I know the Vito B isn't a rangefinder so I apologize in advance for posting this in (possibly) the wrong place. Does anyone have an opinion about whether a lens hood would be useful? The lens surface is rather deeply set on this camera and I wonder whether or not a hood would be pointless (I ask because there's a 32mm push-on hood for sale on you-know-where; not sure I want to spring for the $30 to snatch it up...). Thanks all!

In general, most lenses will benefit from the use of a hood. That price is on the high side although not unreasonable, if it's the Voigtlander hood. (It has the Voigtlander "V" engraved on it).

I've found this lens to be reasonable flare resistant, although I haven't used the camera nearly as much as I should.

I have a Vito B, and I have always used a lens hood with it. I think with lenses of the 1950's the coatings were not as advanced as now and the hood helps with contrast and flare. $30 seems high to me, I got a Voigtlander hood, filter and case for about that a couple of years ago.

Cheers

Ritchie

I had a Vito II B folding camera. It did not have a rangefinder is I got a Voitlander accessory shoe clip clipped on the body above the view finder. A attached a rangefinder to that. I never had a flare problem with any of the many slides I took with the camera. I would suspect that a lens shade would interfere with the folding mechanism.

Steve

The Vito B is a rigid design. The Vito IIa is a folding camera -- perhaps you had this model.

I've used lens shades with folders, and you have to remove them before you collapse the front. In fact, some folders have trouble closing even with a filter attached, especially if the lens isn't reset to infinity.

I usually use a hood on the Vito B because I have a UV or yellow/green filter on the camera most of the time. The lens cap is an old Kodak black film can cap with the inner ring carved out (!) The push on manufacturer's hood will reverse over the lens and fit inside a case, but you will probably have to repaint the inside of the hood every so often.

I rarely use 35mm these days, but the camera used to be my father's and I did a lot of photography with it.

Thanks to all for the replies. The $30 hood is still for sale; I think I'll wait a bit to see what else comes up for sale [this impulse buying (or my wife) is gonna kill me one of these days...].

I know the Vito B isn't a rangefinder so I apologize in advance for posting this in (possibly) the wrong place. Does anyone have an opinion about whether a lens hood would be useful? The lens surface is rather deeply set on this camera and I wonder whether or not a hood would be pointless (I ask because there's a 32mm push-on hood for sale on you-know-where; not sure I want to spring for the $30 to snatch it up...). Thanks all!
$30 USD for a Vito-B hood? I really like my Vito-B but it did not cost me 1/3 of that (and came with a case). I got a hood (think I found it somewhere for no more than a couple of EUROs but don't use it. It ruins the ergonomics of the camera case.

I know the Vito B isn't a rangefinder so I apologize in advance for posting this in (possibly) the wrong place. Does anyone have an opinion about whether a lens hood would be useful? The lens surface is rather deeply set on this camera and I wonder whether or not a hood would be pointless (I ask because there's a 32mm push-on hood for sale on you-know-where; not sure I want to spring for the $30 to snatch it up...). Thanks all!; I bought a VITO B and it came with a Lens Hood and a few other extras for less than $30. Keep looking and you should be able to get a camera an lens hood for about the same.

Seriously, I like the Vito B for its sheer compactness, and a hood will negate that. BTW, my lens cap is the new style plastic film canister push-in cap -- you have to pull the lens back to infinity,though.

A toughy. I use my Vito B all the time - I love the size of it, but as mentioned before, this all changes when the hood goes on. I shot three films the other day with it without the hood (having not gone 'hoodless' for some time.) The differences are barely worth mentioning. The lens always produces fantastic contrast and I won't be bothering with the hood again.

Because of posting recently that someone made on this site I've been using my Vito B today for the first time for about twenty five years, I bought it new in 1959( I forgot I had it) I did use the hood because it's been pretty sunny today, but you can manage quite well without it most of the time.

Let me revise what I wrote before. In some situations, a lens hood will make a difference. In other situations, the difference will be negligible. This after shooting this week with the Vito B.