Lens caps for Leitz 400mm/6.8 (Visoflex version, 11966 / 11954)

[mlp]

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I recently bought the Leica M (Visoflex) version of the Leitz 400mm/6.8 but didn't come with any lens caps. A quick search revealed model numbers for the front cap (14152) and rear cap (14152). While the rear cap should be easy to find (original or not, I don't care), the front cap doesn't seem to be available for reasonable prices. I'd happily take the opportunity to try 3d printing one but wanted to ask if anyone's found a suitable alternative online that I might seek out. Since I don't have the lens I'm unsure what the outer diameter of the lens is, or how deep the lens cap should be to remain in place when travelling with it. Any pointers?

[lct]

I have no experience with this lens sorry. All i know is filter thread M72 x 0.75 and exterior diameter 78mm according to the Leitz catalog below.

LeicaM_40068_acce_cata_1981_red.pdf

[adan]

As seen in this listing for the whole lens, the cap is a slide-on type. Some hard plastic-like material from the 1960s. May even be a prehistoric moldable composite - vaguely like (but definitely not) today's carbon-fiber composites.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/365376388746?_skw=Leica+400mm+F%2F6.8+telyt&itmmeta=01JNY8CBB79M1WNRFKGAV4SE1E&hash=item5512213e8a:g:BUwAAOSwuf5noDCS&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA8FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1f62PxDkbSzSf1XkciXp3uVJY1Txomv1oG9SIzTmyG%2BwSA0dtOrkQpFm51%2BQ%2Fujn6n2hhrSySUlOW%2B1IYYmm%2BovKg2nfE3Zze5U5iCrdch1r5FQs%2FfSYAjc%2FeIloN%2FbRzyF%2BpGq2Hy%2F9IC1cQDmR033S%2BW8gPLgztrMUDGOmld7PYUc%2Bb9usoVfYIVMfOhFvdHuTavxZQeEdKZPUJzPaqAUgYJ5ASI6j9O9zdDg9ZmQV8UzpcbQwsxOStqRbHaUFSJQ7njot4smcKyRccuU8mgvqcI5mvZpgKFw%2BoDbGCwffw%3D%3D|tkp%3ABFBM5LWxyK9l

It is lined with felt, to provide friction and grip to hold it on the lens (onto the built-in hood, actually). Which makes the internal diameter of the harder shell needed - umm - somewhat "loose" and speculative.

But is approximately 5cm/2 inches deep.

The local store had a 400mm f/6.8 Telyt-R on the shelf last week. If it is still there tomorrow, I can take my handy-dandy micrometer along and actually measure the hood's external diameter, which may confirm lct's 78mm.

As a temporary "down and dirty" substitute, I have seen caps for similar long lenses, Leica and others, made out of two pieces of "shirt cardboard" - one wrapping around the lens front in a cylinder, and the other a circle cut to cover one end of the cylinder. Held together with gaffer's tape or similar. 😆

But again, you'd need to already have the lens, to tailor the fit correctly.

Edited March 9 by adan

[mlp]

Thanks both for your replies and suggestions!
 

The lens arrived today and, just for fun, I tried a cap from a Canon 20-35/2.8 which actually fit, albeit a bit loose. I suspect that standard friction fit lenses don’t work so well as the inner part of the lens housing is only threaded close to the glass, the first 1/2 CM or so of the lens body is smooth. That said, having measured the ID of the lens it’s actually 73mm, which is 1mm wider than the cap I tried. Will give a standard 73mm cap a try and see if that makes for an acceptable fit.

[mlp]

In the end I opted for a neoprene “hood hat”, which essentially fits over the end of the lens and gives reasonable impact and scratch resistance. The small sized one from OP/TECH fits perfectly over the lens and built-in hood of the 400/6.8:

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[adan]

BTW - sorry I didn't get back to you with my store measurements soon enough. They were substantially identical anyway.

I used to sell those OpTech thingies a decade ago - should have thought of them myself. 

Anyway, glad to see something worked out nicely for you.

In his photo book Self-Portrait USA, about the 1968 US political conventions, David Douglas Duncan credited a prototype, lightweight, hand-holdable 400 f/6.8 Telyt with "handing me the conventions on a silver platter."

"It was one of these that I borrowed the day before I flew to Miami Beach to begin my assignment. There I discovered that (with this lens) I could have been shooting my required close-ups from the Bahamas! .... The convention floor lighting,  balanced for color TV, gave me a basic exposure of 1/125 at f/6.8 on Kodak Tri-X....

The results - optically - astonished me, and still do. Of course, one question remains regarding this fabulous 400mm. I wonder how sharp my negatives would have been had I stopped down!?"

https://www.harrison-hiett.com/book/2560/duncan-david-douglas/self-portrait-usa/

[PhotoCruiser]

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I just bought  couple of lens front an rear caps from Amzon and all work as supposed, but for older A36 L39 diameter LTM lenses.
One of them is made of aluminum and by surprise has also the Leica writing embossed and looks perfectly original, but only the above diameter.

You may do a search on Amazon for lens cap and a lot will pop up and one may will fit your lens.

One warning regarding the neoprene cover, i used them on the domes on my underwater housing and once the housing moved and the neoprene rubbed a opaque on the dome so i started to build my own caps from hard plastic tupperware or similar containers.
Make absolutely sure that nothing can push the neoprene to the front lens, particularly not in a car or other vibrating vehicle.

Chris