This little gem of a lens cap has been hiding in plain sight from many of us.
If there is an accessory that’s harder to keep up with than lens caps, then I’m not sure I want it. Lens caps are, of course, super important. They protect the front element of our expensive lenses from debris like dust, dirt, and sand, and they do a mighty fine job of protecting them from scratches when in storage. As great as they are, they can be a pain to keep tabs on and are easily lost. An image of a fully automatic screw-on lens cap recently appeared on the web though, and we wondered, just how many of you knew about it? Keep on reading after the break to see the ingenious design of this cap.
A recent post on Reddit shed some light on what was called out to be the Olympus LC-37C. This lens cap is a fully automatic affair that was designed for the Olympus M.Zuiko 14-42mm EZ kit lens. As you can see in the video below, it’s quite brilliant, and we wonder why lens caps like this haven’t really caught on.
As you can see, once the lens cap has been screwed onto the front of the lens and the power switch on the camera has been flipped, the lens cap opens up, and it’s ready to go. Genius. No more taking off a cap, putting in your pocket, and then going crazy when you can’t find it. Having a quick read through the comment section does reveal that there is a slight issue with the cap though. Apparently, due to the slit design of the lens cap, dust can get in and onto the lens. I’m sure that with a little more research this could be resolved. We need more lens caps like this. The Olympus LC-37C lens cap can be purchased for $32.99, which isn’t bad at all. However, I would much prefer to see lens manufacturers make caps like this a standard feature. We pay enough for the lenses, so surely some innovation in this area shouldn’t be too much to ask.