Some say TO-MATE-TO and some say TOM-AT-TOE so I guess it is whatever one is accustomed to that really counts; at least to them. I do a lot of hiking photography. You know the type – mountains, lakes, waterfalls, paths, bridges, streams, animals, etc. Because I am on the move a lot and the trails can be very dusty, I keep my lens cap on the lens when I am not actually taking photographs.

There have been several times when I have had to backtrack on the trail to find my lens cap and one time, another hiker was kind enough to retrieve it for me when I didn’t realize right away that I had lost it. He had picked it up along the way and handed it to me!

Do you like a tethered lens cap or do you prefer to have it totally removable?

Since I want to take it off and replace it when done, I like to have it tethered because most lens caps/covers don’t stay on the lens that well. With all the technology and innovation taking place, one would figure this problem would have been solved by now.

My new Fuji X T-2 does not have a tethered lens cap AND the lens cap does not easily stay put on my 18-55mm kit lens. Add the lens hood (more about that later) and it is even harder to get that cap to hunker down. I decided to do what I did with my Nikon D3300 and create my own tether.

Fuji X T-2 lens cap

This is my procedure for attaching my lens cap so that it does not get lost:

Supplies needed to tether the lens cap

• Get some relatively thick black thread.
• Take a piece of strong tape. I use tape that is designed to be put on metal chimney flues so you can understand that it has a rather strong adhesive and it can stand the heat! This is sometimes referred to as aluminum tape.

Thick black thread attached to lens cap with aluminum tape (silver)

• I tape one end of the thread to the lens cap with the aluminum tape and then cover that silver tape with black electrical tape.

Black electrician’s tape is used to cover the silver foil tape

• I then tie the other end of the black thread to the strap loop.

NOTE – If you think you will want to remove the lens cap completely to attach a different sized filter, change lenses, etc., make a double strand (loop) with the thread and “loop it” through the strap. This way, the lens cap can easily be removed by backing it out of the loop when necessary.

Thread is tied to strap loop (red oval)

Now when the cap is unleashed, it can hang by the side of the camera. I often hold it in my hand to keep it from swinging or being a distraction.

Lets talk about the lens hood. The lens hood is a pretty typical “tulip” type lens hood. It appears to be made of plastic. One would think that a professional level camera, even if ordered with the kit lens, would have a more robust lens hood. I would have paid a few dollars more for a better lens hood; just sayin’!

My Nikon D3300 lens hood does not stay on the lens with much active use so I tethered that to the camera too. Here is what that looks like…

So far the Fuji lens hood has remained relatively loyal to the lens and has not wiggled off errantly so I will leave it as is unless it becomes necessary to tether that as well.

I am very happy with the X T-2 so don’t get me wrong. I am just modifying it to suit my particular photography style. You might or might not like to work that way. This just keeps me from lens cap hunting and enables me to keep my lenses as clean as possible through a day of hiking.

I will talk about my first photographic experiments with the new Fuji X T-2, but since, in my previous post, I said I would share a picture, here is the first picture I took with the new X T-2; Explanation and discussion to follow in another post.

UPDATE – Don’t be disappointed with your Fuji RAW files when imported into Lightroom. Read about the way to post process those images to bring out the color and detail – Fuji X T-2: Improving LR Post Processing Process

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