Keeping my lens on my camera at all times?

SPL Tech1 · Sep 22, 2008

I am wondering if keeping my lens on my camera at all times including when its in my camera bag could cause problems or damage? I have a small camera bag in which the camera barley fits. I was not sure if keeping it on well its in storage could damage it. I have a Canon 40D with the stock lens if that matters at all.

SPL Tech1 · Sep 22, 2008

oops wrong section. sorry

JerryPH · Sep 22, 2008

Photographers have been doing this since SLR cameras came out decades ago without issues. It won't harm the camera.

... and yeah, this question is more of a beginner's question and better placed in that area.

Overread · Sep 22, 2008

provided that you don't do anything silly in packing or storage keeping the lens on the camera is the best place to keep a lens! Like the battery (which should be charged in the camera) and the memory card - contents saved to computer and the card formatted and ready to shoot -- that leaves you ready for a shot whenever!
Last thing you want to have to do is put the camera together when you see a shot

Alex_B · Sep 22, 2008

I always have one lens on my camera, always (not always the same though). And I do this for decades and gave my cameras in their bags rough times: bumping on rocks, sliding down snow slopes and all that. Never any problem.

I also had cameras with lenses in bags which were slightly too small and put pressure on it, no problem either. I would just avoid too much bending around the lens mount from asymmetric pressure. But you would not get that in a normal camera bag anyway.

Battou · Sep 23, 2008

Not going to be a problem....Just don't loose the rear lens cap though, I can't tell you howmany cameras or lenses I have, but I can tell you I do not have anywhere near enough rear lens caps, I'm going to have to buy atleast two for every lens mount I own.

Slaphead · Sep 23, 2008

Battou said:
Not going to be a problem....Just don't loose the rear lens cap though, I can't tell you howmany cameras or lenses I have, but I can tell you I do not have anywhere near enough rear lens caps, I'm going to have to buy atleast two for every lens mount I own.

Whenever I change a lens I just take the rear lens cap from the lens I'm about to put on and put it on the lens I just removed - thus I never lose a rear lens cap and I always have one more than I'll need.

Well it works for nikon lenses, I would imagine it would for Canon, Sony etc

Battou · Sep 23, 2008

Slaphead said:
Whenever I change a lens I just take the rear lens cap from the lens I'm about to put on and put it on the lens I just removed - thus I never lose a rear lens cap and I always have one more than I'll need.

Well it works for nikon lenses, I would imagine it would for Canon, Sony etc

I have more lenses than I do bodies and accesseries, and still yet I do not have enough lens caps to go around. So naturally your methoed gets shot in the foot when the lens I am about to put on to my body does not have one to switch to

I buy used equipment and I sware, it seems like only a dozen people in the world who keep their rear cap with a lens, I have one Minolta body two Minolta lenses and no caps for them period, I have to keep a lens on my bellows and also use my teleconverter as a rear cap on some of my Canon lenses.

Buying caps for my lenses is going to cost a fortune cuz all the previous owners loosed them,