lens hood question for 17-40L

Hi there,
When I went to shoot in grand canyon utah desert type scenes, I did not use my lens hood at all,
because it got in the way of my adjusting the CPL.

Now I have some regrets, should I have used it ? How would it have changed my pic quality? what is the use of this thing. The lens hood is not very deep anyways, like some of the other ones other people have.
Almost everybody else with lenses, I see have like a long type lens hood for their lenses ?
PS how about night time, when I switch back to UV filter , do I still need a lens hood, does that reduce light in any way to the lens at night, or improve quality of pics in any way?


Please share with me your insight. Thanks.

Puzzled

The purpose of any lens hood is to keep stray light from hitting your lens. Stray light can be any source, natural or artificial, that's outside of your frame that reduces contrast when it hits your lens. Have you shaded your eyes to get a better look at something? Contrast and colors just look better without the stray light.

I use a hood all the time, day or night, unless I'm using my Lee filters. A hood also provides physical protection for the front element, but of course not too much in the case of the 17-40. A good UV filter won't visibly reduce the amount of light getting to your lens but it can catch stray light because its sitting farther forward than your lens's front element for which the hood was designed. I don't use UV filters. I leave the hood on my 17-40 when I use my polarizer and haven't had trouble adjusting the polarizer thanks to the shallowness of the hood. Just be careful not to touch the glass.

Being an ultra wide angle, the hood on the 17-40 can't be too deep or you'd see it in the frame. Put your 50L hood on your 17-40 and you'll see what I mean. The longer the lens, the narrower the FOV, the deeper the hood can be. The benefits of a hood are limited on ultrawide lenses but there's nothing you can do about it unless you want vignetting or actually seeing the hood in your shots.

I still use the hood on my 17-40L when I use a CPL...

I use the hood on all of my lenses. I agree that using a cpl with the hood is a pita. I've heard of people taking a dremel tool to their hoods and cutting a small opening on the bottom to accommodate polarizer usaeage.

NicolasRubio wrote in post #10473126
I still use the hood on my 17-40L when I use a CPL...

I find myself keeping smudging on the CPL if I put on the hood