Lens cap-really stupid question! help please!

It took me two days to find guts to post this, but I just need to know. Please do not laugh.

I got my 30d on Friday. It is AWESOME. I have spend hundreds of hours learning about the camera before I got it and even more since then. There is one simple question I cannot find any help on. Really simple question. What to do with the lens cap when I take photos? I always had cameras with this cap attached to the body. Not with 30d. So, do I need to get some other cap which somehow will be attached or do I just put the cap in my pocket. At this point I am really intimidated by all this expensive equipment. I wash my hands every time I touch the camera (yes, I do) so to keep the lense cap in my pocket and then put it on the lens just does not seem like a very good idea.

Will apreaciate your help,

m

I just put the lens cap in my pocket.

The problem with the caps is that they are different in size for different lenses.

leave it in your bag and put it back on when u get back and done taking pics.
Thats what I do

Popping the cap in a pocket or camera bag is what's generally done, but if you really want to avoid that you can purchase a "Cap Keeper" for each lens/cap. It's a lanyard that sticks to the lens cap, and has an elastic ring that goes around the lens barrel. They are no doubt available at your local camera shop or big-box retailer's camera department, or mail-order... and quite inexpensive. Here's the info from B&H.

I just put mine in the same pocket every time. Your lens cap is always with you, you always know where it is and it's free!

I am like the others and just put the cap in my pocket. If you dont like that idea or the lens keeper one you can always affix a postage size piece of velcro to the front of the cap as well as to the lens hood. This is assuming you are using good quality glass that includes hoods since you have a nice camera.

With regards to the lens cap issue you can either...
1. put in a pocket, i find it's good practice to put it in the same pocket every time, that way i know where to find it, it can get dust on it that could transfer to your front element but it's soft and dry and will blow straight off again.
2. put it in your camera bag.

option 1 is my method of choice

I'm sorry but i found that amusing seriously you don't need to wash your hands to touch your camera

I stick it in my pocket... well sometimes, sometimes I drop it in my bag, sometimes I put it in my jeans pocket or coat pocket it's actually a great icebreaker when I take pictures.. (I forget to take it off my camera ) I figured out it made kids laugh and then I tried it with the older crowd when I was having a difficult shoot and sure enough.. worked then too... you don't really need to wash your hands after using your camera... think of it this way your going to be missing a lot of shots if your always running for handsoap all day long.. the camera doesn't have germs, except for yours .. and it's made pretty tough..

sari.

saravrose wrote:
it's actually a great icebreaker when I take pictures.. (I forget to take it off my camera )

Saturday when I was at the zoo I was watching training of a Harris Hawk and an owl. There was this guy who came a little late and was frantic to get good shots of the action. He moved around, crouched down on knees, stood up and moved around and BAM he was going to hit the shutter to get that perfect shot of a flying Harris Hawk and he realised he had forgotten to take of the cap. It was hilarious to see how he frantically took of the cap and tried to get the photo. I had to constrain myself in order not to burst out in laughter.

I just lose it while I'm shooting. It goes in my camera bag (where the lens came from), or on the lens I'm switching from, or in a pocket (trousers, shirt, jacket, or vest), and, especially if I've changed lenses a couple of times, I don't find it until I sit dowen and search the bag and my pockets. My main bag has a couple of extra lens caps in one of the outside pockets.

If you are super afraid of messing up the lens by touching it with your dirty fingers, just get UV filters for all your lenses. Extra protection and it's fairly cheap.

I'm just glad Homo Sapiens invented clothes or this could be a serious issue!

I do this too, every time, like my wallet.

Haha i'm just glad someone else noticed this also. Unfourtanatly I was not as smart as you guys in placing this in one of my many pockets I always just placed it down on where I was shooting. I have on occasion left my lens on counters or in my office or my room. Another problem i have is when other people remove my lens to look through the view finder and I have to search where they last put it.

I put one in the lake, and one somewhere at a hotel in Atlanta and a third went into the ether.

I would get that lanyard system, but I already have issues with snagging my neck strap on stuff, all I need is another strap or cord to snag on stuff. Especially expensive lenses.
So I trade the occasional lost lens cap for the knowledge that I haven't lost a lens yet.

I should mention I do try really hard to put in left front pocket, but it doesn't always make it there.