Substitute for threaded plastic covers?

Has anyone found a good substitute for the threaded plastic covers

for the 10 and 3 print remote terminals and PC terminal found on

various Nikon cameras? I�m probably dreaming but I�d like a rubber

cover that presses in a stays pretty well but can be pulled out fast.

Here is the real dream: I�d like them to cost about $5.00 for a bag

of 100.

 

The DW-21 and DW-31 finders have such a plug, well almost, though I

guess they cost about 19.95 each. I consider these screw on plastic

caps a major pain in the ass. The larger of the two on my MD-4 was on

so tight I had to use needle nose pliers to remove it. I cut a hole

in a piece of paper to protect the MD-4�s paint from the pliers. This

is ridiculous! I�d think after all the decades Nikon could come up

with something better.

 

Sorry about the semi-rant. Any ideas?

 

Thanks,

 

Dave Hartman.

Taking your rant to the next logical step, one would think Nikon might make the damned cap self attached to the body so that one unscrews (or unplugs it, in your scenario), and the damn thing stays on the camera by a tether or something. Has anyone actually seen an F5 that still has the shutter release cap still on the camera?

 

I own 2 F5's, an F100 and a D2H. None still has the %#@%Xing cap on the body. If you try and order one from Nikon, it cost $1 for the cap and $6 to "ship it".

 

Grrrrrrr.

I bought some of these "lens cap holder strings" or whatever they are called. It's a string that has a small button-like thing attached to it, which can be glued onto the lens cap or - in this case - to the plastic cover of the remote connectors, while the string can be knotted to the camera strap holder.<br> The round button is just slightly larger than the 10 pin connnector cover and I find it actually quite a lot easier to unscrew it with this than only the cover itself. I added this to my F100 right after I got it, foreseeing that I will otherwise loose these covers immediately :)<br> Alternative I have seen solutions with the string directly glued onto the plastic cover with superglue, but this does not give you the additional grip as with the button glued to it.<p>

Hope this helps, as keeping to loose these covers seems to be really expensive over time...<p>

Daniel

Gaffer tape?

 

Goes well with my 'logo covers' anyway............ Camera ends up looking a little like a Detroit 'secret next years model'.

Chewing gum.

I wonder if you can find red "Leica" adhesive disks to fit over it. That ought to raise a few eyebrows of those who don't recognise anything that didn't come from Wetzlar!

I tape up all of my cameras, completely covering each port with a little flap of gaffer's tape. One drawback: if it gets really, really wet, it starts smelling like old feet a few days later, as evidenced by shooting lacrosse this last Monday. By Wednesday, the camera started smelling a lot like the locker room!

Let�s see: sticky tape, chewing gum and string, I guess no miracles yet. Do you suppose Nikon knows these things are a pain in the ass?

 

I don�t think I ever lost one. My solution is take them off and store them someplace safe. This of course opens the possibility of losing all them at once, sigh...

Dave,

 

I believe the best substitute for those covers is air, plain old air. Nothing else is ever needed in my view. I do not throw those covers away willfully, but once they are lost, I just replace them by air. Has worked very well for decades now. On Olympus, Nikon, etc.

I once 'got nailed' by a PC socket. I was shooting portraits in the rain with a 283 in the hot shoe. Went to frame the vertical and shorted the PC socket on the heel of my hand. I would have dropped the camera if not for the neck strap. Ever since then, I take care to cover the PC socket with *something*.

Yes I also keep PC sockets covered though I've never been zapped. I have felt a little tingle before. All my MD-4's contacts are air covered without issue.

Thanks for the reminder Todd. I got zapped buy some speedlight once. Not by way of the PC terminal. I was doing something with the foot of the flash. The unit was a Vivitar 285 or Nikon SB-16B I guess. I wasn�t injured but it scared the hell out of me. It�s been a long time. As I recall it was like messing with the spark plug of a lawnmower when someone pulls the starter, quite unpleasant.