I figured there would be about ninety-leven new topics by now, but let me be the first.
I'm often forced to do my bear photography in the rain. We've worked out a simple strategy of personal rain gear and plastic garbage bags for the cameras and camera packs. I'm interested in learning how others cope, because there's always a "better" idea floating around.
Posted by Brad Hill on January 14, 2011 at 11:32 AM
Hi Hank,
Same problem - lots of shooting of bears and other coastal beasts in the rain. For years I've used specially designed rain covers for my cameras and lenses. These have the advantage of allowing easy access to all the cameras controls and even have clear plastic wherever there may be LCD's on your camera (so you can still review images, see how many shots are left on the card, etc.). I personally have always used AquaTech Rain Shields and have been happy with them, but in recent years more and more of my clients have been using similar covers made by Think Tank Photo and they seem to have worked very well. The down-side to both of these brands are they're NOT cheap (and you may need to buy more than one to fit different lens/camera configurations), BUT when I have seen people using cheaper brands they have been invariably disappointed and/or frustrated with them.
Both brands I've mentioned above can be viewed (complete with pricing) on one page on Outdoor Photo Gear's website (note that while I have had good success with this company, I am not necessarily "endorsing" them here - just consider it a link to information and comparative between-brand pricing):
I've tried commercial covers and found them wanting, especially in the wind. That's why the garbage bags. We poke a hole in one corner of the bag, then use a rubber band to affix it directly to the lens hood. The huge advantage is that the bag is large enough to cover the photographer's head and hands while in use, essentially like a dark cloth on a large format. In between shooting sessions we point the lens down and tie the bag opening down around the tripod below the camera. That's mandatory if there's wind, because an open bag turns into a perfect sail.
Each lens gets its own bag, and moves with the lens when we do lens changes. We use the same strategy with 2-gallon ziplocs on smaller lenses. We're still torn between clear bags and black for bigger lenses, simply because the clear are harder to find.
It's not a perfect system by any means, but I don't think there is one, including the commercial alternatives. A box of a dozen bags is cheap and compact enough to carry in the field. They're good backup if the commercial covers aren't working out, and the extra bags are useful for everything from pack covers to sealing food, as well as dry spots to sit on.
Speaking of camera packs, I've found commercial covers for those work better than bags while carrying the pack, but when you arrive on site it pays to shove the pack in a bag before you lay it on the ground.
I've attached another photo showing attempts to use a Rite in the Rain notebook page to fashion a lens hood for a lens without one. Ish... It worked, but the owner's first step after the trip was to order a lens hood.
Posted by Brad Hill on January 14, 2011 at 12:00 PM
Hi again Hank,
I'm not sure what commercial covers you've used, but my experience differs - I've found my AquaTech covers far better than "home-made" solutions (however well thought out). Besides the points I mentioned above (clear plastic so you can see LCD covers, easy access to all camera controls) they do fit quite snug and have never had a problem in the wind (and I've shot with them in gale force winds). One other feature that they have is that the brand I use is made of a breathable fabric (similar to Gore-tex). At first I laughed at this (it's not that my camera perspired from exertion!), but they help move condensation - including that introduced by inserting wet hands into the cover - out of the closed system and kept the cameras and lenses drier.
I have shot with these covers in sessions up to 8 hours long in absolute downpours (you know what the northern coast can be like) and have never got a soaked camera or lens.
But...if your system works for you - great!!
Cheers...
Brad
Posted by Max Waugh on January 14, 2011 at 12:08 PM
I've heard great things about the Think Tank stuff, but as mentioned it's all pretty expensive.
A few years back, my wife fashioned some covers for me using waterproof marine grade fabric, velcro, elastic bands and some mylar windows so I could see what I'm doing (to an extent). It was a cheaper, albeit imperfect solution. The cover she made for my medium zoom lens in particular did not hold up in a Costa Rican rainstorm due to a few small openings here and there. Plus, the mylar fogs up all the time. The larger cover (for the 500mm) still works pretty well, though it would be really great to have an eyepiece like the commercial models.
Seemples Hank. Go and buy some decent waterproof over-trousers and cut a leg off. With a bit of careful cutting and someone who can work a sewing machine you can run up a decent waterproof cover for not much.
