Focus Locus Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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I used to use Lens Coat on a 70-200, but I've taken it off piece by piece over the years.
1. The first piece to go was the piece I never put on, around the lens collar.
2. The second piece to go was the piece between the lens mount and the lens collar, so that I could more easily remove and replace the lens collar. Sometimes I need it. Sometimes I don't.
3. The third piece to go was over the lens hood, because that piece interfered with the fit of the lens within it's storage pouch with the hood reversed. Like jcolwell, I don't use padded dividers, but rather keep each piece of gear in it's very own pouch, so I don't have to reconfigure velcroed dividers when I reconfigure what gear I take. I also don't use the Canon pouch, because I found a third party pouch to be more robust, since I don't have dividers.
4. The fourth piece to go was long debated. It was the piece over the switches. I really liked the idea of the clear cover over the switches, as it presumably would deflect and shed away any rain drops and dust from working their way into the seams surrounding the switches. It would also help prevent the switch settings from getting inadvertently bumped or changed. Unlike home made lens covers, the Lens Coat versions at least have a clear window sewn into the piece that covers the switch part of the lens, enabling you to see the status of the switches, and even toggle the switches by directly applying pressure through the clear covering to move the switches where needed. And therein lies the rub. It was getting too difficult to move the switches by feel, without removing the camera from my eye and actually look at what I was fiddling with. Canon makes the switches feel slightly differently, so they can be operated without looking at them. But with the clear cover over the switches, they all feel the same. I found that I wasn't maximizing the capabilities of the lens (reducing or expanding the focusing range, switching the type of IS, etc) due to the cover being in place. I finally ditched the piece though, and was both sad and happy to see it gone.
5. The fifth piece was removed simply because all of the other companion pieces were already gone, so what was the point of having one remaining piece on there?
Hence, no more Lens Coat for me for the 70-200. Most of that lens is covered in wide dark gray rubber zoom and focusing rings anyway. And as far as disguise goes, do people REALLY think that a bird or an animal can't see them in their digital camo or their real tree prints? Seriously? I give wildlife a little more credit than that.
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