VinceC
Veteran
Bought a new Nikon S3-2000? Wondering what to do about Nikon's gross oversight in not including a back cap for the virtually irreplaceable 50mm f/1.4 millennium lens that came with it?
You can shell out $50 to $200 for a suitable vintage back cap. Russian back caps may work. You can buy a brand new back cap for about $30 from Russia, and it even comes with a Kiev-mount Helios f/1.8 lens to keep the cap from getting scratched(!) (Note -- I don't own a Helios and so have no idea if its cap fits the Nikkor Millennium.) (Caps for the regular 50mm f/1.4 Sonnar-based Nikkor lens of the 1950s probably do not fit, but might. The rear element on the much more common 1950s lens is quite a bit smaller than on the S3-2000 lens).
Still striking out? Try raiding your medicine cabinet. In my attached photo, you'll see that I was quickly able to find three suitable solutions from a U.S. pharmacy.
1) The little 2-teaspoon cup that comes with Robitussin and other cold remedies. The back of any lens 50mm internal mount Nikon/Contax lens slips right in. It's a little top-heavy sitting on a shelf, but it keeps the rear element very safe in a camera bag.
2) The child-proof lid on Flintsones chewable vitamins. This can be just a bit loose, partly because of the way the child-proof lock is made. But the lens has a low center-of-gravity on a bookshelf and is protected in a camera bag.
3) My favorite and the one I'm now using -- the childproof lid from a prescription-medicine bottle from a pharmacy. These do come in different sizes, obviously. But I've got two from CVS drugstore that are the correct size, and they're both from recent prescriptions. The lens slides right on and is perfectly protected. It might be just a wee bit too snug for some people's taste, so you might file down two or three of the five "ribs" in the lid that actuallly make contact with the chrome mount of the lens. I didn't do this. I've had the lens about four days now, and the cap fits quite well.
You can shell out $50 to $200 for a suitable vintage back cap. Russian back caps may work. You can buy a brand new back cap for about $30 from Russia, and it even comes with a Kiev-mount Helios f/1.8 lens to keep the cap from getting scratched(!) (Note -- I don't own a Helios and so have no idea if its cap fits the Nikkor Millennium.) (Caps for the regular 50mm f/1.4 Sonnar-based Nikkor lens of the 1950s probably do not fit, but might. The rear element on the much more common 1950s lens is quite a bit smaller than on the S3-2000 lens).
Still striking out? Try raiding your medicine cabinet. In my attached photo, you'll see that I was quickly able to find three suitable solutions from a U.S. pharmacy.
1) The little 2-teaspoon cup that comes with Robitussin and other cold remedies. The back of any lens 50mm internal mount Nikon/Contax lens slips right in. It's a little top-heavy sitting on a shelf, but it keeps the rear element very safe in a camera bag.
2) The child-proof lid on Flintsones chewable vitamins. This can be just a bit loose, partly because of the way the child-proof lock is made. But the lens has a low center-of-gravity on a bookshelf and is protected in a camera bag.
3) My favorite and the one I'm now using -- the childproof lid from a prescription-medicine bottle from a pharmacy. These do come in different sizes, obviously. But I've got two from CVS drugstore that are the correct size, and they're both from recent prescriptions. The lens slides right on and is perfectly protected. It might be just a wee bit too snug for some people's taste, so you might file down two or three of the five "ribs" in the lid that actuallly make contact with the chrome mount of the lens. I didn't do this. I've had the lens about four days now, and the cap fits quite well.
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