Using your camera gear in the rain.

[jimmy156]

Hi all,

today i was supposed to be photographing a local event where the Haslemere rugby, football and hockey teams were playing teams from the army. However it is totally pissing it down. I went up there for a an hour or two hoping it would back off, but it didn't so i am now at home with a cup of tea watching the BTCC (I wasn't the official photographer, and was only doing it as a favor for some mates in the football/rugby team and told them in advance i wouldn't do it if it was too wet, so now one is let down.)

My question is how careful do you need to be of using (unsealed/semi-sealed) photography gear in the rain. I have a 50d which has sealed battery and CF compartments, and my tele lens is the sigma 120-400 which i understand has no weather protection. I was too worried even to get my gear out, but i'm not sure if i was being over cautious. I do seem to to remember reading on here that someone ruined a Nikon D3 by using it in heavy rain, and i thought they were supposed to be sealed?

Does anyone have any experience of LensCoat or similar? They say on their website that they provide weather protection, but don't make a big thing of them being waterproof. Or should i have just man'd up and taken them camera out .

Cheers, James

[ian in lancs]

Large sandwich bag or small carier bag with a hole cut for the lens to poke through and taped to the lens hood and put your hands up into the bag to operate the camera/lens. That's all you need! And no I wouldn't use my D700 in the rain although yesterday I saw a D700 and 70-200 f2.8 being used openly in the pouring rain and it was drenched. Braver or richer than I am!

[jimmy156]

i would still be worried using it like that in anything other then light rain, but the i'm very precious over my camera gear . Looking on the net you can get specially made "bags" like that would do a very similar thing but be more durable and better sealed around the edges, pretty cheap too. This might be the way forward as the lenscoats are about £50

[itsnotarace]

jimmy156 said:

I do seem to to remember reading on here that someone ruined a Nikon D3 by using it in heavy rain, and i thought they were supposed to be sealed?

IIRC the lens had no seal hence water ingressed

I used my D300 + 70-200 VR in the pouring rain all day today, same last Sunday. I take a cloth to give it a wipe down every now and then. In really, really heavy rain I will just cut a hole in a bag and tape it over. I will also dry it all off before packing it away at the end of the day's shooting

The worst one is when the rain is horizontal and blowing towards you, straight down the lens hood. That really pisses me off but there's not much you can do about it

TL;DR - If your lens and body have sealing, HTFU

[jimmy156]

itsnotarace said:

TL;DR - If your lens and body have sealing, HTFU

Body only partially sealed, lens not sealed. Probably should just get on with it, but i've only had the kit a few months and i'm still quite precious about it.

[itsnotarace]

jimmy156 said:

Body only partially sealed, lens not sealed.

I wouldn't risk that unless you have good contents insurance

[Mojocvh]

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-optech-rainsle...