[Leica] Lens caps - I use 'em

[Doug Herr <71247.3542@compuserve.com>]

I use lens caps.  I picked up this ugly habit in Denali National Park in my
youth when I was working at the park's hotel, doing any job that would get
me 2 or more days off per week and $$ for more Kodachrome.

The park's shuttle bus system takes tourists from one end of the park to
the other, and back, in one day.  160 miles of dirt road in a rattling
yellow off-season school bus.  On rainy days the families with kids,
strollers, smelly lunches, large miscelaneous-shaped bags and/or boxes with
camping or picnic gear were packed in 3 to a 2-kid seat along with
backpackers and mountain climbers whose bodies stunk worse than the
tourist's lunches and whose grungy 80-lb backpacks complete with crampons,
ice axes and skis were piled 10-deep on top of the bus's muddy flat tire
(stowed where the spare had been) in the back behind all the seats.  Much
to my surprise, the shuttle system's safety record was phenomenally good.

In dry weather, some people would actually get off the bus to hike.  The
dirt road turned into a fine, abrasive dust that seeped into every crevice.
 The plumes of dust raised by each bus could be seen for miles; the dust
cloud _inside_ the bus would obscure the driver's view of the back seats. 
The dust trashed 2 of my Photomic resistor rings.  At times a bear, moose
or other large mammal was close enough to the road that the driver could
shut the bus off so everyone could get a good look at it, and get photos. 
I found it was much easier to keep lens caps on while en route than to
remove my underwear and clean the lens each time the bus stopped for an
animal (BTW, my self-imposed safety rule was to never photograph a griz
from outside the vehicle; I sold some of those bear-from-a-bus photos,
too).

So, I confess - lens caps can be useful, and I won't repent.

Doug Herr
Sacramento