Opteka EW-83J Lens Hood for Canon EF 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens

by Opteka

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• ASIN: B0012GWOFK
• Item model number: OPTEW83J
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #88 in Camera & Photo > Accessories > Lens Accessories > Lens Hoods
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 1, 2010

Product Description

The addition of a lens hood can help prevent flares--those circles of light that can accompany images where a strong light source is just outside the fame. These types of lens flares occur when indirect light rays pass through the front lens elements but don't make it all the way through to the image sensor. Opteka's EW-83J Lens Hood is designed for the Canon EF 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens. Lens hoods are primarily designed to prevent unwanted stray light from entering the lens by extending and shading the end of the lens. In addition, since the end of the lens is extended, you also get the added benefit of some extra protection from accidental impact. This dedicated lens hood is designed to match the specific focal length of the lens it was designed for.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Less Money = Less Quality in This Case. But Worth It IMO., April 20, 2008

By 

Ernie (Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Opteka EW-83J Lens Hood for Canon EF 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens (Electronics)

This lens hood works just fine. But it is made to a lower quality standard than the Canon lens hoods are. For one thing, it lacks the flocking on the inside of the hood. And I had to trim off some excess plastic from the molding process in order to get it to fit. The inside surface has a flat finish to it to help make up for the lack of flocking. It seems to work well enough as I haven't noticed any stray light getting into the lens. Here in Oregon, I use lens hoods more to keep rain drops off the lens than light out of them. And it does that very well. It seems every bit as sturdy as a Canon lens hood so I think it should hold up well.

I tested it to see how much vignetting it added to my Canon 17-55mm f2.8 lens and it did in fact add a tiny bit when wide open at f2.8 and 17mm. But this lens inherently has some vignetting at that setting on it's own, and what this lens hood adds is so slight that I would have to say it is a non issue. Still worth mentioning though. I don't know how it compares to the Canon EW-83J in this regard since I don't have one to compare it to. But that one may add a little too. Just don't know for sure.

You save about $25-30.00 buying this hood over the Canon hood. To me, that's worth it and I would buy it again. But that's mostly because I can't hardly stand the thought of spending $45-50.00 for a piece of plastic. Although I've done it in the past, I'm glad to see there are finally other choices available now.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It Works, July 28, 2010

By 

Stuntman Mike "Mike" (Georgia) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Opteka EW-83J Lens Hood for Canon EF 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens (Electronics)

Fits on the 17-55mm perfectly.

Reversible, looks good.

5/5

-Mike

-Update- 08/15/10
-Did I mention the hood is huge? It's as big as the one on my 70-200!
-Love the hood. Works great on an awesome lens.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Alternative to Canon Hood, April 27, 2010

By 

Laplace Transform "Laplace Transform" (Baltimore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Opteka EW-83J Lens Hood for Canon EF 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM Lens (Electronics)

It's unfortunate that a lens from Canon which is for nearly all intents and purposes an L-series lens, isn't given the L designation and therefore isn't shipped with a quality Canon hood. I wish Canon would have bundled these items together.

That said, Canon got the lens right, it's an amazing piece of glass and fits the 1.6x crop bodies (Rebel, 10-50D) perfectly, if I only had one lens for my 40D it would be this one. A bit short at 55 for some things, but for the vast majority of tasks it's perfect.

So I got the lens and needed a hood, because I often shoot outdoors at any given time in the day. I looked at the Canon model and like many was blown away by the pricetag, I believe it was $48 at my local retailer and a bit less online from various sellers. That's a lot of moolah for some plastic and felt.

I'd never used an Opteka product but decided to give this one a try, it was worth the shipping given the price difference if I wanted to ship it back afterall. First impression was that it fight tight. Other reviewers have mentioned that they had to trim the plastic to get it to fit. I didn't have to trim anything, but it took a couple weeks of use to loosen up a bit and make it easy to take off and put on. However, this isn't really a bad thing in my opinion, much worse would be if it came fitting too loose. I've had no issues mounting it in reverse for storage, fits equally well.

Inside there's no real flocking, no felt. It's just painted and/or textured a flat black. Seems to work fine, I've tried to produce lens flare with the hood on and it works just as well as the huge barrel hood on my 24-70 2.8L. Performance wise, I'm very satisfied with the product.

Wide open there is some additional vignetting to the lens' own. Absolutely minimal. Hardly worth mentioning. In fact, I'm surprised I even mentioned it. Really it's not an issue. Most if not all Canon hoods create a little vignetting if you really try to force it, but nobody other than you is going to notice it in your prints. If you're that hardcore then you're probably doing minute vignette correction in post processing regardless of whether you have a hood on or not.

Overall, this is a quality alternative to the Canon hood, and the price is great. Why pay for the name? Hopefully Canon will bring their accessory prices in line with some of these 3rd party/aftermarket manufacturers' offerings.

Regarding my rating of 5 stars.. I was on the fence between 4 and 5. The argument for 4 is that there is no felt flocking, and it isn't quite as thick/heavy/sturdy plastic as the Canon model. But, it's also a fraction of the price, and does exactly what it's intended to do, and does it well. So it wouldn't be fair, in my opinion, to give it a lower rating in comparison to another item which is priced higher, rather, I am rating this item on it's own merits and attributes. It's a quality item that does it's job reliably at an excellent price, therefore 5 stars.