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Objective lens covers - What Are They For? (1 Viewer)

Sancho

Well-known member
Europe
Okay, it´s a dull Saturday evening, Mrs. Sancho is away and I´m home having put the kids to bed and there´s nothing on telly and I just finished my book. So I had this epiphany....Objective lens covers for bins, we carefully attach them, fret if we lose them, make sure they´re in the box when we sell them, but they don´t actually Do Anything, do they? I mean, if it´s not raining, by definition we don´t need them. If it IS raining, and we DO want to look through our binoculars, we can´t use them ´cos we wouldn´t see anything. If it IS raining and we DON´T Want to look through our binoculars, we let our binos hang on our chests, so the objective lenses are pointing down. Now even in Bray, the rain doesn´t fall upwards. So you don´t need the covers. And usually, I close my jacket over my bins anyway if it´s raining. Or, if it´s really raining and I´ve given up, I put the bins in their case. Where by definition they don´t need Objective Lens Covers. Especially the fiddly individual rubbery ones with the ringy thing on Swaro EL´s. Which hang and blow about in the wind and look silly anyway. You especially don´t need the covers if your bins are at home or in the car, ´cos they´re in the case anyway. Am I the last person on the planet to realise that Objective Lens Covers are totally pointless?
 
...Am I the last person on the planet to realise that Objective Lens Covers are totally pointless?

Hmmm. No, but you may be the last not to realize that properly fitting objective and ocular covers obviate the need for those pointless storage cases.

Blue skies,
Ed
 
Sancho ...

When I'm walking on a dusty foot path the airborne debris is constantly kicking up and landing on the objective end of my bins. If I attach the objective covers, I'm later amazed at just how much dust and debris is covering the lens caps -- otherwise the lenses themselves. How hard is it to attach these things anyway, just in case?

They will also work well, as Bob suggests, with a Tulamore Dew, though I might suggest a Macallan 12 year Single Malt..

IMO,

Robert
 
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Sancho ...

When I'm walking on a dusty foot path the airborne debris is constantly kicking up and landing on the objective end of my bins. If I attach the objective covers, I'm later amazed at just how much dust and debris is covering the lens caps -- otherwise the lenses themselves. How hard is it to attach these things anyway, just in case?

They will also work well, as Bob suggests, with a Tulamore Dew, though I might suggest a Macallan 12 year Single Malt..

IMO,

Robert

How about a 15 year Glenmorangie? My Nesbit side loves it!
 
Interesting observations, gentlemen or ladies.

Ed: Hmmmm....lose the case, keep the lens covers? A bit radical. I might have to get used to that one. But it makes perfect sense on a theoretical level.

Tero: I could use the Swaro covers as self-attaching coasters...fit them to the bottom of the glass, so that you never have to aim the glass for the coaster as you lay it down....we might patent this one....

Bob: a straw would then suffice to suck up spillage out of the lens covers!

Robert: Ah yes, dust. I hadn´t thought of that. We tend not to have those hazy, dusty days here in Bray. Although now that I think of it, when it gets particularly squelchy, mud, turf and other residue might splash up from one´s feet as one disengages them from the mire.

Robert and arco13: Yes, I´ve always been a Scotch Single Malt man myself. At least on the rare occasions when I drink whiskey. This might be sacrilege in terms of national loyalties but the only Irish I´ve ever had that compared was a Bushmill´s 40 year-old that cost almost as much as a serious bins upgrade. (Not my bottle, you understand....)
 
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Actually, those covers protect the lenses from my fingers, when I pull the binocular out of its case.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur

P.S. Recent security precautions on airplanes arriving in the USA has diminished my supply of duty free Islay malts.
 
Actually, those covers protect the lenses from my fingers, when I pull the binocular out of its case.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur

P.S. Recent security precautions on airplanes arriving in the USA has diminished my supply of duty free Islay malts.
Disaster!!! How does an Islay malt constitute a threat to security? There isn´t any justice...they´d let you fly with a carton of duty-free cigarettes, which are proven killers, but not with a nice Islay....
 
Hardly a drop

Disaster!!! How does an Islay malt constitute a threat to security? There isn´t any justice...they´d let you fly with a carton of duty-free cigarettes, which are proven killers, but not with a nice Islay....

