There is one thing that many Fujifilm users agree on when it comes to things that Fujifilm get horribly wrong, and that is the stock hoods. You can buy the more expensive metal square hoods for an additional $100, but why should you have to with a lens that cost $1000. Worse yet, in some cases there are no alternative options like the XF50-140mm.

With Fujifilm, I never understood how they got their hood’s so horribly wrong on so many lenses given how good they could get it with their square hoods. It’s like they outsourced their hood design to a $20 lens manufacturers. As an example, the 50-140mm has to be one of the worst examples of a lens hood I have ever seen, a cheap piece of plastic that would be more at home on a $100 lens than a $1000+ one. The only lens with a decent stock hood that I saw in Fujifilm land was the 100-400mm. If it wasn’t for not having a metal hood option for the 50-140mm, I would assume they were doing it just to get you to buy the metal hoods.

On the converse, Sony along with 90% of manufacturers seems to have got this at least partially right, right enough that you don’t feel like your hood came out of a $2 christmas cracker. The quality of the hoods across the range are good to outstanding, the best of which might be the Olympus hood which doesn’t require you to reverse. Fujifilm on the other hand are mediocre to terrible.

So, Fujifilm, if you are reading this,  fire your hood designer, or if you’re outsourcing it, outsource it to someone who actually knows what they are doing. Better yet, give it to the guy who designs your square hoods.