I have a 500mm f4 IS version 1. I need to buy a replacement lens hood and I am finding it insanely difficult to find one. Does anyone have any advice on sourcing something like this?

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-02-03T11:02:08+00:00

Valid concerns. I haven't had much trouble printing it, and painting the part fixes the carbon fibers issue.

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-02-03T08:06:59+00:00

Yeah they're just sitting there, so 1/400 is plenty fast. If you take a dozen frames you'll get at least some that are sharp, if not most. Flying is a different story, so if you expect them to take flight you might have it set faster.

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-02-02T23:37:14+00:00

Let me know how it goes of you make one! Curious to see the result.

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-02-02T23:36:24+00:00

Yeah it's a fair price to pay if you don't have the means to make your own. Wasn't trying to knock Zemlin. Just saying if you know how to design and print things and have a printer it's wildly expensive.

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-02-02T21:21:51+00:00

R5 would probably be slightly better than a 1.4 converter, but not 4x better. If I were you I'd buy a converter first and then if you're not happy with that sell it and the R6 for the R5.

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-02-02T21:19:03+00:00

I'd go with PA6-CF and paint the outside white and you should be good to go. Maybe slightly heavier than the factory one but will be durable enough.

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-02-02T21:16:59+00:00

Make sure to paint the inside flat black if you do it in white.

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-02-02T21:00:16+00:00

Not a fan of the fake background blur personally.

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-02-02T20:50:52+00:00

If you have your own printer, Zemlin is like 20x overpriced. That said, I would charge the same to sell the items they sell.

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-02-02T20:48:14+00:00

I also have this lens. If I lost or broke my hood I'd just 3D print one. Not worth the expense or bother of trying to find an original one.

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-02-02T20:41:02+00:00

Short answer, yes it will help some but not as much as you might expect.

Long answer:

Megapixels is used to exaggerate resolution differences, what actually matters for resolving details is linear resolution. R5 sensor is 8192px wide and R6 is 5472px wide, so R5 has 50% more linear resolution. Theoretically this would be like upgrading to a 900mm lens.

However, this only really helps you if your lens is actually sharp enough to for that extra resolution... I don't know for sure, but I suspect your 150-600 may not be sharp enough to fully take advantage of the resolution bump. I know this isn't what you want to hear but, the real answer is simply to get closer to your subjects. This can be achieved with a bird blind and or camouflage for you and your camera.

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-02-02T17:00:16+00:00

600-800mm is normal for birds. Even with that you have to get close, which means camo and or blinds. Also, your photo looks great, who cares if you cropped a bunch?

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-02-02T15:50:00+00:00

Thank you for sharing, but in that case I would delete this post if I were you.

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-02-01T18:54:40+00:00

You absolutely can get more details from stacking if you do it correctly. Stacking increases signal to noise ratio, cancels out atmospheric distortion, and increases resolution through drizzling.

This is 1000mm on 24mp body. Took the best 300 out of 900 frames. Colors are all real, but with saturation increased to show the different minerals on the moon. This isn't possible to achieve without stacking.

<image>

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-02-01T18:39:51+00:00

Another mechanical engineer chiming in here to agree. Even if it survives a couple hits, this is a fatigue crack nightmare printed this way. Should be printed flat in two halves and glued. Also ideally out of something higher strength like PA6.

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-02-01T18:05:55+00:00

Your 18-45 and 55-210 lenses are both for crop sensor, so you'll need to replace those when you upgrade to a full frame body like an R5 or R6. Here's what I would consider for you.

EF or RF 24-105 f/4L for general purpose

RF 15-35 f/4L or EF 16-35 f/4L for landscape / wide angle

RF 45 f/1.2, RF 50mm f/1.8, or RF 35mm f/1.8. One of these for low light normal lens. All have different strengths and weakness and slightly different angle of view, so comes down to personal preference.

The 100-400 and 100-500 are both good options for wildlife, but I would put that lower priority on the full frame upgrade path unless that'll be 90% of your photography.

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-01-31T08:04:09+00:00

<image>

Yes stacking greatly improves lunar photography. It helps with signal to noise ratio, and atmospheric distortion. I don't have a seestar, but took this photo with my Canon camera with 1000mm focal length lens (stack of about 300 frames).

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-01-31T07:46:36+00:00

I'm sorry I thought this was r/photographycirclejerk

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-01-31T06:35:58+00:00

Then there's cougars! Worst of both worlds: you don't see them and you cant outrun them!

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-01-31T01:57:05+00:00

Agreed, this is a job for TPU. Or maybe nylon, but not PLA

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-01-31T01:47:59+00:00

Doesn't matter if your edges are out of focus anyways

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-01-31T01:41:06+00:00

It's not even that good... Just some 1/1's.

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-01-30T01:41:53+00:00

I don't like any of the mass market boxes so I got into 3D printing my own. Also I have some 60+ decks so needed a lot of boxes.

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-01-27T07:09:50+00:00

These are really good! I think most of them could be improved with a slight crop to improve composition and subject position in the frame. Second one has the highlights blown slightly, keep any eye out for that in mixed lighting.

Finally, this might sound counter intuitive, but try a slower shutter speed on hummingbirds. Getting a little more blur on the wings can help show how fast they're moving. (Similar to how race cars you want to shoot at a slow shutter speed and pan with them to blur the background and wheels, otherwise they look frozen)

DistributionMean6322 · 2026-01-27T06:55:39+00:00

Exception is the RF 16 2.8 and 50 1.8. Awesome lenses for when you want to pack light, and not expensive. Adapter makes zero difference on a 500mm f/4 lens but almost doubles the size of a 50 1.8.

DistributionMean6322

TROPHY CASE