PolarPro has announced its new Defender body cap. It’s available in Canon EF & RF, Sony E and Nikon Z mounts. But it’s not just a regular camera body cap. Oh no, this one has a secret storage compartment.
What can you put in it? Well, it comes with three different inserts that you can swap out as you need. One holds an Apple AirTag, one holds a CFexpress Type A card, and one holds an SD card (with a couple of microSD cards underneath).
PolarPro Defender – This body cap is hiding something
The PolarPro Defender Body Cap is essentially a drop-in replacement for your standard camera body cap. It mounts to it just like your regular cap – or a lens – but offers some extra functionality and versatility over those bare plastic caps the manufacturers send out.
That extra functionality comes in the form of a cavity within the body cap that lets you store things inside it. To access this cavity, a separate cap sits on top of the main base cap that attaches to your camera.
Inside the cavity, you’re able to place one of three supplied rubber holders, each capable of storing a different type of item. One allows you to store your Apple AirTag, letting you keep tabs on your camera if it goes missing or gets mislaid.
The other two let you hold memory cards. One houses a single CFexpress Type A card, while the other holds an SD card along with a pair of microSD cards.
Why no CFexpress Type B?
There’s no CFexpress Type B holder, but the reason why is fairly obvious. They’re just too big to fit inside the cap, along with a holder that’s meant to keep it safe and secure. This is one of the reasons why we’ll never see a CFast 2.0 version, too. The other, of course, is that the few cameras still using CFast 2.0 are being phased out.
Fortunately, many cameras with CFast 2.0 or CFexpress Type B slots often also have an SD card slot, too. Even the XDynamics Evolve 2 drone has microSD alongside its CFast 2.0 slot. So, you’re still covered in that respect, even if you have to find alternate storage for your space CFexpress Type B cards.
The addition of the microSD card slots on the SD card holder is very handy. Many of us today are heading out with a DSLR or mirrorless camera along with one or several devices that use microSD cards.
Action cameras, drones, 360 cameras, and more all utilise them. Keeping a couple of spare microSD cards in the body cap on your main camera all the time means you should never forget to bring a card out with you.
Of course, you do still need to remember to put the cards in the cap when you’ve copied their contents to your computer.
Canon EF support but not Nikon F or Leica L
The caps are available in four different mounts. There’s a Sony E mount version, a Nikon Z version and two Canon versions, including Canon RF and the now-obsolete Canon EF DSLR lens mount.
I’m a little disappointed to see that there’s no Nikon F version. But I have about a dozen Nikon DSLRs that I use for shooting timelapse. That being said, I didn’t expect there to be a Nikon F version of this. Although, I didn’t really expect a Canon EF version, either.
One mount that is noticeably missing, however, and a current mirrorless lens mount, is L mount. Used as the foundation for the L mount Alliance between Leica, Panasonic and Sigma in 2018, it’s since grown to cover more manufacturers.
Now, the L mount is also utilised by companies like Blackmagic Design, DJI, Samyang and Astrodesign. Sure, it might not be as popular as E, RF and Z mounts, but there are still a significant number of cameras out there now that sport it.
I expect we may see Leica L in the future if there’s enough demand. I’d still like to see a Nikon F version, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
Price and Availability
The PolarPro Defender Body Caps are available to buy now for $49.99 from the PolarPro website. They’re available in Canon RF, Canon EF, Sony E and Nikon Z mounts in Black, “Forest” and “Desert” colours.
All three rubber holders come packaged with each Defender, so you don’t have to pick and choose whether you want to carry an AirTag or a memory card when you buy. You get them all and can choose when you need them.
