I think the benefits are that the HOOCAP offers something slightly different to the " run of the mill" accessories. Some may see the limitations - others see the benefits - horses for courses, so to speak.

I'd imagine they'd engineer it in a way that doesn't breach any copyrights. Either that, or they would possibly seek co-operation with Ricoh Pentax. They already make Hoocaps for Canon and Nikon, and as far as I'm aware, they haven't run into any infringement problems.

Dave - I have already been in contact with them about this. Markus (the Guv'nor) has a note of my Pentax (and compatibles) lenses, which he's added to his wish-list. He reckons that the earliest I might see developments on the Pentax front is sometime next year. Add your lenses to the wish-list too. There is a link at the top right-hand side of his home page. At the moment, his distribution network is in Germany, but I pointed him in the direction of Introfoto2020 in Maidenhead, as they are a photographic distributor here - and having once lived in Maidenhead, I know a few folk that work there. I also advised Markus to drop-by here from time to time, to see others talking about their lenses. That way, he'll have a better idea of the range of lenses we would possibly want Hoocaps for.

Here's the link to the thread that I started too: link

Ditto!

Latest response from Markus:

We thought about a threaded version, too. But it is not as simple as it seems as we would lose control over the angle Hoocap is mounted in. This has to be exact to avoid vignetting.



I will also keep an eye on the thread you opened to get further insight on customer needs.



Best regards



Markus

Their manufacturing base is TAIWAN!!

Just received a response to my email. Here it is, verbatim:

Dear Mr. Steven Rowan,



thank you for your message and your interest in Hoocap.



Hoocap is quite a new product and at the moment unfortunately we do not have a Hoocap for Pentax and third party lenses right now. But we are developing more Hoocap models and we want to extend our lines to third party lenses and Pentax, too.



What lenses would you like a Hoocap for? If you send me a short message, I will put them on our wish-list for future development.



As we are quite new in the European market we are just building up distribution in Europe. At this time we ship from Germany to the UK if you buy in our online shop: http://shop.hoocap.de/en/



But we would prefer to build up a distribution with local suppliers. Perhaps you have a recommendation on high quality and good service suppliers in the UK that could help to bring Hoocap closer to you?



Best regards



Markus Selders



PS: If you want to stay tuned on new Hoocap models and supported lenses, just subscribe to our newsletter:

http://shop.hoocap.de/en/newsletter



Since Markus is looking for lens suggestions, let's give him a few suggestions, if you are also interested in this gizmo. Their web prices appear reasonable too (about 40 Euros per lens cap for the CaNikons).

I just saw a side ad on the site for the above named product link, and thought I'd have a look. The concept of this product appeals, but sadly they do not (at the moment) support Pentax lenses!

I've emailed the company to find out if there are plans for such, and as soon as I get a response, I'll let you know.

Just in case any of you have never heard of a Hoocap - it's a combination of lens cap and lens hood. The link will give you a bit more of an explanation though.

What time did you take this shot, Louise? The lack of light suggests very early morning (before 7AM), or evening (7PM) under a bit of an overcast sky. Having said that, there is a hint of "character" about the clouds, so I'm guessing it's underexposed - possibly the strong reflection of light bouncing off the water tricked your camera's exposure meter.

Jeff - the first one reminded me of taking a "friends'" wedding a few years ago (he was looking for photos of the occasion not so much on the cheap - more leaning towards "free"..!!). After giving his "critique" of the shots I'd taken, he asked me to give him the disc of the jpegs!!.. So, my own personal poster would read something like:

Of course I can let you have my good shots on disc!!.. Does your computer have a floppy disk drive then?



Meeeeez bad!!