Do you dive with lens covers?

[indiana*joe]

I have an Oly 5050 w/ the pt-015 housing. I just picked up the matching Oly Wide Angle Lens. I took one of the step-up rings and made a lens mount for the WAL to hold it when it is not in use. My question is wheter anyone actually takes the lens covers down with them on a dive - both the smaller to cover the actual camera lens and the bigger one that covers the face of the WAL. I have yet to take the WAL down and I am fearful that with so much open glass, that it will get scratched.

Anyt thoughts?

[Dee]

I don't take lens covers down with me but I have them handy when I surface to put on then. I'm vary careful handling my camera in the water and alot of the time when not shooting I'll cup the lens in my hand without touching the glass. When I get back to the boat or to the dock, my rig is rinsed and the lens covers put into place.

[ReyeR]

I do. I do a fair amount of shore diving so crashing into rocks is always a reality for me. I have my Oly WAL mounted on an Inon lens caddy. The caddy protects the back element and I keep the front lens cap on. I have the cap attached to the arm with a string (it's easy to lose - trust me). Having said that I still managed to get a few tiny scratches on the front element - perhaps some grit might have got caught in-between when I put it back on UW. In hindsight perhaps a loose neoprene cover with a stiff bottom would have been a better solution.
I suspect the Oly is a great piece of glass but the front glass seems very delicate. I've also noticed 'staining' on it - it looks like the coating is getting affected. I will be consulting Yuzo on this. Tip for the Oly lens: after the dive immediately rinse it thoroughly with fresh water and dry with a lens or micro fibre cloth - I don't think soaking it is a good idea.

[Tortuga Roja]

Like ReyeR, I do a lot of shore diving and I also dive from my kayak often. I keep my cap on until I am at depth. Then I take it off, turn on everything, and set a fast shutter and a wide angle - just in case that big thing swims by

At the end of the dive, during the safty stop if I'm on the kayak or before getting too close in if I'm shore diving, I replace the cap.

I do a quick fresh water rinse on shore. In the kayak or my pickup, I keep a cloth bag that I can cover everything with to keep it wet until I can get home. There, I soak it in fresh water and then dry.

On a boat, I don't trust the rinse tanks, so I just rinse and dry as best I can until home or hotel.

[Gilligan]

Keeping a black lens cap on while diving and leaving the camera on prevents the full time auto focus from going all the time. How much battery power does this save? That I don't know. Probably saves a lot of wear and tear on the camera though.

[okiediver1]

ReyeR

Will the staining on the lens affect the lens underwater? Mine also has a little and I was curious.

[ReyeR]

Will the staining on the lens affect the lens underwater?

It hasn't affected my photo's yet, though it might make it prone to more flaring. I am going to consult Yuzo on this and will post the outcome here.

[ssra30]

hmm, reading this thread made me feel guilty about my lens. I have macro lens and Inon wide angle lens with dome port to go with my C5050/Ikelite housing. I recently got the Inon lens caddy. I used to use lens dock for quite awhile before that. Basically I leave all the caps on the boat/shore because if I take them off underwater, I would lose them in no time if I stick them in my BC and I don't want anything dangle around my camera on a string. So far so good but I certainly try to be careful not to bang my camera/ lens around too much. I do have a little stain on my WAL as well but have not noticed anything wrong with the picture.
Generally minor scratches get filled by water so it should not affect the picture noticeably, just try to avoid serious damage to the lens is about all that I am doing.

[MonkSeal]

I used to carry WAL lense cover while diving and I lost it yesterday while surfacing. :(

[Seadiver5]

No Never

Kevin