Lens hoods for the 50mm?
Hood alternatives
What are your lens hood options if you have a 50mm M Summicron or collapsible Elmar-M, both with the E39 filter thread?…
Built in hood
The current model #11826 Summicron has a built-in lens hood. Some people hate this because it is so small and wobbly, but it does have the advantage of always being available.
Leica #12585 vented hood
For the older-style (focus-tab) #11819 Summicrons you could always get the proper Leica vented, clip-on, reversible hoods - (either the older #12585 metal or #12538 plastic) - but cost (yikes!) and bulky and won't work with the latest Summicron (or Elmar-M) as they don't actually screw into the E39 thread but rather clip over the end of the lens 42mm ∅ barrel. Another disadvantage of these clip-on hoods is that they can scratch the lens exterior barrel around the mounting grove - see this 1998 LUG post at <LUG - v02/msg05787.html>.
"Heavy2Stars" Chinese vented metal hoods
Can't justify spending $US 100++ on a #12585 (50-cron) or #12586 (50-lux) vented metal hood? Frankly, neither can I! The good news is that since 2005 you can buy Chinese made E39 and E43 screw-in vented hoods (enter "metal hood" in the Store Search panel) from Heavy2Stars for @ $US 20.
Don't be put off by the cheap price — these things are well made and a E43 version now lives permanently on my 50-lux. The only disadvantage is that they are screw-in rather than clip-on. I prefer this, but heavy-duty filter users probably don't. Another handy thing is that you can use any generic 52mm clip-on lens cap for the E39 hood (or 55mm for the E43 hood), which is much cheaper and simpler than mucking about with Leica's reversible hoods & caps.
"Buyitjnow" Chinese metal vented hoods
Even cheaper than the "Heavy2Stars" hoods, are those made by "Buyitjnow".
They have metal vented screw-in hoods in E39, E40.5 and E43 sizes. Again enter "leica hood" in the Store Search panel for available stock. At only $1 each, how could you possibly lose?…
BTW they also make excellent Hasselblad-clone CF/CFi hoods for only $US 18.
Leica #12550 cylindrical hood
Alternatively for the 50-cron, try the #12550 circular metal hood meant for the 50mm Elmar-M. Works well and is nice and compact and very solid (N.B. the #12549 is the chrome version and #12550 is the black version). You can only buy it as a spare part though, so expect a bit of hassle securing one. Also Robert Gordon reports that even though the #12550 will work with the current #11826 50mm Summicron (the one with the built-in hood), you can expect vignetting if you try to mount a UV filter between the hood and lens.
A couple of empty filter rings
A slightly cheaper alternative to the #12550 Elmar-M hood is to use 2x stacked E39 UV filters with the glass removed. Buy the cheapest filters you can find, knock out the glass, screw the empty rings together, paint the interior with matt-camera-black (to cut down reflections) and… it sounds crude I know, but it works surprisingly well. Prior to buying the "Heavy2Stars" vented hood (see above), I used 2x E43 rings on my #11114 50mm Summilux-M when the proper #12586 hood was too bulky or conspicuous.
Cameraquest conical hoods
While we are talking about metal hoods, have a look at the E39 Cameraquest lens hoods for 50mm and 35mm lenses. A bit too wide and conical for my taste, but at only $US 30 they don't look too bad.
Heliopan hoods
Heliopan make a range of rubber or metal lenshoods in almost all filter sizes. Look for their "Sonnenblenden" (meaning "sun-blind") available in three different types for 39mm: the #9801 ("Elastic-Sonnenblenden") rubber lens-hood, black anodized aluminium #9802 ("Telesonnenblende (Metall)") - long - or #9803 ("Kurstelesonnenblende (Kompakt)") - short - depths. Get the "long" for use on the 50mm Summicron (#9802-1039) and expect to pay € 13.50 Euro.
Cosina "Skopar" hood
Another metal hood contender may be the 42mm diameter Cosina Color Skopar rectangular metal hood. Warning - YMMV - some claim you cannot use this hood as it won't clamp properly onto the 42mm outer barrel shell (see this URL).
B+W rubber hoods
A 39mm B+W #900 rubber hood. As this is a much deeper hood you will get more protection from the sun. It does intrude into the viewfinder however, especially on a 0.72 finder. Click here (JPEG 71k bytes) to see a photo. Also, in July 2002 a few users reported they were less than impressed by "The Filter Connection" (the rubber hood URL above) - see their remarks at <Photo.net: #003TJ4>. So may be an idea to buy the hood from somewhere else (I got mine from B&H).
35mm 'cron ASPH rectangular hood
Because I have the older style focus-tab 50mm Summicron, I have occassionally used the rectangular #12526 clip-on lens hood from my 35mm Summicron M ASPH. The hood clips into the circular groove around the 50mm lens barrel and gives a solid, compact and reasonably deep shade. The only trick is to place a small rubber band into the lens groove first to give the hood clip something to grip onto, and so prevent it from rotating around the lens. ( With the #12526 hood on the 50mm, what do I use on the 35mm? It turns out the B+W #900 rubber hood works just fine - no vignetting and a nice deep shade! ).
Grimes custom filter adapters
Finally, get a custom made 42mm diameter Stephen Grimes slip-on filter adapter and then screw on any rubber or metal lens-hood you like! Mind you, this option may no longer be available due to the death of Mr Grimes on 16th April 2003 - see <Photo.net: #004wsI>.
Leica hoods generally
Looking for a good (online) list of the lenshood part # and filter size for each M leica lens? See the "kbcamera.com" table at:
<kbcamera.com/lenshoodchart.htm>
BTW, for a May 2002 discussion of what the "E" means in "39E" filter threads, see <Photo.net: #003PJz>
See also this April 2003 thread fussing about the Leica E43 thread and whether the 50-Lux uses the weirder "0.5" or the more common "0.75" pitch (meaning you can't or can mount standard 43mm filters): <Photo.net: #0050jg>
Whatever. The "Heavy2Stars" E43 hood (see above) screws in perfectly onto my 50-Lux!
A note about possible broken links
This FAQ has over 900 external links. Over time it is inevitable some of them will break. If you are bothered by this, see this detailed topic elsewhere in the FAQ.