Some impact protection is gained from having a sacrificial part taking the blow. Of course, ultra wide angle lenses have very short hoods that offer very little protection. Lens hoods on longer focal length lenses offer more front lens element protection from rain and dust.
Of course, if your lens is not weather sealed, you should not let it get wet in the first place. A clean and dry front element will allow the camera to deliver the better image quality you expect.
But lens hoods are expensive - and inconvenient. But your lens was probably much more expensive - and you are shooting with a D-SLR because you want the best possible image quality not because it was convenient and inexpensive. Lens hoods usually attach in reversed position for convenient, but compact, storage. Note that this reversed position is not for shooting and active use of the lens.
With a fixed focal length lens, the hood is solid and often coated with felt on the inside, blocking out the maximum amount of light possible the felt helps reduce reflected light from the plastic hood.
But with a zoom hood, the curve can allow light in sooner than if the lens was fixed, although not that noticably so unless shooting in vertical orientation and with the lens pointed close to the sun. In this case the sun was close to its maximum height in the sky and these photos were taken with a Canon 7D and Canon EF mm lens. You can see the flare at the bottom and you can also see how some of the dust on my lens has been highlighted.
A lens hood will not help you when the sun or light source is actually in your shot. So what is the hood for? Obviously, there must be more of a reason to use it than just to make your already bulky camera even longer and heavier.
The main reason for using a lens hood is to block unwanted light. Particularly when you shoot outdoors, there are light sources everywhere. The sun might be the main source of light, but there are reflections bouncing off of everything, meaning that light is entering your lens from multiple directions.
Extraneous light can enter your lens from an odd angle and create unwanted lens flare. Now, some photographers love the lens flare and include it in their images. You've probably seen many stunning landscape or portrait images where the sunburst adds a gorgeous element to the photograph. However, you have to understand light and know how to position yourself to get the lens flare in the right spot. Random lens flare can just end up blocking your subject's face or distracting from the subject in some way, resulting in a weaker image.
Furthermore, light traveling horizontally across the front of your lens reduces the color and contrast of the resulting image. Test this yourself with the lens in your own eyes. When you position yourself so that the sun is shining into your eyes from the side, what you see in front of you seems flat and less lively.
The same thing happens to the camera lens. Using a lens hood blocks that light coming in from the side and keeps it from striking the front of the lens. Test it out yourself to see the difference. Go outside and take a photo without the lens hood. Then take another one in the exact same spot with the same settings and the lens hood on. Try to position yourself with a light source coming in from the side so you can see the most drastic result.
The lens hood will always help, but the difference is more noticeable depending on the angle of the light in relation to your camera lens. Protecting the front of your lens is not the primary purpose of your lens hood. Please don't try to sue the lens hood manufacturer when your lens breaks and say we told you to do it.
However, by virtue of it physically being there in the way, it does protect the front of your lens from bumps and scrapes as you move your camera around. It can even protect the glass to some extent if you drop the camera or bang the lens against something hard.
Again, there's no guarantee that your lens will be fine, but it's more likely with a lens hood in the way. On the bright side, if you break your lens hood, you can be relieved that you only have to buy a lens hood and not a new lens. A lens hood can also be useful if you are shooting outdoors when it's raining. Of course, don't haul your expensive gear around in a thunderstorm, but a drizzle is usually fine.
The lens hood works great to keep water droplets from getting on the front of your lens. These days there are even universal lens hoods so that you can replace your broken or lost factory hood with something readily available.
On wide-angle lenses, it's possible for the lens hood to show up in the corners of the image. Thus the cut-out design of the tulip lens hoods. Lens hoods are typically designed for specific lenses and the cut-outs will be perfectly placed to avoid showing up in the photo. Cylindrical lens hoods are used on longer primes and telephoto lenses where there is no danger of the lens hood showing up in the image.
Now that you understand what a lens hood does, do you need one? Basically, it depends on the type of shooting you primarily do. You won't need a lens hood in all situations and all shooting environments. However, when you do need one, it is invaluable to have. This is why you'll see many professional photographers always shooting with the lens hood firmly in place.
Let's break down when it is useful to use a lens hood and when you might want to steer clear. In general, any time you're shooting outdoors, you can benefit from using a lens hood.
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