Lens caps... Evil?

[pevelg]

Put a rangefinder in his hands and we can then all relate! 😀

My last mistake was shooting a casual day at my brothers. After about 15 exposures, I put my camera down and wondered off. When I returned to take more pictures, I noticed the lens cap was on. )*#@%. Thanks to it being a Leica, I rewound the film and started again. Who knows what beautiful shots I had taken.

 

[Particular]

I sometimes hold my leica up to my eye to get a sense of the framing, without having the intension of taking a picture. Doing this I have occasionally had exchanges that went like:
"Do you realise that you have the lens cap on?"
"Yes, I do."
"Oh" (confused look)

 

[coelacanth]

For this very reason, I don't use lens caps. They are EVIL. Most of them are left at home, sitting in my junk camera box. I just use good quality UV filter and hood, being careful not to put camera facing the sun.

Only exception is Elmar 50/3.5 because I don't have appropriate filter for it. But once I leave home, lens cap is off the camera for the whole time.

 

[Clovis]

I agree, my lens caps sit at home in a safe place. They are too much of a hassle to keep track of and finding replacements for them is a pain if you happen to lose one.

 

[binky]

I've used an RF steady for several years already, and it still happens. I like to blame having AE makes me complacent, but then I should know better. I'm just wondering if the pros or the seasoned veterans have occasionally such lapses?

 

[Brian Puccio]

I get suspicious when my meter tells me I need an exposure of longer than a second.

 

[pevelg]

I get suspicious when my meter tells me I need an exposure of longer than a second.

Indeed. Too bad my M7ii meter is outside of the lens and that my M4 has none!!!1 🙁

 

[tbarker13]

The only reason I hold onto a lens cap is the fact that I may end up selling the lens one day - and want to be able to say "comes with front and rear caps."
Outside of that, they just seem like a waste of plastic or metal.

 

[Beemermark]

The only reason I hold onto a lens cap is the fact that I may end up selling the lens one day - and want to be able to say "comes with front and rear caps."
Outside of that, they just seem like a waste of plastic or metal.

I just sold a lens, barely used and in the box. Seller was upset (rightfully so) that i couldn't find the lens cap. Hunted the whole house for it and finally just bought him another new lens cap. Except for a few Leica lenses you can't put the lens cap on if you have the hood on. My lenses (and camera) are either in a camera bag or all a shelf when not in use. What is the purpose of a lens cap anyway?

 

[batterytypehah!]

I have only one RF with a lens cap that's small enough to overlook, and no UV filter to replace it with. That's the Vitomatic. Sure enough, I found some negs once and couldn't remember which camera they were from -- until I noticed the blank frames here and there.

Don't dwell on the shots you lost this way. You have to think like the art historian in that old joke: It's truly amazing that all the major works of antiquity have survived into our times 😉

 

[jmcd]

I love my Zeiss Biogon 35/2, but I have no idea how to operate the lens cap. I am not convinced that it was made to be operated with human fingertips.

 

[Chris101]

I don't have a cap for my lens! While it's nice to know there is one less thing for me to worry about and eventually lose, I do worry about burning tiny holes in my shutter from the sun!

 

[tbarker13]

I just sold a lens, barely used and in the box. Seller was upset (rightfully so) that i couldn't find the lens cap. Hunted the whole house for it and finally just bought him another new lens cap. Except for a few Leica lenses you can't put the lens cap on if you have the hood on. My lenses (and camera) are either in a camera bag or all a shelf when not in use. What is the purpose of a lens cap anyway?

Exactly. That's why my lens caps all go into their original box, or a little container I have set aside for them. If I took one out of the house, I'm sure I'd lose it somewhere.

 

[jesse1dog]

I just wonder how many who use a filter to protect their precious lens have a filter whose glass is as good as the lens! And if you have a thread through the lens cap attached to the camera, why should the cap get lost? Of course if we all used evil SLRs nobody would be taking blank frames anyway!
Great things lens caps especially the plastic ones!
jesse

 

[back alley]

lens caps are useless.
i put them into a small case and pull them out if i sell the lens.

and those cap 'keepers' make people look like tourists...

 

[jesse1dog]

Who cares if you look like a tourist? I don't care what I look like as long as I am comfortable in doing whatever.
Perhaps there is some safety in looking like one rather than a terrorist!
jesse

 

[ferider]

I dislike shutter holes. I like lens caps. Jeans pockets were made for them ....

 

[tbarker13]

I just wonder how many who use a filter to protect their precious lens have a filter whose glass is as good as the lens!
jesse

I see this thought pop up here and there. But I don't really understand it. As far as I can see, the quality of the filter would have to be just awful to have a real impact on the images.
I've used Leica, B&W, Tiffen, Hoya, etc. filters on the front of lenses - and I've just never noticed any negative impact.

I've used lenses with scratches on the front element that perform just as well as those without. Of course, maybe I'm missing something.

 

[back alley]

why do folks have to worry about pinholes?

oh right, for those quiet cloth shutter curtains...😉

 

[40oz]

I see this thought pop up here and there. But I don't really understand it. As far as I can see, the quality of the filter would have to be just awful to have a real impact on the images.
I've used Leica, B&W, Tiffen, Hoya, etc. filters on the front of lenses - and I've just never noticed any negative impact.

I've used lenses with scratches on the front element that perform just as well as those without. Of course, maybe I'm missing something.

Filters cause lens flare that wouldn't happen without it. I used to use a filter quite often, sometimes a red one just to let me use fast film and slow shutter in daylight. After numerous issues I decided it just wasn't worth it.

Scratches on a lens also result in flare that wouldn't exist without the scratches. It's not that you can't take a picture with a scratched lens, it's that the lens is much more susceptible to flare. Dust and dirt illuminate as well, causing a general haziness at times. Obviously not an issue if you never, ever shoot except with the sun at your back, but backlit portraits are fun sometimes, as well as contre-jour. And a romantic candle-lit scene covered in veiling flare isn't my idea of a winner.

I carry my cameras in a jacket pocket or bag a lot, and without a lens cap all kinds of crap gets on the glass. It's easier to remove the cap when the camera comes out than clean the glass whenever the camera comes out of a pocket or bag. Generally, if the camera is in my hand the cap is in a pocket. The only exception is when I'm moving through a crowd, and then I usually am cupping the body with my hand over the lens. When I come out of the crowd the cap goes into a pocket again and I'm ready to shoot. Not really all that many experiences of missing the shot.

Perhaps the solution is a slip-on or clip-on UV filter? 😀 That way you at least get something if you forget to take off the "cap."