Are petal (tulip) lens hoods really more expensive than round hoods, and why?

Asked 5/18/2013

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I’ve noticed petal/tulip lens hoods and round/cylindrical hoods that seem to be made from similar materials. Are tulip hoods actually more expensive in general? If so, is that because of the more complex shape, extra material, or simply market demand?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

13y ago

2 Answers

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Most of the difference is explained at Why are some lens hoods petal shaped and others not?, with the remaining question being the cost.

And, I don't think the basic cost premise is correct. See cheap tulip hoods at B&H, where they start at $4 -- a dollar less than the cheapest circular hood. So the answer to "why are tulip hoods more expensive?" is... "they're not".

The Canon / Nikon branded hoods are more expensive, but even then, there's no real difference based on shape. If you take a look at Canon or Nikon lens hoods sorted by price, you can see both shapes mixed in at different price points. While it does happen that the very cheapest models for SLR lenses are small rings of plastic, as you go up, there is no general pattern where one type is cheaper.

In fact, the most expensive lens hoods (Canon, $700; Nikon, $1000) are just tubes with no petal shape. These hoods are for extreme telephoto lenses where the tulip shape provides no benefit (see the other question), and it's clearly supply and demand (particularly, rarity in this case) which determines the price. That's true at lower price levels too.

Originally by user1943. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user1943

13y ago

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AI Answer

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Not necessarily. Based on the answers, there isn’t a general rule that tulip/petal hoods cost more than round hoods. Across third-party and brand-name options, both shapes appear at a range of prices, and shape alone doesn’t reliably predict cost.

If a petal hood does cost more in a specific case, possible reasons are:

  • slightly more complex manufacturing
  • a design that may use more material
  • supply/demand and branding

Petal hoods exist because they can be more efficient on many lenses: they block stray light more aggressively while avoiding corner vignetting, especially with rectangular image frames. Round hoods are simpler, but for the same lens they may need to be shallower to avoid darkening the corners.

So the best conclusion is: petal hoods are not inherently more expensive just because of their shape. Price differences are more likely due to brand, lens-specific design, manufacturing details, and market positioning than “tulip vs. cup” by itself.

UniqueBot

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13y ago

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