A Burning Question

Just be aware of where the sun is. The only time a lens cap is on any of my lenses is when the lens is store away. When the lens is on the camera, it's there to be used and a lens cap is in the way. Walking around on a sunny day, turn the lens toward your body if facing the sun. Just be aware of what you're doing and you won't get burned.

Yet I have to confess it, when I was young, I played with fire... as follow: Just for fun, I tried to shoot at the sun, at maximum aperture (F/2) and shutter speed to "B" for about 5 seconds. I got a hole in the film. But nothing for the curtains. I now know that because it was a SLR, the mirror protected them. Please don't try to do this with a M6 fitted with a F/1.0 noctilux! I was not aware of the risks that the camera can burn! There are no mention "Danger, risk of fire" in the camera user guide. Perhaps camera should be sold with a fire extinghinsher.

thanks Huw Finney. Not having taken my cam apart, as you regularily do, I never considered the focal plane and the shutter cloth to be at different distances from the lens plane but of course this must be the case. I wish I had my lens cap back.

Carry the camera with the strap over your shoulder and the lens pointed towards your body! Long lenses aren't a problem because they tend to hang pointing at the ground anyway.

Thanks Al. Good suggestion. Not only have I been wearing the wrong t-shirt by I've been carrying my cam backwards. Sheesh!

I started out with M2s. With the old-fashioned Leicas like the M2 (just kiddin

Al) anyway with the veteran M's you wouldn't dare use a lens cap for fear of

shooting a roll of film with the lens cap left on. There were all kinds of horror

stories of pictures lost that way. Therefore I never used lens caps and still

don't. All they do is get in the way, get lost, get dropped or generally get in the

way. Listen to what Al says and you'll never go wrong.

If you gotta use lens caps, paint 'em fluorescent orange!

"There were all kinds of horror stories of pictures lost that way. Therefore I never used lens caps and still don't."

 

If shooting at people, they probably will inform you of your mistake, but you can lost pictures in a more technically way: by forgeting to remove an infrared filter! You can also forgot a 80A, 85, ND, softar or any other filter. So what, never use filters also? You can even have the wrong lens mounted, for example, viewing through a 21mm finder while a telephoto is mounted on the body. So the best solution perhaps is to remove the lens and all accessories after each shoot and do a complete checklist before each new shoot. Perhaps the best solution to not waste film is to avoid to put one in the camera. (just kiddding)

"If you gotta use lens caps, paint 'em fluorescent orange!"

 

Or like the pitot cover on the aircraft where on a long strip it is written "Caution, Remove before flight", you can glue a long strip on your lens cover with the mention "Remove before each photo".