Lens caps are a great solution for protecting the front element of lenses when they’re not in use, but can be misplaced when you take them off. On the other hand, screw-on lens filters are a great solution for protecting the lens’ glass as well, but they introduce an additional layer of glass between your camera and the world. Is there a middle ground?
At the CP+ trade show in Japan, Kenko International is showing off a new product that aims to deliver the best of both worlds. It’s called the Flip Cap, and is a lens cap that screws on permanently, but flips out of the way when you’re using your camera. Read more…
Flickr photographer RawSniper1 has a clever way of holding onto his lens caps when they’re not attached to the front of his lenses: he uses LEGO pieces. By attaching one thin 2×4 piece permanently to the top of his lens cap and one thin 2×8 piece to his camera strap, he created a simple DIY lens cap holder system.
The lens cap has been in the photo-industry news quite a bit over the past year, with companies developing new shock absorbing caps, Canon switching over to pinch-style caps, and a constant stream of new lens cap holder concepts. Besides using your pocket (the obvious solution), RawSniper1′s tip is one of the simplest and cheapest we’ve seen yet.
Alongside the 24-70mm f/4 IS and 35mm f/2 IS lenses Canon announced today was an interesting tidbit that hasn’t gotten that much press: Canon is refreshing its lens cap design. Canon’s ‘Mark II’ lens caps feature a pinch-style design that’s pretty standard in the industry. Read more…
Photographer Preston Turk has an idea for how to best store lens caps when they’re not attached to lenses. Called the Stow-Away, it a universal lens cap holder that can hold most of the standard lens diameters (AKA filter sizes): 52mm, 55mm, 58mm, 62mm, 67mm, and 72mm. Turk designed the accessory to attach to the underside of cameras via the standard tripod mount. Giving your lens cap a quick shove underneath your camera will click it securely into place. Read more…
Lens caps are often cast aside in favor of lens hoods, but what if you could have both in one accessory? That’s what the Hoocap does. It’s not as fancy as the blooming lens hood concept we featured a year ago, but it seems pretty well thought out. Extend the cap/hood out from your camera, and the two “curtains” open up, allowing the camera to “see” and blocking errant light from causing flares. Close it, twist it, and push it into your lens, and it locks into its closed position for protecting your glass. Read more…
Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant is one of the most graceful players in the NBA, but put a camera in his hands and he becomes a mere mortal. Bryant was spotted by television cameras at a Roger Federer Olympic tennis match having trouble with his Canon DSLR and telephoto L lens. He is seen asking someone — presumably a photographer — for help, only to be told that the lens cap was still on. Read more…
A photographer at the London 2012 Olympics was spotted by a television camera making an embarrassing mistake that’s usually limited to newbies: forgetting to remove the lens cap. As he tries to photograph Japanese gymnast Kohei Uchimura using his DSLR’s live view, the photographer notices that his LCD screen is strangely blank. After a short period of befuddlement, he realizes the errors of his ways, quickly corrects it, and casts a classic sidelong glance to see if any of his photographer buddies were secretly laughing at him.
We shared a similar video last year, but that photographer had more of an excuse: he was shooting with a rangefinder.
Compact cameras feature lenses that automatically “cap” themselves when retracted and not in use. Interchangeable lenses, on the other hand, usually don’t. The X-Cap changes that. It’s a Taiwan-designed lens cap that snaps onto the front of certain lenses that feature a retracting front element (the Micro Four Thirds system has lenses like this). When the front element retracts, the cap automatically closes — great for people who hate dealing with lens caps. Read more…
As the saying goes “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but why not make it better? That’s probably the attitude Ricoh is approaching their newest patent with, because they’re making modifications to one of the few pieces of camera equipment that hasn’t changed since the early days — the lens cap.
The patent isn’t anything revolutionary (i.e. a lens cap with air bags… there’s an idea) but the diagram does include an impact zone with small springs on either side that should add some shock-absorbency so that dropping your lens doesn’t always have to spell disaster. It’s certainly not the be-all-end-all in lens protection, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
