philipus Posted September 11, 2012 Share #1 Â Posted September 11, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere but I couldn't find it with the search. Â I find the plastic (well, almost rubber, it seems) cap for the 35 FLE's hood a bit flimsy. The little peg at the bottom which is supposed to grasp around the lower angled edge of the hood is soft and quite easily bends off. Â Are there any alternatives to this cap? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted September 11, 2012 Posted September 11, 2012 Hi philipus, Take a look here Alternative cap for the 35 FLE's hood?. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
Bill W Posted September 11, 2012 Share #2 Â Posted September 11, 2012 I do not believer there is an alternative unless you take the hood off and use the supplied lenscap. I have not had a problem with mine. I usually take it off and leave it off. I have a B+W filter on the lens. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted September 12, 2012 Share #3  Posted September 12, 2012 The only problem I have with it (and the cap for the 21mm Super-Elmar, which is identical because the hoods are identical) is losing it. I try to put in in my shirt pocket, if I have one. Nowadays I wouldn't buy a shirt without a pocket.  A camera is a precision instrument. It takes some aiming ability to hit the buttons. A Leica M has comparatively few buttons, but we have to focus it – precisely, hopefully. So you simply have to use care – and to learn care, for fine motorics, if it is to be instinctual, has to be learned.  I think that Leica's changeover to the new type positive-stop screw-on hoods is excellent. The 'flimsiness' of the caps comes from the fact that they have to be flexible. I remember the snap-on hood cap of the 28mm Summicron, and I liked that even less than I liked the hood.  The new type hood and cap protects the lens front so well that I don't use UVa filters on lenses that have them. I still do use them with lenses that have snap-on or slide-out hoods. I had a 35mm FLE on my camera when I fell down that treacherous stone staircase in Italy this summer, and the only damage was a slight bruise on the front edge of the hood – no bare metal showing. I am all for it.  The old man from the Age of Glass Plates Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsy Posted September 12, 2012 Share #4  Posted September 12, 2012 I think that Leica's changeover to the new type positive-stop screw-on hoods is excellent. The 'flimsiness' of the caps comes from the fact that they have to be flexible.  All the patronising stuff about "motorics" aside, I agree with Lars that the new screw fitted hoods are a welcome development from the older clip-on variety. I also don't see what the problem is with the flimsiness of the hood cap – it seems fine for its purpose and I can't imagine how it could be improved. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
philipus Posted September 12, 2012 Author Share #5  Posted September 12, 2012 I also don't see what the problem is with the flimsiness of the hood cap – it seems fine for its purpose and I can't imagine how it could be improved.  I can think of two ways in which it could be improved. First, it could be of a slightly harder material. I understand why Leica chose this rubbery material; it provides a certain friction against the edges of the metal hood. But the drawback of the softer rubber-like material is that it catches easily on, for instance, one's sleeve when the camera hangs in a shoulder strap and risks moving vertically because the "tooth" at the bottom doesn't really grip around the hood (which it actually couldn't because the place of the hood where the tooth attaches has a slight upwards angle).  The second thing would be to create a slight wedge at the underside of the hood in which the cap's tooth would bite.  Anyway, it isn't the end of the world (few things are) but I just wanted to know if there were alternatives. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lars_bergquist Posted September 12, 2012 Share #6  Posted September 12, 2012 The flexibility is needed to make it possible to attach and remove the cap. It serves the same purpose as the springs in the ordinary front caps. How much flexibility, or spring power, is a matter of judgment and cannot be prescribed.  But I must say that I would not be able to break off parts of the hood with my bare fingers. I would require a suitable tool. Abuse strong enough to actually damage the cap would be – outright abuse.  And I am not being patronising. I just say how it is, to the best of my knowledge. I am aware that the level of knowledge and thoughtfulness among my readers varies, and I try to be of benefit to as many of them as possible. I do not feel 'patronised' when I read something I already know, because I know that all of the audience cannot have been into photography for more than half a century, which is pretty obvious. And I don't feel 'patronised' either when I read someting I did not know, but just interested. Much of my time has always been taken up by trying to find things out. And it was my profession to tell people what I found out.  The old man from the Age of the 3.5cm Elmar Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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