Lens hood cap

[George Collier]

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I have a 35mm Summicron M with the hood #12524. It has a rubbery cap which can catch on clothing and be pulled off. I see a hard cap (Leica branded) #14212, that looks right, but when inquiring further as to the fit to that hood, the answers are not conclusive.

Is the cap #14212 the right one for the hood #12524? Does anyone have both?

Thanks

 

[Anbaric]

Did the 12524 hood come with the cap? A previous post suggests that it didn't originally have one:

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/topic/292594-issues-with-hood-on-elmrit-28-asph-falling-off/#comment-3653450

The later (similar, but not identical) 12526 hood that came with the 35/2 ASPH v1 did have a cap, 14043, that's not very secure on the later hood and is apparently even less so on the 12524 for the reasons given in the link. Is that the cap you currently have? Because my 14043 kept falling off, I got a 3D-printed replacement for it from isacjohansson on ebay that's much more secure on the 12526 (and presumably on the 12524) than the 14043 is. There are other replacements for the 14043 of different designs from Red Dot Cameras in London and from Match Technical. The original 14043 is out of production.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/265020906234?hash=item3db47a1afa:g:WXkAAOSwaFlfrUGS

https://www.reddotcameras.co.uk/hoods-caps/16609-rdc-hood-cap-replacement-for-leica-14043-cap.html

https://www.popflash.com/lens-caps/match-technical-lc-sr-02-lens-hood-cap-new-for-leica-hood-12526-12524-replaces-hood-cap-14043/

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1596530-REG/match_technical_lc_sr_02_lens_cap_for_leica.html

Edited January 24, 2023 by Anbaric

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[George Collier]

Yes, I have the MatchTechnical rubber cap shown in your last link. It's the one that keeps falling off, although when I begin to use that lens, the first thing I do is take off the hood and pocket it, so, inconvenient but I can live with it.

I had a long conversation with the Leica store in Wash DC today, and the evolution seems to have been:

Summicron M (pre-asph) - hood #12524, cap #14043, or a predecessor.

Summicron asph - hood #12526, cap #14043, as pointed out by anberic above, not great on the 12526, and worse on the 12524.

The real solution came with the Summicron apo - hood screws on and cap drops on from above, securing nicely at the bottom.

I have a 28 Elmarit asph v2, which has the same arrangement for hood and cap. It's well designed - the hood screws onto the outside of the lens barrel, and bottoms out exactly where you want it, cap drops on from above, like the Summicron apo.

Worst of all, none of these solutions will work with my Summicron M, my only solution would be to buy the Summicon asph (or apo) and the new arrangement, not worth it to me.

I recommended to the Leica guy I spoke with, that Leica consider 3d printing as a possible method for cleaning up some of the untidy compatibility issues of past products.

[Anbaric]

It's a shame the Match Technical doesn't seem to work well with the 12524 - the blurb suggests it should be compatible with both hoods. The isacjohansson cap grips the 12526 very well, but I don't know if it would be any better than the Match Technical on the 12524 - the ebay listing claims it's compatible with both. I guess you could ask the seller if he has specifically tested it with the earlier hood, and return it if you ordered it and it didn't work out. The RDC cap looks more like a hood plug than a cover, which might work better, but it's a pity they decided to make it bright red - maybe one to leave in the camera bag when you get the lens out! There are plenty of generic E39 hoods, of course, some of which take push-on caps, but it seems excessive to change an otherwise well designed and compact hood because Leica didn't think through how a cap should be anchored. I don't know if one of those soft elastic lens covers would work. Otherwise, you could do without the hood cap and just protect the lens with a filter (effectively what I used to do anyway, as the 14043 cap would fall off in the bag!), or take the hood off for storage and use a conventional E39 cap. But none of these solutions are as satisfactory as a well-designed hood cap would be.