Hi I don't like the front cap on my new 50cron.Someone can tell me if it is possible to find a better cap?

Thank' you Pierre

-- pierre cantin (cantinp@videotron.ca), June 08, 2002

Answers

Better in what way Pierre? Personally, I wish they provided metal caps with the raised Leica script for all the lenses. I especially wish they would make caps to fit all the lens hoods like the 28/2 ASPH. But, hey, what do you want for all that $$$$$.

-- Marc Williams (mwilliams111313MI@comcast.net), June 08, 2002.

Unfortunately the pull-out shade on the latest 50/2-M precludes using the older metal Leica caps. I commiserate as I keep a B+W MRC UV filter on mine permanently and the front threads are even shallower and the snap-cap doesn't want to stay on...it was usually lying in the bottom of my bag. My solution was a cap leash, a thin cord that loops the lens and one end sticks onto the cap...inelegant and aftermarket perhaps, but at least I haven't lost the cap. That's what I use when shooting with it (rare nowadays since I got a Tri- Elmar). For transportation I took an old scratched filter, removed the retaining ring and glass and cut a thin piece of black plastic to fit...instant screw-on E39 cap.

-- Jay (infinitydt@aol.com), June 08, 2002.

correct, the cap is one of the worst things I've ever seen out of Leica. It fits ok, as long as no one touches it. I've run through a few, and none do more than make a puny grab.

I've found a "cheaper" and slightly better cap -- a very generic one like you find at chain camera stores -- though they'll almost certainly have to order the size you need (these are, I suspect, the same as the cheap generic ones from B&H or Adorama, though I am not sure). It has the spring tabs, on the sides like the Leica, just a better grab (marginally deeper?). Sorry, I don't know the brand or manufacturer, but the 40.5 mm size is a good fit for the Leica 39 front thread -- though if I could find a true 39, or a 40, it might be better still. At less than $5, I can have several, and, if you order some on a gmable, try the 40.5 and a smaller one.

At one time, I found a slip-on rubber cap that fit over the whole pull-out hood, but it was out of camera scrounge piles, from some old camera. You would need a deep rubber cap, of a size 43-46, and comsetically, sooner or later there would be some finish rub off. Home made ones, like others have commented here for the rectangular 35 hoods, just don't seem to hack it as well for the round 50, though I do have one that works ok for the irqoo 135/90 hood.

-- l smith (lacsm@bellsouth.net), June 08, 2002.

Hama makes the best caps there are: check this out. Impossible to knock this cap off the lens accidently.

-- Vijay Nebhrajani (vijay_nebhrajani@yahoo.com), June 08, 2002.

You are right the cap in E39 size is really crud because the squashy teeth that grip the lens are not spring loaded (like most of the other caps), instead its kinda bendy plastic that looses tension after a while.

-- karl yik (karl.yik@dk.com), June 09, 2002.

Talking about lens caps dropping off if you so much as glance at them, I've noticed this tendency with the cap supplied with my Heliar 15mm. Since there's no hood for this lens, I feel that its protruding front element needs protecting, so I like to fit the cap between shots. If you have one of these lenses, beware: the cap falls off at the slightest provocation.

-- Ray Moth (ray_moth@yahoo.com), June 09, 2002.