The Nikon Coolpix 950/990 are very good cameras, they may look like toys because of the swivelling lens, but they really are photographic tools. There are, as always, things to improve upon...
On the net you can find information about how to build your own remote trigger, flash bracket, flash deflector, LCD shade, slide/neg. copier, etc. What this page shows is the simplest way to attach that tiny lens cap.
It is amazing that when a company creates a digital hi-tech product the designers seem to start from scratch instead of using existing experience from users of similar products. Anyone using a camera can tell that a lens cap not attached to the camera WILL get lost. It is just a matter of time. So why doesn´t Nikon attach it? Beats me.
The 950 came without any suggestion at all what to do with the lens cap, the 990 came with a loose string thrown into the package. The intended way to use that loose string is to put it arond the swivel axis, it works and doesn´t get caught in the swivel, but a good "solution"? Nope, it is just a thrown together "bug fix".
The best solution I have seen so far is to attach the lens to the tiny cap covering the external flash connector. I used the idea for a while august 1999 on my 950, but then only by squeezing a dental wire around the tiny cover and screwing it on tight. As time went by it came loose. So, what I did then was to drill a small hole into the flash connector cover, I used a 1 mm drill. I took a nylon string (the same type as supplied with the 990) and put it through that hole and made a knot on the inside side, I secured that knot with a small drop of glue. The other end I tied onto the lens cap, I secured that knot with glue also. The length of the string is a matter of taste, I keep it as short as possible.
Another solution is to put self adhesive velcro on the top of the lens cap and somewhere on the camera, preferably on the swivel part near the lens...
