BillsFace Loc: Michigan

I am going to Europe this summer and will likely want to shoot from inside a train or bus and want to eliminate window glare. I know there are rubber lens hoods that screw into filter threads, but I remember seeing something that isn’t lens diameter specific so it can be used with different lenses or cameras.

Any advice for shooting scenery through windows?

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

That's an interesting question, and I'd like to hear what others have to say. I own a set of rubber lens hoods (but not one size fits all), and I tried them on a bus tour, but I didn't like them. You basically had to smoosh your camera (and your face) right up against the bus window's glass. At that point you could feel every bump and vibration. I guess I could have used live view in lieu of the viewfinder - that might have helped, but when a nice scene came into view, one didn't have a lot of time to fiddle with the camera. One of these days we're going to take a cross-Canada train tour. I'd like a better solution. Maybe a polarizer instead?

charles brown Loc: Tennesse

Have you made your train and/or bus reservations? My son is currently in Europe, and he says that the crowds are already starting to build. He recommends that you make your reservations now, don't wait much longer. The trains between cities frequently travel at high speeds, 130-140 mph. Not many, if any, opportunities to take pictures when on these trains. The excursion trains, of course, travel at much slower speeds. My nephew and his family just got back from a 10-day bus tour of Europe (if it's Tuesday then this must be ??). He said the focus of his bus was to get you from point A to point B. not on seeing scenic sights. As with the trains there are bus tours that do focus on sightseeing. I have used a rubber lens hood pressed against a train and bus window to take pictures. For me, the key to success was to use a high shutter speed in order to reduce camera shake caused by the bus or train. But it was usually a hit and miss experience because I had no control over the lighting and didn't always know when something interesting was coming into view. Have someone drive you around and practice taking pictures out the side window while travelling at different speeds. Camera lens against the window or hand holding. On a recent sightseeing trip to Texas I took several pictures out the side window of a truck. Used high shutter speeds, wide angle lens and held the camera close to the window but not touching it. Did not use a CL filter. Maybe a third were OK. The further away the subject was from the highway, the better the picture. Good luck, have a safe trip and let us know how it went.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

It's been a while since I rode a train in Europe, but I remember a couple of things...

Even on good track, there are irregularities that cause motion in the cars. Stabilizing against the window will capture this movement. I've had some success simply wearing a large, dark hat and shooting close to, but not touching the window. The idea is to make any reflection seen by the lens a reflection of the hat. But your seatmate and neighbors may not like you very much.

Railcar window material is not glass. It is high-impact plastic material. The material is almost always a polarizing material. It will interact with a polarizing filter in unexpected and unbeneficial ways. Internal stresses will cause irregularly shaped dark spots, so remember to remove any polarizing filters.

Most railcar window material is tinted. It can also have a color cast. Be prepared to lose one or two stops of exposure and to deal with unnatural colors.

newsguygeorge Loc: Victoria, Texas

My experience with this issue is pulling the lens hood back over the lens. I don’t know how to describe it in a SFW fashion. Depending on how smooth the ride is, you can touch the window or not, but shoot at an angle. In other words, don’t hold the camera perpendicular to the window. Obviously, you need to shoot at a high shutter speed.

BillsFace Loc: Michigan

Thanks, most of our travel is booked, but we need to take a train from London to Glasgow so we best book that soon

usnret Loc: Woodhull Il

My advice is don't! Best case scenario you still suffer a minimum of 15-20 percent image quality degredation. Why not just rent a car and travel at your leisure?

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Not the best idea. That is unless you have no other opportunity to shoot certain scenes. The "safety" glass in most cars, trains ad planes is far from optically acceptable, likely scratched, water spotted, or tinted. Moving trains that are parallel to your subject will require very fast shutter speeds.

Vibration, blur, bad glass- all not good!

BillsFace Loc: Michigan

Because the primary purpose of the trip is not photography, it’s a European vacation with my wife, who is not a photographer. I’m just trying to make the most is the photographic opportunities I have.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

Fair enough! Bring along a small kit to clean the glass or Lexan to remove fingerprints, nose grease, etc. Adjust your ISO to accommodate faster shutter speeds. Use a rubber lens shade to help mitigate reflections and buffer vibration. Avoid having the body or lens coming in direct contact with the window- as per the old areal photographer's rule of not allowing the camera to make direct contact with the airframe- a good idea for any moving vehicle. I recommend using one of those soft fiber cloths for window cleaning and rolling them up makes for good buffers to absorb vibration. Use normal and wide-angle focal lengths weh shooting from the train- longer lenses are more subject to blur.

When you get off the train, shoot lots of images from stable and stationary viewpoints.

Have an enjoyable and safe trip!

Fstop12 Loc: Kentucky

Where in Europe is your son traveling? We will be going to Poland, Belgium and Netherlands in July and haven't booked any train reservations yet.

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

Allow me to try to answer your actual question - perhaps the Ultimate Lens Hood is the gadget of which you re thinking

https://www.ultimatelenshood.com/

Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast

Heading late next week to the UK (Scotland) for three weeks, then Iceland for one week and looked at train bookings and yes, you'd better get reservations now, best price seating filling fast. We considered the train from Heathrow to Edinburgh, then rent, but decided to drive since we were renting in Edinburgh anyway, then we can stop at leisure.

I've taken the high-speed trains in France and Germany, and they were traveling far too fast (180+mph) for any quality photos...by the time you see something interesting and get the camera up, you're already passed it I presume UK trains are a little slower though. As recommended by a previous poster, make sure the glass is clean, a couple of Zeiss lens wipes work well. Good luck, enjoy and have a safe trip.

ELNikkor

Travelled by train across Java in December. With a D5100, 18-55 DX, did not use a lens hood of any kind, just kept an inch or two from the window, hand-held, no reflections from inside the train. Used a high (at least 1/500th sec) shutter speed. A wide aperture minimized the imperfections of the window glass, and white-balance was on "Auto", as the glass was tinted. Kept me busy most of the trip, and got many photos of rural Java.

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coolhanduke Loc: Redondo Beach, CA

I would suggest a lens like a 24-120, buy a polarizing filter. I doubt you will have many opportunities to switch lenses while traveling.
As many point out it will be a challenge in its self to just get a shot of something.