claudia__ Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 how serious of a problem is burning holes in your curtains by not using a lens cap? i got a series 6 adapter for my canon 50 ltm lens and put a shade with a uv filter on the lens. so of course now the lens cap doesn't fit. will my curtains be set ablaze during the time my lens is capless? i don't really think so, but i have heard tales. TIA, and yes please treat this as a serious question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donald_brewster Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 If you let the camera sit lens up in the direct sun, you will soon have a hole in the curtain. Walking around with the lens cap off is not a risk IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troll Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 Takes less than a minute. Sometimes a LOT less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kent_tolley2 Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 I'm new to Leica since Feb and lost my 50mm Summicron-M lens cap 2 mos ago so take my advise with caution. I've had fears like yours but have relaxed a bit. I keep a GGr Leica filter on at all times. When I carry the cam over my shoulder I set aperture to f/16 to minimize amount of light hitting focal plane. And when shooting I have cam in my hand with strap wrapped around my wrist so I know it's not pointing at the sun. If it's not over my shoulder or in my hand it's wrapped in a large chamois or in a bag. I should probably also set focus to minimum since the sun is at infinity when I carry it over my shoulder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric friedemann Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 If you burn a hole in your shutter curtain, its a serious problem. In 30 years of not using lens caps, I've managed not to burn any shutters, but I'm charmed that way. An easy way to sidestep the issue is to not leave your camera sitting for extended periods facing the sun. However, with all the other problems in the world, burning shutters should not be high on your list of worries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kent_tolley2 Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 Hee hee. Sounds like the sun is less than infinity when cam is not over my shoulder. I hate composing a msg in this little window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h._p. Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 I can't imagine it being a problem if you never leave the camera on its back. I always put it down on its baseplate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wgpinc Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 I managed to burn a hole in the shutter of my M3 by being dumb enough to leave it lying lens up on a blanket while I sat out in the sun at the Marina Green in SF. It went to Leica, NJ to get a new shutter curtain. This happened a long time ago and hopefully I have smartened up at least a little bit. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray . Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 The higher the sun is up in the sky the greater the risk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben z Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 I've stood there sometimes a minute or more composing shots with the sun in the picture, so far haven't burned the shutter, but I guess covering the lens from now on might be a smart idea because now that I think of it when I was a kid we used to light leaves on fire with a magnifying glass and it didn't take more than a few seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capocheny Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 Quiche... Have never had a problem in spite of not using lenscaps on any of my cameras over the last 25+ years. Wise thing is NOT to leave the lens pointed towards the sun... this is only common sense! If there's ANY risk at all...don't stop the lens down to its smaller f-stops. Do you remember when you were a kid and playing with the sun's rays and a magnifying glass? If you wanted to start a fire quickly...you'd concentrate the beam of sunlight by making a small point of light. Conversely, if the beam was of a larger diameter... you'd be holding that magnifying glass in place ALL day and you'd never start a fire! Make sense? Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
__hank_boneroneo1 Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 Oops> Excuse me. I was looking for physical sciences. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben z Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 HC, I'm not sure I follow your thinking. Stopping the lens down doesn't concentrate the light at one point (otherwise you'd get just a little teeny image in the middle of the neg?). I would think that since the sun is at infinity, keeping the lens's focus ring at the near focus point would spread the sun's image out, wouldn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan flanders Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 It has not happened to me in over sixty years of refusing to be bothered with lens caps so I have not been paranoid about it; however sometimes I wonder if it just might be pushing the odds. I am much more concerned about forgetting to take the cap off and missing the picture. To that end I recommend painting the cap fluorescent orange. In my most arrogant opinion neither stopping the apreture down nor running the lens out to mimimum focus is effective prevention, after all the shutter is a couple of mm in front of the focal plane and the total excursion of the lens is only about 3mm. That's an awfully slim margin of safety! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uhooru Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 It has happened to me shooting sunsets with a M6 and cron 50 probably fairly closed down. Its a real problem and best if you can't have a cap to just keep your camera pointed away from the sun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prime lens Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 quiche -- Try to find a lens cap that fits your new shade! You could check at Stephen Gandy's site: http://www.cameraquest.com. -- Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
__stu_evans Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 I'm bald and the sun hasn't fffffffried me up much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
________1 Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 If my camera is not in my hands it's in its case; if it's not in the case it's in my hands. I don't point the camera at the sun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
claudia__ Posted August 20, 2004 Author Share Posted August 20, 2004 thanks for the responses. will try to get a cap for the lens shade (an excellent suggestion btw.) i've got a IIIf but have to wonder if and why leica uses burnable shutter curtains in the more modern versions. my bessa has some sort of more durable material for the shutter. is there an advantage to cloth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c_d5 Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 Cloth supposed to be much more quieter, maybe durable, and cheap, easy to replace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuart_richardson Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 It's got to be the noise. If it wasn't, I am sure you would have seen a metal shuttered M7 with speeds up to 1/4000th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capocheny Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 Hi Ben, The lens is like the magnifying glass in my example. Also, read Barry's comment 2 postings down from yours. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kent_tolley2 Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 H.C. said, in error if I may be allowed: <I>If there's ANY risk at all...don't stop the lens down to its smaller f-stops. Do you remember when you were a kid and playing with the sun's rays and a magnifying glass? If you wanted to start a fire quickly...you'd concentrate the beam of sunlight by making a small point of light. Conversely, if the beam was of a larger diameter... you'd be holding that magnifying glass in place ALL day and you'd never start a fire! Make sense? </I><br><br> H.C. is wrong. To <I> concentrate the beam of sunlight by making a small point of light</I> is a function of the distance between the lens and the focal plane. In your camera this is FOCUS. It is not aperture (f/stop) When as a kid, you'd move the magnifying lens up or down to get the smallest beam you're actually FOCUSING the sun's image on the focal plane. You are not changing the amount of light impinging on the focal plane. Alternately when you stop down the lens to f/22 you minimize the amount of light energy coming thru the aperture and less energy = less heat = less risk of burning the shutter curtain. It's the equivalent of using a smaller and smaller magnifying glass. You want to minimize the light/heat (f/22) as well as defocus the beam (set it to close focus). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capocheny Posted August 20, 2004 Share Posted August 20, 2004 Kent, Thank you for the correction... after thinking about it for a minute I realized you're quite right. The focusing mechanism does lie in moving the magnifying glass forward and backwards. Apologies to all for the misinformation. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huw_finney Posted August 21, 2004 Share Posted August 21, 2004 Focus to infinity, the shutter is a few mm in front of the film, As a rough guide when a 50mm is focussed to 1.5m the sun will be in sharp focus on the shutter. So focussing away from infinity will increase the risk of burning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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