Useless clutter.

It still amazes me that you hear that old chestnut that a lens hood helps improve your pictures. With modern lens coatings it’s very hard indeed to induce flare in pictures even directly into the sun and when you do, careful shielding of one corner of the lens with your hand is far superior to anything offered by a lens hood, the latter an inevitable compromise between function and size. What’s right at the wide end of your zoom focused on infinity – which physics dictates any hood must be designed for – is near useless at the wide end and/or closer distances, whereas your hand is supremely efficient by comparison. Just cup it around the lens until it just disappears in the viewfinder.

What’s that, you say? The lens hood provides protection? Wrong. When you drop your camera on its hood you are just transmitting increased leverage from the shock to the lens barrel, owing to the force magnifying effect of the protruding hood.

So do yourself a favor. Remove this piece of nonsense or avoid wasting money on one, if it’s extra, in the first place.

Pier 9 and Transamerica, San Francisco. G1, Olympus 9-18mm @ 18mm. No lens hood.

And while you are at it, junk that useless case and start taking pictures instead.