Being a minimalist, in that I don't like to carry a big bag about stuffed with lots of gear, or because I sometimes want a fair amount of gear in a small bag, I always look for ways for some things to do double or triple duty, here's what I do to save space.
It's possible, as David notes, to have a single lens hood that works well on more than one lens, so depending on which camera you're using (film or digital) and which lenses/hoods you're using, one hood may work well for as many as three or four different lenses. In addition, I've made some rear lens caps that are solidly cemented together, allowing two lenses to fit in the space that one lens often takes. The caps work very well and hold the lenses securely. Once you've learned which combinations (tele + wide, with/without hood, for example) fit in any given compartment of your bag, you can then carry more lenses. I made the first one to handle two Leica lenses, and sent the prototype to Bob Walkden who's been using it for quite some time with good results. One nice thing about these double rear caps is that you can make them to hold lenses for different cameras. A number of people may shoot with, for example, a Leica and a Pentax, so attaching a cap for each works out very nicely. There are some lens hoods that are telescoping, and will compact rather nicely, and which can be used on many different lenses. These hoods are not common, but I have seen them - I believe Bill Lawlor, who sometimes drops in here, has one of these hoods. Maybe this will give you some ideas to get creative with your own equipment. If anyone wants to know the best way to mate two rear lens caps, drop me a line off list. I tried a few different approaches before settling on one that I now know works well and which is very strong and reliable. Shel > [Original Message] > From: David Mann > > David Oswald wrote: > > > I agree that always using a hood is a good practice. However, I > > find it difficult to live by that mantra. They take up so much > > space in camera bags. That's probably the biggest problem for me > > when I'm using the camera on the go. > > I tend to have the same problem but my solution is to make more space :) > > Many of my lenses have the hoods built-in or at least reversible. > For the 13 lenses I have, I own three "separate" hoods and all lenses > are covered one way or another. One of those hoods is shared between > the 35mm and 50mm lenses (it's a Pentax square hood for 50mm which > doesn't vignette on the 35). > > For my four 6x7 lenses I have two hoods... the other two are built-in. > > > And they make it hard to remove the lens cap unless you've got > > scrawny little children-size fingers. > > I either have a hood fitted or a cap, never both. If I change lenses > in a hurry I will quite happily place a hooded lens into the bag > without its cap. Usually face-down or sideways to prevent stuff > falling into the front element. The thing I hate is when I have > several lenses "open" and lose track of which pocket contains the cap > I'm looking for. I try to put all caps into the same pocket but that > rarely happens in practice :)
