My Nikon 70-200 2.8 Lens Hood Mod.

 I've had the Nikon 70-200 2.8 VR for over a year and it's one of of my favorite lens. It's very fast focusing and super sharp. The only problem I have ever had with it is the lens hood falls off if the hood release button gets bumped. This happens to me too often when there are a lot of people around looking at me or when I'm trying to be really quite and not draw any attention. That plastic hood is pretty loud when it hits the tile floor in a quite room but not as loud as one of the light stands I have that decided to unhook itself from my bag and crash to the marble floor in the lobby of a really nice hotel as I was waiting to meet a couple I was shooting. It's crazy how many times that thing bounced and the sound just kept echoing around for what felt like days. I think I woke somebody up on the 8th floor with that one. Sorry. The lady behind the check-in desk didn't even loop up surprisingly. Probably happens all the time.

 I decided to look at the catch on the lens hood and see if I could modify the spring to provide more pressure to help keep the button from getting accidentally pushed. The spring is a coil type spring that could be wound up a little tighter and that would help but it still wouldn't provide the kind of resistance I was looking for. Then I came up with a better idea.
  I cut a rubber band just a hair bigger than the space between the hook and the back of the cover. (A "hair" is an appropriate unit of measurement by the way. It's used in here in the South to refer to a distance that's just a little less than a smigid.) The cover holds it in place and keeps it pressed flat into place to keep the tension on the lever that keeps the hood locked on. It works perfect. It isn't so much pressure that it makes it hard to get off but is way better than how easy the button was to push. Now I won't feel like a idiot like when my lens hood fell of at the zoo and I had to chase it down the walkway hoping nobody would accidentally step on it or worse kick it into the gorilla exhibit. That would have made Conner mad if I had to hang him over the ledge by his ankles to get my lens hood while Robin tried unsuccessfully to distract the gorillas so they didn't think Conner was a new play toy. It could have made some good pictures though. Do I need a model release from a gorilla?

 Anybody trying this, its easy to take apart and put back together except for getting the little spring back in place. That took a little patience but I was able to get it back in place with a small flat head screwdriver and a little effort. I'm not sure the spring is even needed anymore but I wanted to put it back just incase the rubber band piece somehow ever fell out.

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