First Impressions: Freewell Real Lens Hood (Ricoh GRIIIx and Fujifilm X100VI)
When traveling light with compact cameras such as the Fuji X100VI and Ricoh GRIIIx you negotiate a few tradeoffs.
Do you go as minimalist as possible, embracing the pocketability of the camera (especially the super-compact GR) or do you attach a lens hood to cut lens flare and give the front element some physical protection? Or maybe you want to use a filter in which case it’s not always simple to use a lens hood too, especially if it’s a filter that rotates, like a circular polarizer (CPL) or variable neutral density filter.
If you’re willing to sacrifice ultra-pocketability the Freewell Real Lens Hood addresses the second tradeoff by combining a rotating CPL and a 1/4-mist diffusion filter into the hood itself. This means one attachment provides both light control and physical protection, though you’re adding some bulk.
After a few weeks of use, here are my early impressions of the Freewell Real Lens Hood, along with some photos I took at the Mt. Angel Oktoberbest using the Real Lens Hood on both my GRIIIx and X100VI.
[Disclaimer: Freewell sent me the Real Lens Hood to try out, but this post isn’t sponsored, they didn’t ask to see the post in advance (or the YouTube video I made about the lens hood), and all opinions are my own.]
How It Works
The hood attaches directly to the camera’s filter thread and can be aligned using a small hex key included in the kit. During nine hours of shooting at Oktoberfest, the hood remained secure without needing to be tightened.
The filter rotates via a small external tab, so you can fine-tune polarization without removing the hood or touching the glass. This design makes it particularly useful for quick adjustments during street or travel shooting.
Build and Compatibility
Construction is solid. The hood and filter housing are CNC-machined aluminum, and the unit feels well-balanced even on a small camera body. Both the GRIIIx and X100VI versions include a 49mm filter mount. So you should be able to use any of your favorite filters with the Real Lens Hood: a variable ND, straight CPL, stronger diffusion, whatever you need.
The lens cap is magnetic and NFC-enabled (a technology that was new to me), linking to the product manual and support documentation when scanned with a phone.
Optical Performance
In my testing, the optical performance of the Freewell lens was solid. The CPL cut reflections effectively (as in the example from the Oktoberfest car show), deepened skies, and improved overall contrast. The quarter-mist diffusion filter introduced a subtle halation around highlights without noticeably reducing sharpness. Any vignetting was minimal—less than what I typically add in post-processing.
Value
The Freewell Real Lens Hood kit—hood, CPL/mist filter, and magnetic cap—retails for about $130 USD. By comparison, the 49mm PolarPro Everyday Filter (a combination CPL + diffusion) costs around $90, without a hood. Considering the build quality and integrated design, the price seems reasonable.
Conclusion
If you shoot with compact fixed-lens cameras like the GRIIIx or X100VI and want both filter flexibility and physical protection without too much bulk, the Freewell Real Lens Hood is a practical, well-executed solution. I plan on using mine all the time…especially on the GR, because it’s on the Ricoh that I think the lens hood integrates nicely with the aesthetic. I don’t love the red tabs on the silver X100VI version, but that’s just me.
