Pros: made of metal and screws easily into the camera housing protecting the lense assembly as it powers up and while in use. Has inside threads along the outer rim to accomodate filters to totally protect the lense from damage and allow you to obtained filtered photos.

Cons: the flared end of the cover partially occludes the camera's flash pattern creating small areas of shadows. Using an external flash in the camera shoe solves that issue. They could make the flared end a bit smaller to correct this problem.

This is a rigid hood that screws into the lens housing. It does what a hood is supposed to do...block stray light and give some protection to the lens. However, the hood does not come with a cap, and there is no way to put the original lens cap on without taking the hood off. The hood also blocks the lower half of the flash. So, the hood is sort of interesting, but not really convenient. The soft hood at $5 is a better play thing.

Thank you for showing me, I will use it as many times when it comes into my mailbox soon!