Sad Sony Customer Support

[Foothill Sonyman]

I recently lost a lens hood from my SEL18200 E mount lens,it simply fell off unnoticed while walking back to the car. I looked all over the internet for a replacement & found a cheap screw-on hood on Amazon that vignettes. That didn't sound exciting. I checked the Sony site for a factory replacement & came up with a referral to two outsourced companies that handle Sony parts. I couldn't find my part & e-mailed Sony. They referred me back to the parts company with a part number to locate the needed part.

 

Sounds like a solution right ?  Wrong... they put a $103.00 price tag on that simple piece of plastic.  That's outrageous, I've replaced lens hoods before in the $30-40.00 price range, a 3x price premium is highway robbery.  You're telling me that 11% of the value of this lens is in the plastic hood ??  I'm looking at 3rd party lenses with reasonably priced lens hoods as they do wander off sometimes. 

 

This coupled with a lens repair which failed after two attempts from another Sony outsourced company gives me major concerns about Sony's commitment to you after you make the purchase. The emphasis seems to be just on getting your retail purchase dollars then once they've got you your issues are of no real concern.

 

I suspect I'm not alone.  

[BasiliskFilm]

You could try a generic collapsible lens hood. With a zoom with that range a hood that is effective at all focal lengths is a challenge anyway.
 

[Golem]

Sony "service" sux thaz tru, but moving on ... do some 

testing. It's quite possible that the hood for your 10X

zoom is just useless, anywho. I have a 10X Nikon and 

as it's kinda bulky and worse so with the hood in place,

I tested the need for its giant petal hood.   

  

After thorough testing, I was rewarded with the result 

that there's absolutely no reason [other than a physical 

protection] to put that huge hood on an already rather 

bulky lens. Having no Fear-of-Filters myself, my lens is

already reasonably well protected without the hood.  

[JonathanStewart]

Yeah, lens hoods are ridiculously overpriced, and it's not just for Sony lenses. 

 

Try calling somebody at B&H or Adorama. They might be able to help you find the right hood in a generic version. Otherwise, well, it was just an expensive mistake.  

[BasiliskFilm]

Sony "service" sux thaz tru, but moving on ... do some 

testing. It's quite possible that the hood for your 10X

zoom is just useless, anywho. I have a 10X Nikon and 

as it's kinda bulky and worse so with the hood in place,

I tested the need for its giant petal hood.   

  

After thorough testing, I was rewarded with the result 

that there's absolutely no reason [other than a physical 

protection] to put that huge hood on an already rather 

bulky lens. Having no Fear-of-Filters myself, my lens is

already reasonably well protected without the hood.  

 

 

Probably true of the Sony lens too. Bear in mind a hood is to shade the front element from out-of-shot strong sources of front light. At 200mm your hood would probably need to be 6 inches long to protect you from all possible out-of-shot front-light sources. But your lens hood has to be short enough to stay out of view at 18mm. Once you zoom in at all your hood stops doing much. Unless the lens is particularly flarey at 18mm, in most situations it performs almost no function.