Re: [Leica] Lens Caps and Coupling Rings

[Walter S Delesandri <walt@jove.acs.unt.edu>]

Assuming that you have a "normal" lens (for you) or if you have multiple 
bodies, you keep a "set" of normals  (in my case, a 50 on one and 
28 or 35 on the other)....usually with a 90 summicron in the bag, used 
very little...do you guys actually USE lens caps?.....for example, 
if you're shooting, and you want another lens for one or two pictures, 
do you bother with caps on the "unused" lens?   or do you not keep 
certain lenses on as "Normal?\".....I know this sounds confusing, 
but here's what I"m saying:
For years, working or just playing, I'll carry a body with a 35, plus a 
90 in bag/pocket (possibly plus a Nikon, but that depends on the task)
If I carry two Leicas, one ALWAYS has the 35 on it....  If I need/want 
the 90 for a shot, I take it out of the pouch, drop the other lens 
in the bag pocket (with SL filter, face down, but sans rear cap)....shoot 
my "90" picture(s), and stick the short lens back on.....just be careful not 
to drop/cram anything in the pocket with the exposed lens element....
I, and fellow photogs, have been doing this for 25 years, and no problems.
Of course, there are klutzes out there that scratch/ding EVERYTHING, but 
my gear (some of it 30 years old), looks good, with normal "wear", but 
no real damage.  
Do you folks "unpack" and "uncap" and "repack" etc. between EACH usage?

I'm always interested not only in other's WORK, but HOW they work....their 
methods, how much gear, how carried, etc....it's always useful to get new 
ideas.

CU later, 
Walt

On Wed, 21 Jul 1999 19:48:43 EDT InfinityDT@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 7/21/99 5:01:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
> msmall@roanoke.infi.net writes:
> 
> << Leitz/Leica intended there to be two separate devices, a lens cap and a
>  lens coupling ring.  Why try to combine them?  That is the most unseemly of
>  all possible things!
>  
>  You have, say, two lenses attached by a coupling ring in your bag, and
>  another on the camera.  You remove the lens from your camera and swap it
>  onto the coupling ring for a lens there, which you then install on your
>  camera.  Why the need for this mixture of lens cap and coupling ring?
>  
>  Marc >>
> 
> Of course you know that the R lens couplers *do* have a solid partition in 
> the middle.  Why the M couplers don't is probably open (pardon the pun) to 
> conjecture, but to me it's no big deal because I simply put the body cap on 
> the open end of the coupler, just to protect the rear element of the other 
> coupled lens.  The most important fact is that Leica, and nobody else, makes 
> couplers *period*, and they're a darned nifty idea.  I had to jury-rig two 
> lenscaps together for my Nikons.  I don't trust glue.  I used flatwashers and 
> pop-rivets.  But I doubt if I'd have ever thought of it were it not for the 
> Leica couplers.
> 
> DT