Where Can I Find a Replacement Lens Cap for My Nikon Coolpix P80?

I've had my Nikon Coolpix P80 for about six months now. I bought it last spring so that my students could take better pictures of sports and events for our high school yearbook.

In that respect, I've been incredibly happy with my camera. It takes excellent pictures, especially of outdoor sports, and the numerous settings give me the chance to teach my students how to manipulate camera exposure before I step them up to the real camera - my Canon t1i.

The one thing I have not been happy with, though, is the darned lens cap! It keeps falling off! I never attached the string to hold the lens cap, because I didn't like it hanging around while I was taking pictures. Big mistake.

On numerous occasions, the lens cap would simply fall off. It slipped over the front of the camera fine, but it had little grab on the camera and any kind of bouncing or jiggling would dislodge the lens cap. This ultimately led to a fiasco at a cross country meet this fall. In the midst of running around taking pictures of the race, the lens cap fell off. We scoured the park to no avail, and my lens cap was lost... forever.

That's Ok... I'll Buy a Replacement

Although my lead photographer was really upset about losing the lens cap, I figured it would be simple to buy a replacement. Nikon (or a Nikon dealer) has to sell them, right? How expensive can they be?

Well, there are several online retailers that offer the original lens cap for the Coolpix P80 (LC-CP18). The MSRP appears to be $9.95, which is a reasonable price... so long as a store doesn't charge an exorbitant shipping rate.

The only problem? Everyone seems to have it on back order! Perhaps Nikon stopped producing this lens cap in high quantities after releasing the Coolpix P90 (which uses the LC-CP19), or these stores just stopped stocking it. Either way, I found several online retailers and each listed the item as out of stock or on back order. You may have better luck, though, so here are a few links you can check...

B & H Photos. Currently $9.95 and on back order.

The Nikon Mall. Currently $10.95 and on back order.

Is There an Alternative, Non-Nikon Lens Cap?

After seeing these dismal options, I started looking for an alternative. I perused photography forums and searched on Google, all to no avail. No one seemed to ever point directly to a non-Nikon product that would effectively replace the original lens cap (LC-CP18).

I did, however, find an item on eBay. It claimed to fit the camera better than the original lens cap, which isn't exactly a tough feat. It was cheap enough, so I took a chance and ordered it.

The item arrived a few days later and, amazingly enough, the replacement lens cap fit perfectly! The material is more like very stiff rubber than the hard plastic of the original lens cap. This gives it just a little bit of flexibility. When you slide it on the front of the Coolpix P80, it is flexed just enough to give the lens cap some grab. I shook the camera around, and the lens cap wasn't going anywhere.

At the time of publication, this item was offered by Your Camera Supplies on eBay. The item, titled "Lens Cap for P80 Nikon Coolpix Camera P 80," cost $13.50 and included free shipping. Check it out!

So What Should I Do?

If I were you, I would definitely invest in this alternative lens cap. There is really no comparison between the OEM product and the alternative available on eBay. You might expect generic gear to perform worse than name-brand gear, but this is most definitely not the case!

Even if you haven't lost your lens cap, I'd suggest you pick one of these up. It's only a matter of time before your original Nikon lens cap disappears in the park like mine did.