Review of Fotodiox Lens Cap
Far better value than $26 Nikon brand at the camera store
On a recent trip to the San Luis National Wildlife Refuge I had the opportunity to photograph a red tailed hawk at close range. In my zeal to capture that 160th of a second, I somehow managed to lose the Nikon lens cap that came with my 70 to 200 VRII lens. The cap for this lens is nothing special. It is a standard 77 mm size with no fancy whistles or bells - it's just something to protect the glass.
Two days later I found myself standing in a brick and mortar camera store, trying to pick up my jaw off the ground when they told me that a replacement Nikon brand 77 mm lens cap would cost TWENTY-SIX DOLLARS. I was nearly as equally appalled that the price of a generic cap at this establishment would cost FOURTEEN dollars. Hellooooo Amazon!
I was pleased to see the price of this unit was less than 1/6 of the Nikon brand lens cap at the camera store. I was, however, leery as I've had poor experiences in the past with non-Nikon brand lens hoods and other accessories. I was concerned that perhaps the cap might not fit properly or the springs that control the center pinch point "buttons" would be too weak and the cap would fall off regularly. I also wondered if the off brand cap might be threaded incorrectly resulting in similar issues.
Despite my concerns, I decided that since this was a relatively small amount of money, I would order two of them thinking one would be a backup if I ever need it.
The first thing I did when I opened the package was cut off the silly pre-attached tether string that comes with it. The last thing I need at an accident scene or when I'm photographing wildlife is to keep track of a lens cap bouncing around as I take my photos. Granted, a string like this would have probably kept me from losing the original cap in the first place. I would prefer a lost lens cap to lost shots and I have big pockets. ;-)
VERDICT:
Granted, we are only talking about a simple lens cap, but I'm VERY PLEASED with my purchase. Not only does the cap fit perfectly, but it hangs on good and tight, the way I would expect it to. In fact, I'm not certain, but I think this cap actually holds on a little tighter than the original Nikon, which I find very nice because as an active photojournalist, my cameras are moving around a lot. I'm very pleased with this purchase and if in the course of my duties I manage to lose any more lens caps, I'll be right back here buying more of these.
Click to view the Fotodiox 05CAPT77x1 77mm Inner Pinch Lens Cap on Amazon.com.
