Prevents glare and unwanted lens flare
Customer Reviews:
Lens Hood versus Lens Cover 
Not quite sure what to say about the lens hood…it does what it supposed to do however when you use it you can’t use the lens cover which was very disappointing to me. I assumed (shame on me) that I would be able to snap the lens cover on after shooting my photos but in order to do that I have to remove this lens hood so it now becomes a choice of what do I really want to use????
Does the job! 
I bought this for my husband. He requested it specifically because he said that it does a great job of blocking the sun from the lens. He misplaced the one he used to own at my home in another state. We moved here, and never found it when we were packing. He ordered another one of the very same kind because he like it so.
