MT Shooter wrote:
Then I suggest you take the time to sit and install and remove a plastic mount lens thousands of times and calibrate the wear over the course of the experiment. As far as I know no one has ever wasted that much time to actually find out the exact number at which the failure is noticeable.
So, at the end of the day, there is no real guidance that you, or I can stand behind other than to say we think plastic wears faster.
I do not mean this in a negative way, you give some of the best, most valuable and balanced guidance on the forum in my opinion, but it seems we don't really have an answer in every day layman's terms.
So, for light use, plastic is fine, for heavy use metal is better.
So if you change lenses say 200 times a year plastic maybe OK, over say 5 to ten years, but if you change lenses 200 times a week, don't even consider plastic?
What can we say in those kinds of terms?
Come on, it isn't really that hard to put a stake in the ground for others to comment on. Wait, I have much less experience than you do, and I've just stuck a straw horse out there to kick around.
I've made my own decisions, but I think we can't always justify the plastic is bad argument unless we put some "meaningful" evidence behind it.
For example, I liked the comment another member made recently:
"Using a Honda Fit to tow an RV isn't a good idea", or similar.
Doesn't mean that a Honda Fit is a bad vehicle, but there are use cases that it isn't designed for.
Please take this as a request for interpretation of your excellent advice, and not challenging any detail that you have posted.