Hood Cap Flower

Ingenius Lens Cap and Hood Opens Like a Blooming Flower

Here’s a very neat two-in-one idea. It’s called the HoodCap Flower, and it combines a lens cap and a lens hood into one neat package. Although rather complex in execution, the concept itself is simple: the lens cap is made up of blades which fold out like the petals of a flower. They then surround the lens and stop stray light from entering bouncing around the lens as you shoot.

Not only is it clever, it solves a number of problems. First, you don’t have to remove a lens cap, find somewhere to put it and then — almost inevitably — lose it. Second, you don’t have to walk around with a bulky hood sticking out. And third, you always know whether or not the cap is on before you hold the lens up to your eye.

Finally, you probably never need to use a “protective” UV filter again, as the front element of the lens is always covered, more or less.

The designers of the HoodCap, Rhie Hyi Joong and Lee Sang Hwa, decided to make their concept use a complex worm-gear system to open and close the hood by twisting a collar around the lens. If it works, I’m in. But if not, I’d be happy just pushing and pulling on the leaves to open and close the hood, just like the blades of one of those folding aluminum steamer inserts for saucepans.

(This whole post was copied from the GadgetLab on Wired.com.  It got mixed reviews but I think the concept is awesome.  But I still need a lens hood in the first place so first things first.)