It’s right up there with corrupted SD cards as the bane of a photographer’s life, but lost lens caps needn’t plague your shooting plans anymore – the Universal Lens Cap 2.0 is here to save your glass.
The sequel to a successful Kickstarter project from 2017, version 2.0 promises a few improvements (well, about as many as you can make to a waterproof silicon lens cap). Rather than a universal, one-size-fits-all cap, there are now two versions – the Micro and the Magnum.
The Micro has a 54mm diameter that can stretch to 76mm, making it suitable for everything from Micro Four Thirds lenses to some SLR and Medium Format glass. If you’ve got some larger DSLR, mirrorless, cine or telephoto lenses, though, you’ll probably be better served by the Magnum (which stretches from 72mm to 122mm).
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Both of these sizes have some tweaks to help make them the backup lens protectors your camera deserves. They’re now machine washable and have apparently had their stretchability improved by 25%, which means they can also be used to protect lens hoods, ND filters, flashes and some drones like the DJI Mavic 2 Pro (although that does already come with a handy protection case).
If you’ve got a sizeable bags of lenses, the white ‘X’ on top of the caps is there to help you colour code your lenses using marker pens. The Universal Lens Cap 2.0’s maker KUVRD (as in, ‘covered’) suggests you could also combine a few Universal Lens Cap 2.0s to create a “super-cap”, if you’re particularly worried about dust or bumps bruising your prized primes.
A more sensible use of multiple lens caps seems to be using them as front and rear protectors for your lens, or backups in case you inevitably lose both.
The Universal Lens Cap 2.0 has already hit its Kickstarter target with 39 days to go and you can pick up two for $35 (around £27) on its Kickstarter page. Those are for delivery in February 2019, but if you need them as a Christmas present you can still get a December 2018 by plumping for the $84 (£65) Super Early Bird offer.
What do you think, is the Universal Lens Cap 2.0 a new camera bag essential? Let us know on Twitter @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
