Protective filters

Why not one of those old time medium soft rubber lens hoods. Less bang for the buck. Some of them folded back on themselves without having to remove it. For the record, a lens hood would make my camera and lens combination too long for my camera case. I do not like to rest my camera on the front of the lens. Sure was nice once at a concert when I touched my glass filter leaving a smudge to not have to try to clean my lens. I could have easily done better by having an extra filter to swap. Finally went back to my distant truck to clean the filter. This episode made me consider a lens hood which would have, possibly, prevented contact with my finger. But, if it still had touched, I would have had the same problem as without the hood. Also, as I said before, lens hoods make my lens too long for the case. If that were not true, I would have a hood and filter to cover both types of "Oops". Oh yea, a lens hood's extra length could make your photo tool more apt to hit things and give more lateral leverage to a side blow. If I could only have one protection device, it would be the filter. Would like to have one of those folding hoods, though if it would not cause vignetting and blocking of the focus beam or flash.
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Christian Amateur Photographer