the supplier should include a note to this effect. They must have received several of these "returned" for a refund as a result of this situation.

This accessory WILL make a difference in your pictures - providing better consistency, more comfort against your face, and another inch of separation between your oily nose and the LCD screen. I can't imaging going back to the orignial eye piece, but I'm a pack rat and will keep it in my camera bag ... just in case.

Make sure you go with the 18mm version for the Canon EOS40D/50D !!!

Fast shipping, good packaging, great transaction from the seller!

Hoodman H-EYEC18 HoodEYE for most of the Canon 18mm SLR models

I got this for my T2i and frankly I don't know what everybody's talking about with the ridge and getting it on and all that business. It took me literally about two seconds to install. It just slid right over the eyepiece and snapped in place. I think those who are having problems with it either got defective units, or didn't score very high on the SAT if you know what I mean.

The item does partially obscure the view of the screen and it does render the face proximity sensor useless. These are a function of its design, and are just things you're going to have to deal with if you want its advantages, which are namely not having stray light mess up your shot. In this, it is fantastic. I went on a shoot at Death Valley, which is a place where light intrusion is a bit of a concern, and I must say it was a lot easier to compose and accurately expose my shots without the harsh sunlight bathing my viewfinder.

Its shape isn't perfect for everybody. I have no problem getting a 98% seal on my face, but nobody else that's used the camera has reported success with it. The side of it could curl in a little more, and it could maybe be a bit more pliable, but overall it's quite decent.

It rotates easily for portrait shots, but if you haven't the time you can just squish your face up to it and it'll work.

It does take quite a bit more room in the case, and it makes it stick out quite a bit, so be prepared for that. Overall, the downfalls haven't outweighed the benefits, and it's stayed on my camera and probably will for quite a while yet.

I was using this on a 5D Mark II. This accessory is somewhat expensive but for the time I had it, it seemed to help keep me focused on what was in the viewfinder by blocking out unwanted light. It does extend you a bit from the camera which also helps with getting cheek oil all over the LCD.

The problem with the current design is Canon changed their viewfinder size on some of their newer cameras. For the 5D Mark II at least, the bottom bezel on the viewfinder is longer than older cameras (20D) which means the bottom clip which holds this eyepiece in place needs to be trimmed or it won't work. I won't even get into how ridiculous it is that you have to trim a $25 piece of plastic. The problem is the little ledge on the bottom of the eyepiece used to lock the eyepiece onto the camera preventing it from being knocked off. By removing this, the eyepiece is too easy to remove and because it protrudes so far off the camera it is tremendously easy to knock off. Needless to say, I lost mine the first day I shot in the field with it.

Hopefully Hoodman releases an updated version with a clip that actually works with newer cameras; I don't think it is worth it otherwise.

Although great idea... eyepiece is too large and doesn't allow you to use the articulating LCD screen. Once the eyepiece is in position... the LCD screen is locked into place. If made a bit smaller to allow for the LCD to be moved this would be a great product.

First things first: installation. This seems to be the biggest problem people have with this thing, but I really liked the design and feel (tried it out on a friend's camera), so I ordered one up. I dreaded putting this thing on because of all the stories of the general difficulty in getting it on, but surprise! It took less than 15 seconds and one failed attempt, mostly because my first attempt was just a quick "shove it on there and see if it works". Well it didn't get on at all, but I looked right on the packaging which had the instructions very clearly (and largely) displayed. As stevenkurt says (along with the packaging), simply tilt it back slightly and push it down onto the eyepiece grooves. You'll know instantly when it engages because it loses all sideways play and moves only vertically. Once it gets to the bottom it snaps solidly into place. DO NOT CUT IT DOWN!

After I got it on my 60d, I was concerned it would be difficult to remove. Well the instructions (again large, and on the package) just said to lift up the lip on the bottom and push up. It comes off even easier than it went on. And when I went to slide it back on, I had no problems. So if you can follow directions and/or imitate the LARGE photos of how to put it on in the instructions, you won't have issues.

As for functionality, it's excellent. The default eyepiece on the Canons is mediocre to poor, and the one with the 60d kept sliding off with little provocation (ie, coming in and out of a camera bag), not to mention it did nothing to block out ambient light. This one does a really good job of blocking out side light. If I try really hard and I'm not pressing into the cup I can barely make out a tiny line of light at the very edge of my vision, but I have to be looking completely sidewise and not into the viewfinder, so it's a moot point. The cup is comfortable, and you can adjust the longer teardrop end to any side you wish. At first I thought putting the longer end on the side of my face would be more effective, but surprisingly it works better against / over my nose. Fortunately you can experiment with locations since it's dead simple to move - the rubber part rotates.

Finally, it's on solidly. No longer does the eyepiece come off just leaving my camera bag. I'd be hard pressed to accidentally pull it off. So this, combined with a couple fast primes and the EF-S focusing screen, and I can dial in manual focused shots with astonishing speed, and for everything else (autofocus shots, etc) it works well to isolate the image. Best of all, it's not crazy expensive. I highly recommend it.

Received my Hoodman H-EYEC18 Hoodeye today. Contrary to what several purchasers have posted in review of this product, the product fits perfectly on my Canon 40D camera. I did not have to do any cutting or shaving of any part to get it to fit. If you will read the instructions which come with the product, you will find that it seats itself as advertised. I did not have to force the hoodeye and once seated properly it stays in place. The product is well made and the eyepiece is soft rubber like material which is easy on your face.

Secondly, what a difference it makes in removing surrounding glare from light slipping into the view finder. I have been using it all day and am very pleased with the product and the ability to rotate the Hoodeye with ease.

You will not be disappointed with this product.

This eyepiece is so much better than the small, add-on eyepiece offered by Canon, which slid off much too easily (I lost two). I finally found the Hoodman H-EyeC18, and couldn't be more pleased. It is easy to install when you follow the provided instructions, helps eliminate stray light from the viewfinder that can affect the exposure, is very easy to turn to the side for portrait images, and doesn't stick out too far when packed away in a backpack. A great product for a fair price.

I've been using my DSLR for about 5 years now.. Love it, but it's sometimes hard to see clearly through the viewfinder with glasses (especially on models with a smaller viewfinder, like the Canon Rebel line). One problem is that since your eye isn't cupped around the eyepiece (because of the glasses), light gets in and you just can't see as close.

I looked at other viewfinders on "an internet auction site" that were 1/10th of the price of this.. it's a piece of rubber, how different can it be??

Turns out there is a big difference. The connector on the Hoodman is very good (even tough to get on) and locks in place. It won't move anywhere.

The rubber eyepiece rests around the circle.. this was a pleasant surprise as my "internet auction" ones used a square piece (shaped like the viewfinder) with the rubber piece on it. A square piece means the rubber cup stays in a single place - the circle design allows it to rotate freely (so you can shoot in portrait!) This alone was a huge improvement.

The rubber cup is also held firmly in place (unlike my cheaper one which fell off multiple times before I ended up losing it). You need to pull the rubber piece off hard to remove it - both a good and bad thing (good in that you won't lose it accidentally, bad in that when I saw this demo'd by the manufacturer they ripped the eyecup when showing me how to remove it (replacements are 10 bucks extra).

Speaking of the eyecups, besides just replacements they also have them in a variety of sizes. I went for the "extra large" version which was perfect for my glasses (no light coming in at all!). It is a bit bulky and odd looking with it, but if you can get over that it's a huge improvement. Highly recommended, even at the outrageous price. I bought 2 of them and 2 XL eyepieces for them the moment I tried them.