[wizard]

Well, this is a bit like the "Do I need a UV filter for protection and will it be detrimental to the results" discussion which comes up every now and then.

One thing is for sure, using a lens hood can't hurt. BUT, if you would rather shoot without a lens hood, my experience over many, many years shows that there are a great number of situations where using a lens hood or not will not make any difference to the result obtained. For example, if the sun (or any important light source) is in your back, the lens hood will not have any appreciable effect. Also, if the sun shines directly into your lens, such as when taking sunset shots or the like, again the lens hood will not have an effect as it can't shield off the sun anyway. Of course, if there is no sun or other strong light source at all, a lens hood isn't really needed as well.

The only situations where I found lens hoods to really improve the results are when (sun)light comes in obliquely from the front, such that the lens hood is able to shield off those oblique light rays which would otherwise enter the lens and cause internal reflections in the lens.

Most people always use a lens hood because then they don't have to think about whether it will be needed in a given situation or not, and as I said, using it sure doesn't hurt, but you can figure out yourself when you can do without the lens hood.

Cheers,

Andy