Selling a $220 that you refuse to fix/refurbish is bunk.

[Ben Sliker]

The caps are pointless, IMO. Unless you're always dragging the cables through dirt or sand. Caps don't protect you from rental customers or careless AC's who don't take the time to line up a connector right before attempting to force it. Assuming they even have the right cable going to the right port. They don't save you from problems that happen due to over-stressing the cable.

If your cable was damaged on a rental, or returned from a rental in non-working condition, why is your rental customer not paying the bill? Seriously. I quit doing rentals, but while I was still in that business, I got fed up with rental kits constantly coming back with missing or damaged cables, AC adaptors that weren't mine, things like that. So all my rentals started incurring a "small items" deposit. It was extra on top of the standard rental rate and refundable if all items were properly returned in working order. Also did the same (and still do) with media that goes out for one reason or another. A media deposit that is refunded when the media is returned and verified. Very handy for sending off footage after a shoot or whatnot, especially if the production doesn't supply drives or at least decently good drives to work with.

Well ... thanks Jeff? I think they do have a point. The open end of the cable is exposed, plain and simple, anything can get in there, even if you are careful.

What happened to our cable is that it was damaged in transit. The mini end of our XLR cable somehow got into the open end of the cable, bending a pin slightly. I gave the renter (who had shot Scarlet before), specific instructions on plugging in all the cables, but when he tried to insert a slightly damaged cable, bad things happened. We are trying to safeguard ourselves against accidental damage if we decide to rent out for a second time. And as this thread has been mostly useless, I was attempting to provide information for others to do the same.

And yes, I did settle with my renter for a replacement. Thanks for the lecture ... That's not what my complaints are about.

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Sorry, didn't mean to come across that way. Yes, the caps are useful if you're transporting the cables in a way where the connector could potentially contact each other, or other objects. I guess I should've just said that I'm not a fan of the LEMO caps. Plenty of other ways to do it, that work on any/all cable ends and don't cost $11/cap or $22/cable.

And my apologies for the rental lecture. Just a habit of mine I suppose, just trying to help.

[BRANDON JAMESON]

We use a swipe of gaffer tape..works great

[Felix K.]

A cable that costs 220$ is a design failiure in my opinion. Use another plug if that one costs more than 20m of HDMI cable...

Just my 2c.

[Ben Sliker]

Sorry, didn't mean to come across that way. Yes, the caps are useful if you're transporting the cables in a way where the connector could potentially contact each other, or other objects. I guess I should've just said that I'm not a fan of the LEMO caps. Plenty of other ways to do it, that work on any/all cable ends and don't cost $11/cap or $22/cable.

And my apologies for the rental lecture. Just a habit of mine I suppose, just trying to help.

10-4. Thanks man. I went ahead and posted in the forum to see if people had ideas, and also contacted my bomb squad rep to see if RED had a suggestion for protecting the ends of the cables. No Help. In fact, I sent my bomb squad rep the link to the cap and he said no one at RED could confirm or deny that the cap would work with the LCD cables, and that I would have to test them myself. I found that a little silly...

[Alex Kornreich]

A cable that costs 220$ is a design failiure in my opinion. Use another plug if that one costs more than 20m of HDMI cable...

Not really sure why this is so difficult to understand. Lemo connectors cost $50-$70 wholesale each, so there's $100-$140 worth of connectors alone in each cable. These are high quality, and are made to avoid putting the cable in the wrong way, which if happens, can damage the camera and cost wayyy more than $220. Furthermore, comparing these cables to HDMI is a ridiculous comparison. How many HDMI cables are sold each year... millions? And LCD/EVF cables... maybe 10,000? That's economies of scale, makes perfect sense why the cost of these cable are what they are.

As for the cable caps, they are useless for 99% of the damage that may occur. Steadicam ops, myself included, typically own $10K to $25K worth of cables, and not a single one that I know uses caps. But if it gives you piece of mind, then go for it.

[Nick Gardner]

We use a swipe of gaffer tape..works great

I would strongly advise against anyone doing this. It's just a matter of time before after a hot day in a case in a truck, somebody pulls off the tape and half of the adhesive stays on the connector and then somebody stuffs it into the camera. Ugg. Bad idea.

Nick