Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I have been using this product for over a month now and I am very pleased with it. I didn't have any trouble attaching it to my Canon EF 17-55mm f2.8 lens, and once it is on it doesn't wiggle or feel like it is loosely attached. My only worry is that because it is plastic, if I drop it, it seems like it would break, but better for it to break then doing damage to my actual lens. If you are using the pop-up flash you will definitely want to use a Speedlite flash or the hood will cast a shadow on the bottom of your pictures.


I would definitely recommend this product to anyone looking to save a little bit of money and still get a good quality product.

At 1/4 the cost of a Canon lens hood it is hard to find much fault with the Opteka. It does have a lower quality appearance exterior and lacks the nice flocked interior of the Canon but I have not noticed any difference in it's performance and so far it has proven just as durable.

This item is everything you're looking for in a lens hood. It's every bit as good as the Canon version and will save you some bucks. Go for it. I do not recommend the Canon as it's too expensive, or the Adorama as it was small and flimsy. Trust me on this one.

I used to own the 17-55 f/2.8 lens and originally had the Canon lens on it. I since sold it a couple years ago and just re-purchased it. This time I did not want to spend ~$50 for the Canon hood so I opted for the Opteka. My thoughts:

1. Plastic is a bit softer (Canon was stiffer and felt stronger) but this should not be an issue. If it ever breaks, I don't have a problem replacing it for $15.

2. No flocking on the inside of the hood. The finish on the inside is flat black matte which may do the trick. I won't be able to tell until I am shooting in some harsh outdoor lighting but I don't see it being an issue.

3. Opteka branding is small in non-descript. It does not scream "AFTER MARKET!!".

4. The fit on mine is a bit looser than the Canon version but it fits well and stays in place. I'm hoping it doesn't loosen up after some use and becomes an issue. It snaps into place very easily and comes off just as easily. So far, so good.

Overall. Considering I can buy this hood 3 times over before I can buy the Canon version, I think it is a great buy and is 95% as effective as the OEM model.

Obviously this must be compared the the original Canon lens hood. It is thinner and doesn't have the batting on the inside, those are the main differences.

Overall it works just like the Canon, but it is a bit thinner constructed so it is a bit harder to put on right.

I think it is well worth the money and far cheaper than the Canon, so I'm happy with it.

UPDATE: I've been using this hood for a few months now and it is holding up well. It is a little more flexible than the Canon hood, so it is harder to seat on the lens when I'm putting it on, but that seems to be the only major difference.

Looks close enough to the real one, works like the real one, don't see any reason to pay extra for the real version.

Update (2/3/09): After more fiddling with my lens hood, I found out it can be reverse mounted! Now I am giving it 5 stars.

I just received this lens hood today. Fit and finish is very good. No drama. For about $15, it is worth every penny I spent. However, there is one thing it cannot do that a genuine Canon lens hood can, that is it cannot reverse mount on the lens to save space in my camera bag. Not a big deal, but I wish it can do it. The 1 star it lost was for that reason.

The inside of the hood has no flocking, but so do any other 3rd party lens hood. The inside has a non-reflective surface though.

Great hood but some lens vignetting zoomed between 17mm and 20mm.

I've especially noticed this when wide open at F2.8. However it's not really strong and can be corrected with Photoshop.

Mounts easily on the lens and stays put.

I like it and would have given it 5 stars except for the vignetting.

4-9-2008 Update

Also blocks lower part of photo when using built in flash on Canon 40D and Canon Rebel XTi. Not a big deal just use an external flash unit such as the Canon Speedlite 580EX II or Canon Speedlight 480EX or if you don't have an external flash with you just remove the hood while you use your built in flash.