Do you let lens always mounted on the camera, or not?

I wonder how many of us keep or do not keep the lens mounted on the camera when we do not use the camera for a long time (but… how long?).

My E-M1 Mk III always rests on the Oly 12-100/4, while the Oly 9-18 rests on the E-P5 which does not have an eyepiece. I do so to distribute the weight evenly all around the mount.

What do you do?

I nearly always keep a lens mounted in case I see something I want to grab a quick shot of. Which lens depends on which camera. For my G85, I keep the 12-60 kit lens mounted as it has a good range and is reasonably sharp and very lightweight. For my 2 Sony cameras, there are no lenses currently mounted.

You want one or the other.

Don't ever leave the open body cavity exposed - dust is one of the worst enemies of Digital Cameras.

Use either a lens (like I do) or a body cap.

Looks like I am a minority of one.  I have too many lenses to choose from, so normally I just grab a camera body and a lens and make it work.

I typically leave a lens mounted all the time to my cameras. Usually a prime on GX85 that gets swapped out for certain situations (i.e. to a telephoto Zoom for my daughter's volleyball games, etc).

I also have two DSLRs that I keep the lenses attached to - that's more because for paid shoots I tend to have two bodies, one with a 24-70 and the other with a 70-200 so I don't have to swap lenses, I can just grab the other camera.

I do have an older DSLR that currently doesn't have a lens attached. It isn't used much, so I just store it with no lens attached.

linux99 wrote:

Don't ever leave the open body cavity exposed - dust is one of the worst enemies of Digital Cameras.

Use either a lens (like I do) or a body cap.

Oh yeah - even for my bodies without a lens, they always have the body cap on. Good point.

Shoot - I just get nervous when i see people posting things to Craiglist without a body cap!

I always keep a lens mounted to my camera because (1) it fits my bag better than if the body and lens were separate and (2) that way the camera is ready to go when I pull it out.

With my E-M1iii and the way I have configured the inside of the bag (an older LowePro Flipside 300), it's the 12-40 that is always mounted. When I used the same bag with my E-5, it was configured differently and everything fit better when the 50-200 mounted to the camera.

I'm not sure whether people read the OP or not, several of the comments are about how they carry lenses in a bag when the OP is asking about what they do when the camera goes unused for a long time, unless I'm misinterpreting...

Anyway, in a bag I almost always keep a lens mounted, the only exception to that might be when I put my E-M5 into a very small bag where it'll only fit with a pancake mounted but I still throw a prime or two in a wrap underneath it... In that case I might stow it at times with just the body cap, the same will likely be true of my A7R IV for which I'm not getting any pancakes.

As far as storing it at home goes tho, I always take lenses off and put them in pouches alongside the camera that's covered by a protective wrap, and I keep it all in plastic bins with Eva-Dry desiccant boxes in them. What I grab for any given day can be pretty dynamic anyway, so it seems more useful to first pick the bag I'm gonna bring (from a separate bags bin) and then grab the lenses & body.

Always use body caps tho, I've actually got a spare in my larger bag just in case. I usually keep rear lens caps attached to that spare body cap in the bag.

Yes, even the body cap is a lens.

If the body has a battery with a charge, there is a lens present "at the ready".

Why would anyone leave a camera unable to make a shot ?

No reason not to.

Back to the old days (40+ years) when I did not use auto dry cabinet, for not immediate used cameras and lenses, I used airtight food bags plus silica gel to store them for the wet region I lived. Because whenever if I picked out a piece of lens or body I had to open the airtight bags, that had let the atmospheric humidity came in. Therefore I unmounted lens from the body, put on their lens/body caps, stored them separately each in their own airtight bag surrounded by silica gel. These bags of gear then collectively stored inside large size airtight box with more silica gel. I could keep the unused gear untouch so those less used gear inside their individual bags basically could remain dry for years.

I brought my auto dry cabinet 4 years ago. No more airtight bag and no more silica gel. No reason for me to store lens and camera body separately. It means every camera (not actively uses) has a lens mounted on for at least 4 years already. Likely it would be remained for the many years to come...

RedDog Steve wrote:

Yes, even the body cap is a lens.

If the body has a battery with a charge, there is a lens present "at the ready".

Why would anyone leave a camera unable to make a shot ?

I would disagree that a body cap is a lens, because it contradicts your last point - why would anyone leave a camera unable to make a shot?

The lens I leave on a camera may not be the most likely one I'll need for my next opportunity, but it stays on the camera regardless.

Henry Richardson wrote:

Most of the time I leave the lens on my camera.

Kodachrome is gone so, as far as I know, it is no longer possible to shoot Kodachrome film. Of course, there must still be unused rolls of Kodachrome in freezers around the world but, I think, there is no labs that still process it. I have about 30 rolls of various 35mm and 120 film that I bought in the 1990s in a freezer back in the States and there may even be a roll or two of Kodachrome too. Just for fun awhile back I started a thread about getting sort of a Kodachrome 25 look with digital camera raw files. I started a thread:

Kodachrome 25 profile for Lightroom (free)

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/64071862

Here is the pseudo Kodachrome 25 preset:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/64078519

And some example photos using it:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/64079655

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/64081892

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/64094312

Thanks, Henry!

I'll try your suggestions for a Kodachrome look. Your photos are outstanding.

Lelio

But do you always have a camera mounted on your lens?

Mark Ransom wrote:

RedDog Steve wrote:

Yes, even the body cap is a lens.

If the body has a battery with a charge, there is a lens present "at the ready".

Why would anyone leave a camera unable to make a shot ?

I would disagree that a body cap is a lens, because it contradicts your last point - why would anyone leave a camera unable to make a shot?

Mediocre at best, but this body cap does indeed produce an image.

9mm f/8 fisheye "bodycap"

The lens I leave on a camera may not be the most likely one I'll need for my next opportunity, but it stays on the camera regardless.

I sometimes do in-camera post processing (as above). During those times I prefer to leave a small lightweight lens such as the 14mm f/2.5 or the bodycap fisheye attached for convenience of handling.