Source for Lens caps (EU prefered)

I'm looking for a 45mm and 51mm lens caps for a newly aquired 210 G Claron. Does anyone know of a source for these, preferably in the UK or the EU?

Calumet? Robert White?

Mark,

Did you try contacting the folks at Schneider-Kreuznach? If they can't supply the caps directly, they can probably point you to a dealer in Europe that can.

Kerry

Kerry,
all I can see on their web site is the article numbers and a suggested selling price (USD12 each). John, I expect Calumet and RW will *order* these for me, & I'll pay for it, I'm after somewhere that carries no-name caps for a reasonable price.

Mark,

Did you go to the Schneider-Kreuznach web site, or the Schneider Optics web site? Schneider Optics is the US distributor, and while their site has a LOT of great information, when it comes to ordering caps, they probably can't directly help you out.

None the less, once you have the manufacturer's part number, you should be able to order the caps from any Schneider dealer - at a price of 12USD each. Here in the US, we can order them directly from the Schneider distributor (Schneider Optics). B&H usually has the more common sizes in stock as well. If I'm in need of any caps, I usually just wait until I'm ordering something else from B&H and tack the caps onto that order to minimize shipping costs.

As far as generic caps, Kaiser makes them in a huge range of sizes. I have a number of these that I "special ordered" through my local camera shop (Pro Photo Supply in Portland, OR). They cost about $6 or $7 each in the smaller sizes. They serve the purpose, but I don't like them as well as the original caps. They actually fit too tight. This leads to trapped air between the cap and lens. They are also made of a rather soft plastic that flexes easy. Not a problem in the small sizes, but I would worry about contact with the front element on lenses with large diameters when bouncing around in my pack.

In the mean time, why not just use a generic 49mm snap-cap for the front of your G Claron? This is one of the few items you can probably find in 99.999% of the world's camera stores. I use 52mm Nikon snap-caps on most of my smaller LF lenses. For lenses with threads smaller than 52mm, I use step-up rings that I just leave mounted on the lens at all times. I also carry a spare 52mm snap-cap in my pack. That way if I lose a cap in the field, that one spare cap fits all my smaller lenses (I also carry a spare 67mm cap for my larger lenses).

Kerry

markbb said:

I'm looking for a 45mm and 51mm lens caps for a newly aquired 210 G Claron. Does anyone know of a source for these, preferably in the UK or the EU?

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Hi Mark,

This is a strange coincidence! (shortened version follows...)

I have been trying for a while to track down a supplier of Schneider lens caps in the UK. The guys at Schneider in the USA were extremely helpful, they passed on my query to Schneider in Germany, but also suggested I contact the UK agent for Schneider, Johnsons-Photopia.

A call to J-P resulted in ' we no longer stock these items, but you might like to call Bob Rigby Photography, we have just sold all our remaining stock of lens caps to them'. Well I was lucky, they had what I needed. It does seem though that J-P are not going to support us in the future.

I hope BR have what you are looking for. If not I suggest you contact Schneider Germany direct.

I'll let you know if Schneider respond to me.


Barry
UK

Lens caps for all sizes at ELS-fotokiste.de

markbb said:

I'm looking for a 45mm and 51mm lens caps for a newly aquired 210 G Claron. Does anyone know of a source for these, preferably in the UK or the EU?

Click to expand...

Last year (1994) I purchased several lens caps of different sizes from ELS-Fotokiste in Germany. The availability of sizes and the prices were very good. Please email to: shopping@els-fotokiste.de

BR,

L&Scape

Chances are you're not interested, Mark, but if somebody else needs a particularly exotic or expensive lens cap, here's a page that describes how to make your own. It's part of a site on Soviet FED cameras, but the principles should apply to almost any lens. This is far from difficult; it's on the level of a kindergarten crafts project. When I thought I'd lost the cap on my 20mm lens (which has some ridiculously large diameter), I decided to make my own cap rather than pay the $40 or so B&H wanted for one. When I was mostly done I found the original cap (it slipped off when I was getting out of my car and rolled under it), so I've not used my home-made cap, but if I were motivated enough I could put the finishing touches on it and use it.

It is not UK, but I got a slip-on lens cap from B&H for about $6 or so. Works as well as an OEM cap.

Here is one of a couple of ebay stores that I've seen selling lens caps. My guess is that ebay.uk should have a couple also. http://stores.ebay.com/THE-CAMERA-BOX_Rear-Front-Lens-Caps_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQftidZ2QQtZkm

-Bob

Laz beat me to it...there are a number of eBay sellers in the US who sell every lens cap imaginable. I'd be very surprised if you didn't find the same type of dealer on eBay in other countries.

Failing that, making lens caps isn't that hard. The craft-style project mentioned above works, as do the instructions in the book "Primitive Photography". I modified the "Primitive Photography" instructions by using thin brass rather than heavy construction paper, and I lined the cap with felt...it worked wonderfully.

Best of luck.
Dave

I've seen the ebay sellers, unfortunately none of them list the sizes I want. Looks like I'll have to go the special order route.

The SRB website

markbb said:

I'm looking for a 45mm and 51mm lens caps for a newly aquired 210 G Claron. Does anyone know of a source for these, preferably in the UK or the EU?

Click to expand...

If you want, I can put these sizes on our check list for the fair next weekend and see if I can find some. On such occasions lens caps seem to sprout from all the boxes the stand holders hide beneath their stalls. E.g. last spring we managed to find a rather obsolete size lens hood with filter holders for 5 euros.

medform-norm said:

If you want, I can put these sizes on our check list for the fair next weekend and see if I can find some. On such occasions lens caps seem to sprout from all the boxes the stand holders hide beneath their stalls. E.g. last spring we managed to find a rather obsolete size lens hood with filter holders for 5 euros.

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Many thanks! However I've already placed an order with Robert White.

I'll second harleygsb on this one. I have a number of generic caps from BHphotovideo that slip on various lenses. They run about $5 US but the shipping cost might be a problem for you in the UK... On the up side, they are very available, work well, and come in a huge number of sizes.

- Randy

Have you tried your local used camera shop? I needed some caps for a lens, so I bopped on down to the camera co-op, and they had a big ol' box of 'em, all different sizes, for a whole dollar a piece. They don't match what the lens is (one's a Vivitar, the other's a Tamron, and the lens is a Nikkor), but they allow me to live in bizarro-land, where the off-brand 35mm lens manufacturers make LF optics too.