How to remember the lens cap.

PRB · Oct 10, 2009

lens cap off

ralnphot said:
I got in the habit of putting the lens cap in my pocket whenever I pulled my camera out of the carry bag. I only put it back on when I put my camera away.
Rick

I follow this plan too. I always put the cap in the same pocket (right front for me). When there is time, I reach down and feel the cap before I shoot.
Paul

Steve Smith · Oct 10, 2009

perkeleellinen said:
This is to ask, how do you make sure that the cap is off: any tips?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article101899.ece

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article250998.ece

nicefor88 · Oct 11, 2009

I do not use a lens cap, I attach a UV filter instead to protect the front element.

fong · Oct 11, 2009

A UV filter + proper lens shade ensures that I never have to use my lens caps.

alexmacphee · Oct 11, 2009

Get one of those plastic tape labellers. Make a little label with the words

LENS
CAP

and stick it to the back of the camera near the eyepiece. It's not infallible, but it's amazing how many times it prompts you to check the lens cap as you raise the camera.

I used the same tip to put a little label saying WIND ON FIRST next to the speed dial on my Zorki 4. As Zorkians know, you have to wind on to tension the shutter before setting the shutter speed, to avoid risk of damage to the mechanism.

The other thing that helps remind me take the lens cap off is the memory of the excrutiating embarrassment when, during a trip in Ljubljana, a passing Slovenian tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the cap covering the lens on the Oly 35RC raised to my eye.

elekm · Oct 11, 2009

I try to use lens caps with most but not all of my cameras. Sooner or later, however, if you're a rangefinder user, you're going to forget to remove the lens cap.

Christopher Walrath · Oct 11, 2009

Ya know. As absent minded as I can be (read: forget to change ISO on camera or, forget to blow out candle in half bath while washing Polaroid print until hearing the shirt catch on fire or, open my paper safe repeatedly with the lights on or, occasionally open camera back with film unrewound) you'd think that leaving the cap on my Zeiss Ikon Contina III would be an issue. But that's one I don't have a problem with. Knock on wood (read: knocking on the top of my own head). OWW

Mike1234 · Oct 11, 2009

Well, I've never used RF's but while at a job I removed the caps from my SLR's and put them in the bag until I was done shooting. That should do the trick.

JPD · Oct 14, 2009

perkeleellinen said:
I was looking today for an orange 39mm filter. Seems a scarce size...

You can order a new B+W filter in that size. They have yellow-orange and red-orange, single or multicoated.

perkeleellinen · Oct 14, 2009

Thanks, Yes, I found a UK shop that had a 39mm orange after much searching.

f1.4 · Oct 15, 2009

Came home once with with a Leica with half the frames blank on a film taken in Istanbul. New policy: Throw away all lenscaps. Use UV filters as lenscaps. Unscrew the filter and put it in the pocket before you start taking pictures. There is nothing like the contrast of a lens with no filters in front of it. If you forget to unscrew your filter-turned-lenscap, not much damage is done.

T42 · Oct 19, 2009

Hello Forum.

If one only ever shoots with a lens shade on, then the lens cap is off. I do like f.1,4 above, only with the lens shade attached also. If I forget or decide not to remove the UV filter, the lens shade helps keep the flare down a bit too. In either case, the shot is not lost. But as mentioned upthread, do not let the camera rest at a wide aperture. It could burn the curtain if direct sunlight got through there.

Philippe-Georges · Oct 19, 2009

I drilled a tiny hole in to a body-cap, to make a pinhole. Now I do no more need a lens-cap as I do no more need a lens, if you understand what I mean...

Philippe

Brad Maestas · Oct 19, 2009

I had all my lenses and my eyepiece fitted with pressure sensors so that if I put the camera up to my face and the lens cap is still on, it makes a noise. It can also send me a text on my mobile if either sensor is activated while I'm away, making it a formidable security layer as well.

In all seriousness, I feel that in this case, mistakes beget discipline. Another thing that has helped me I suppose is that I never put a cap on. I always leave the hood on and put it in its bag. It doesn't collect dust very easily in there and it's always ready to go. The only time they get a cap is when they're not on the camera.

Ross Chambers · Oct 20, 2009

Brad Maestas said:
I had all my lenses and my eyepiece fitted with pressure sensors so that if I put the camera up to my face and the lens cap is still on, it makes a noise. It can also send me a text on my mobile if either sensor is activated while I'm away, making it a formidable security layer as well.

I'm sure that everyone discussing this subject knows that the Fuji GA 645zi flashes a signal in the viewfinder when the lenscap is left on.

Now if only I could jury rig that technology onto my Voigtlander. Or adapt it to send a message to a mobile, after all it's halfway there already.

Regards - Ross

fotch · Oct 20, 2009

Teach yourself to make it a habit, like many things you do without thinking about it each time: Seat belts, putting out the lights, hanging up the phone, etc.

eddym · Oct 20, 2009

fotch said:
Teach yourself to make it a habit, like many things you do without thinking about it each time: Seat belts, putting out the lights, hanging up the phone, etc.

...tying shoe laces, brushing teeth, loading film, unloading film, loading film on reels, turning the lights off before doing so...

Nothing is really hard once you have made it a habit.

menos · Oct 22, 2009

I use a Leica M6 with internal TTL meter. It blinks, when underexposing by leaving the lens cap on.
I never took a photo of my lens caps.

The M lenses, I use, also have integrated hoods, which help, to remind of the lens cap, when pulling the hood out.

Additional, I also have the habit, to take the lens cap off and put it in my pocket, when getting the camera out of the bag.
When going with no bag, the lens cap is always off.

How to remember the lens cap.

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