RF 200-800 Lens Design Issue - Filter can't be used with hood

[MadJack70]

A friend of mine was lucky enough to have received her Canon RF 200-800mm lens that she had ordered in Nov. 2023.  She has encountered an issue with the lens design.   The new lens does not appear to allow use of a filter while the lens hood is in place.  She and her camera shop have tried a number of different brands of filters, but none appear to allow the lens hood to be mounted while a filter is attached.  This seems to be a rather inexcusable design flaw on Canon's part.  When Canon technical support was contacted, no one appeared to know anything about the issue.  With the exception of this problem, she loves her new lens.  Has anyone else encountered this issue with this lens?

[MadJack70]

As I stated previously on 4/12/24, the hood was the Canon-supplied hood that was included with the RF 200-800mm lens.   I do not know which brands and models of filters were tried.   My friend returned to her Canon-authorized dealer where she had purchased the RF 200-800mm lens.   The dealer tried every brand and model of 95mm filter that they had in stock.  None of the brands/models tried would allow the Canon lens hood to be mounted with the filter installed.  I have no further information than that.  As a result, my friend either uses her new lens with the hood and no filter or with a filter and no hood.  She cannot use both together.   

[Tronhard]

I have had the 200-800 for about 3 months now and have had absolutely no issue in putting a filter on the unit along with the lens hood.  I use a Sirui protect lens filter but have also mounted B+W ones for protection and for Polarizing.   When you say that the filter cannot be mounted, is this before or after the hood is attached?   I put the filter on before I ever mount the hood and leave it there.
Like my colleague Rick, I have never heard of this phenomenon occurring:  I checked with several other users and talked to a couple of my local stores, and they have never had an issue with this either.
Given that, it sounds more like an individual component issue rather than a systemic or design one.
The easiest option would be to try a different lens hood unit and see if there is a fault in the one they have - perhaps the camera store can arrange a temporary swap for the experiment, 

[MadJack70]

Tronhard, thank you so much for your input.  I will pass it along to my friend.  Her issue is that once she screws a filter into place on the lens, the Canon lens hood provided will not fit over that filter to attach to the lens.  I am beginning to wonder if Canon supplied her with the correct hood.  I do also have a number of B+W filters to try on her lens.  I also have a recently purchased Canon Protect Filter to try.   She had tried a third-party hood that was supposed to fit the lens, but still was unable to use a filter with that hood.   Perhaps it is her individual unit that is the issue.   I do know that she was the first buyer in the state of Michigan to purchase the lens when it first came out in December.  Again, thanks so much for the feedback.

[Waddizzle]

“ As I stated previously on 4/12/24, the hood was the Canon-supplied hood that was included with the RF 200-800mm lens.   I do not know which brands and models of filters were tried. “

Without a specific model number, then I would conclude that you have a camera shop provided hood.  It also appears that you do not know what model filter you were sold.

I wish you luck resolving your issues. As you said, no one else seems to have reported similar issues.

[shadowsports]

Cheers Trevor.  I suspected there wasn't a systemic issue out there 😄

[Tronhard]

I would suspect that it is less that Canon supplied a different hood during manufacture, but that it is possible it has been lost and replaced with the wrong hood for some reason along the way.  The hood should have the following identifier on the outside near where it connects to the camera body: ET-101, it's a light grey, so not glaringly obvious. 

If the hood does not have that, then the wrong hood is on the lens.

[Waddizzle]

---

@Tronhard wrote:

I would suspect that it is less that Canon supplied a different hood during manufacture, but that it is possible it has been lost and replaced with the wrong hood for some reason along the way.  The hood should have the following identifier on the outside near where it connects to the camera body: ET-101, it's a light grey, so not glaringly obvious. 

If the hood does not have that, then the wrong hood is on the lens.

---

I totally agree.  It has been my suspicion from the start the the hood might be the correct hood for the lens.  It looks an “Open Box” item may have been sold as new, too.

Without specific part numbers, then no one is able to try to reproduce the issue.

[MadJack70]

Thanks for the help.   I will forward the hood part number to my friend and have her check it out.   She is also going to return to the Canon dealer this weekend with her lens for some type of resolution.

[Tronhard]

I would not seek to respond for my respected colleague Ernie, but for me, the traditional uses of a polarizing filter were to darken the sky colours during the middle of the day in particular, intensify colours and reduce environmental reflections.   With the features now available in post-production software, the first two of those can be dealt to varying degrees with via software.  
Where the polarizing filter has still some relevance is where there are significant inherent reflections: such as looking down into an underwater scene, or where glass is reflecting back the light or other scene elements.

In the latter case, I was recently shooting researchers doing work at a university and needed to get a shot of a particular process that was taking place inside a protective plexiglass cubicle.  Without a CPL filter, this is what I got:
Amy's lab work - no CPL
Attaching a filter made all the difference:
Amy's work with CPL
So, I think Ernie's position has some merit, if one is using the appropriate post production software and techniques, but as he said 'less relevant' I would hazard that he is allowing for such applications as this example.

[MadJack70]

My friend checked and she definitely has the Canon ET-101 hood.  The hood however is black not light gray.  I then checked Canon's site and they also show a black hood for that lens.   I did get the model of the filter she had been sold, a Promaster HGX Prime 95MM Protection UV Filter.  I still do not know what other filters the Canon dealer tried.  She is going back to the dealer this weekend and I will let you know what they try to resolve the issue.  Thanks for your input.