Sancho,

Unless the duty free is purchased after the passengers' security check, its contents are suspected as a possible ingredient in an infernal device. So until all airports adjust, I remain, greeting my empty handed transatlantic visitors, with a slight air of despair. I like my Islay, especially those with a whiff of ocean spray, to be free of the encumbrances of the excise men, leaving me husbanding those malts still in my possession. Indeed, this is unjust.

The situation was worse only when U-boats were loose on the Atlantic.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur
 
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Sancho,

Unless the duty free is purchased after the passengers' security check, its contents are suspected as a possible ingredient in an infernal device. So until all airports adjust, I remain, greeting my empty handed transatlantic visitors, with a slight air of despair. I like my Islay, especially those with a whiff of ocean spray, to be free of the encumbrances of the excise men, leaving me husbanding those malts still in my possession. Indeed, this is unjust.

The situation was worse only when U-boats were loose on the Atlantic.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur

Arthur,

I wonder if it might have less to do with national security and more to do with the growing private stash of the Customs Inspector.

Just a thought.

Robert
 
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Dunno.

Can you still bring in 2 bottles free from Canada? Last time I was there (several years ago) I brought back 2 Islays. A fine Bowmore, before they started making a variety of aged ones, and a now very hard to find Bruchlaiddich, of which I still have a dram or two left.
Bob
 
They improve your birdwatching.

You walk along the trail once and then retrace your steps to look for the missing objective lens cover(s) thus doubling your chances of spotting something interesting.

Ron
 
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They improve your birdwatching.

You walk along the trail once and then retrace your steps to look for the missing objective lens cover(s) thus doubling your chances of spotting something interesting.

Ron

Ron,

Do you own a Nikon? That was my experience with the lens caps provided with my Nikon EII.

Bob,

If you drive back from Canada, there is apparently no problem with bottles of liquor.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur
 
Ron,

Do you own a Nikon? That was my experience with the lens caps provided with my Nikon EII.

Bob,

No but my Swift HHS roofs incorporate the same 'design feature'.

They have, however, helped me meet many friendly, helpful people since I have owned them: "Excuse me, you haven't seen a little plastic cap like this have you? Never mind. It's a glorious day isn't it …"

For breaking down social barriers they are second only to a cute, bouncing, bright eyed puppy, with the advantage that they don't require feeding.;)

Ron
 
For breaking down social barriers they are second only to a cute, bouncing, bright eyed puppy, with the advantage that they don't require feeding.;)

Ron
But puppies carry the advantage, to the unattached hominid male (if I remember those days accurately), of being devastatingly attractive to the female of the species. The hominid species, that is, not the puppy-ine one. (I later discovered that one´s small children in tow have much the same effect on females - not, of course, the one that´s already attached to one, rather random unattached ones). I later devised a fiendish money-making plot, thought I´d patent the idea, renting out puppies to single males to take walking in the hope of attracting females. This would never work with objective lens caps: "Oh my goodness, what a cute little objective lens cap, he´s SO d-a-a-arling, what´s his name, cootchie-cootchie-cootchie, yes as a matter of fact I am free Friday for a coffee...."
 
Very interesting, Sancho, but surely some of the appeal must evaporate at the point when the single male produces a plastic bag, inserts his hand and proceeds with the inevitable cleaning up duties. Would you accept the offer of a coffee from that hand? There again perhaps there are pheromones at work which are beyond my comprehension.

I am prepared to believe that objective lens caps will not have the same appeal as the puppy but they still lead to some interesting encounters.

Ron
 
Very interesting, Sancho, but surely some of the appeal must evaporate at the point when the single male produces a plastic bag, inserts his hand and proceeds with the inevitable cleaning up duties. Would you accept the offer of a coffee from that hand? There again perhaps there are pheromones at work which are beyond my comprehension.

I am prepared to believe that objective lens caps will not have the same appeal as the puppy but they still lead to some interesting encounters.

Ron
Perhaps exhibiting cleaning-skills in these situations demonstrates suitability for fatherhood and could be a serious factor in the unattached males favour. With your binoculars around neck, however, the objective lens covers become necessary once again, as you really don´t want that stuff, hominid or puppy-id, on your lenses.
 
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