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Thread: Tips/Ideas For Hand Making Lens Caps For Vintage LF Lenses?

  1. #1

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    Tips/Ideas For Hand Making Lens Caps For Vintage LF Lenses?

    Hi, I have been making some prototype lens caps for my variety of different vintage LF lenses over the last month.

    I have been using black art board and construction paper to make my prototypes so I can get a feel for what I like and what might work when I start making the permanent lens caps. I mainly make them to act as a shutter.

    I am ready to move to the next step and I have purchased some balsa wood to create the circular end cap and the skirt which acts to keep the cap on the lens. I am petty confident this approach will work based on my art board prototypes, but I am thinking about how to possibly cover the cap with something like a soft leather maybe? I have no idea how to even approach that...

    I was wondering how many other large format photographers have already gone down this path?

    If you have and want to share some of your ideas/lessons learned, please let me know.

    Thanks!!

  2. #2
    Roger Thoms's Avatar
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    Re: Tips/Ideas For Hand Making Lens Caps For Vintage LF Lenses?

    This link might help. http://www.lungov.com/wagner/DIYLensCap.html

    Roger

  3. #3

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    Re: Tips/Ideas For Hand Making Lens Caps For Vintage LF Lenses?

    I make caps out of black mat board also, and they work fine!!! If you don't have one already, get a compass circle cutter from a good art store to cut the front circle, and for the skirt, put water in a spray bottle to make the strip slightly damp to form the rounded edge, or steam over a boiling tea pot spout...

    If you ever took apart a 35mm lens case, you will find a cardboard tube inside with a covering on the inside and outside... They might look like leather, but often not, but is a textured PAPER covering!!! So if you go to a good art store again, some have a large selection of speciality papers, and some look just like fancy leather, so they are easy to work with... Bookbinding or library suppliers have a form of thin leather also...

    I leave the insides blank, but some thin felt or velvet can be applied too...

  4. #4

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    Re: Tips/Ideas For Hand Making Lens Caps For Vintage LF Lenses?

    Quote Originally Posted by Roger Thoms View Post
    This is the formula I use, I have made a dozen or so this way, works a treat! Nice thin soft leather helps immensely!

  5. #5

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    Re: Tips/Ideas For Hand Making Lens Caps For Vintage LF Lenses?

    Quote Originally Posted by Roger Thoms View Post
    I followed those instructions and made a very good lens cap for my B+L Magic Lantern Petzval.
    I had to work around not having a drill press, but craft stores have plenty of wood circles in stock and in diameters close enough to work.
    They look pretty cool when completed.

    Tandy sells soft leather scraps in their stores and I've found some usable pieces---you'll want a scrap of garment leather, which is the thinnest and easiest to stretch into shape over a wood form
    "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White

  6. #6

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    Re: Tips/Ideas For Hand Making Lens Caps For Vintage LF Lenses?

    WOW!! That is exactly what I was looking for! Thanks for the link.


    Quote Originally Posted by Roger Thoms View Post

  7. #7
    Roger Thoms's Avatar
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    Re: Tips/Ideas For Hand Making Lens Caps For Vintage LF Lenses?

    Quote Originally Posted by andrewch59 View Post
    This is the formula I use, I have made a dozen or so this way, works a treat! Nice thin soft leather helps immensely!
    Good to hear, I have a couple of lens that need caps. I had gotten as far as finding the leather. Should be a good rainy day project. Also changed companies and my job is a lot less stressful and less overtime so there is hope.

    Roger

  8. #8
    Foamer
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    Re: Tips/Ideas For Hand Making Lens Caps For Vintage LF Lenses?

    Quote Originally Posted by andrewch59 View Post
    This is the formula I use, I have made a dozen or so this way, works a treat! Nice thin soft leather helps immensely!

    Looks nice but dang that's a lot of time making one. I just use a black t-shirt. Doubles as my dark cloth and lens cleaner.


    Kent in SD
    In contento ed allegria
    Notte e di vogliam passar!

  9. #9

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    Re: Tips/Ideas For Hand Making Lens Caps For Vintage LF Lenses?

    Great link! I'd like to try that, just for fun.
    I use soft pouches and label the cord. Works fast and no parts that can go missing.
    I own the gear, but those don't make masterpieces. My everyday experience.

  10. #10

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    Re: Tips/Ideas For Hand Making Lens Caps For Vintage LF Lenses?

    I’ve found PVC pipe caps that fit a couple of my lenses by lining the inside with self-sticking felt.

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