Pick the over-trousers carefully and you can get one that have adjustable cuffs, and which can take even a 500/4 with lens hood attached. You can also use some short luggage bungee straps or elastic with toggles to snug down any loose bits and stop it increasing any wind resistance/vibration. I've used a setup like that to photograph seals in the middle of sand storms without any issues. If the sewing machine has a bit more skill, you can even manage to fit an extra bit in to cope with mounting to something like a sidekick.
Having said all that... Garbage bags are incredibly quick and easy to put on and take off... Great for short sharp showers.
My problem Brad is that much of our wildlife shooting isn't planned ahead of time. The opportunities crop up simply because we live in an area rich with animals. Commercial covers don't do any good at home, but they're one more thing to pack, whether driving a truck or packing for a trip on an airliner.
On bush fly-outs we usually don't go alone either, and many of our companions have kind of pieced together their gear for the trip and certainly haven't invested in covers. A breakdown in companions' gear ends a shooting day just as fast as a breakdown in your own gear.
I bought my last commercial cover over 10 years ago, so I can't even tell you the brand, much less where it is at the moment. Over time it's migrated to the bottom of a drawer somewhere, or come to think of it, I might have put it in one of the boxes out in the barn loft. It's good to hear that commercial covers have improved so much in recent years, but they're not as universal a solution for us as plastic bags.
My post is offered as a very workable solution for people who don't have commercial covers on hand when the rain breaks out or don't want to invest in expensive covers. I'm not selling the plastic bags, so I don't have any stake in whether people choose to use them or not.
Btw, you need to carefully unpick some of the seams, and not do a lot of stitching - that way the pre-taped seams remain watertight. Of course, if you can find someone who can also sort out the waterproof tape for you then even better!
Leave the waist and body of the over-trouser on, then it forms a great 'dark cloth' which can easily accommodate the biggest of pro camera bodies. The leg you cut off can be cut down to size to fit a smaller lens and body.
Two for the price of one kinda
Posted by Brad Hill on January 14, 2011 at 1:25 PM
Hey Hank & Nick,
Lots of good solutions offered up so far - should help anyone "wading" into this topic a bunch. Hope more ideas come in!
Brad
Posted by Luke Ormand on January 14, 2011 at 2:03 PM
You guys ever think about NOT shooting in the rain?
Posted by Brad Hill on January 14, 2011 at 2:19 PM
Luke,
We're REAL photographers...rain, sleet, snow, heat, sandstorms, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. don't dissuade us.
Brad
Posted by John Tobias on January 14, 2011 at 3:18 PM
I have had good luck using ziplock bags, the larger sizes for shooting in the snow and light rain. Don't know how it would hold up in a heavy rain, but as a carry along emergency cover it works well enough.
Posted by Jim DeWitt on January 14, 2011 at 6:05 PM
For serious rain, you can't beat a tropical rainstorm. It makes our Alaska storms look like a mist. The storms sound like a freight train as they approach you.
I switched from the oversize ziplocks to a ThinkTank rain cover a few years ago and have been pretty satisfied. As a rain cover, it's been excellent. My cameras have never gotten even slightly damp. For photography, it's better than crawling under the big zip lock, but the plastic viewing windows have a tendency to fog up, and I've never been happy with the way it clamps around my view finder.
The rest of my gear is in sealed bags, all stuffed into a white water canoeing dry sack with comfortable shoulder straps; essentially, a really, really waterproof backpack. My regular Lowe Computrekker camera back pack has a rain cover, but water leaches in.
Posted by Genny K. on January 16, 2011 at 12:48 PM
I agree with Hank that sometimes a big garbage bag is the best thing. I have a Kata cover, which is built similar to the ThinkTank, but is see-through, so that's how you have to look through the viewfinder, rather than being attached like the ThinkTank. I have a friend who has the think tank, and he says it's still hard for him to look through the viewfinder when everything is dripping wet.
For me, the problem is blowing rain, which will get on the lens even if you have your cover over the lens hood, in most cases. The lens hood for the 100-400 is long enough that it does pretty good, but for wider lenses, they just don't stick out there very far. I've had plent of images ruined by raindrops on the lens. So I carry an umbrella in the truck to hold over the camera/tripod.
The other problem is rain dripping down, and then running somewhere else when you pick up the tripod to move on. That's one reason I like the garbage bag fix is that you can just shake the water off, wrap the bag around the tripod legs, and go on your way.
Like Brad, I quite like my AquaTech rain sleeve for my longer lens.
Another product that I always have in my camera bag is the Op/Tech Rainsleeve. I use these for my wide angle, eg 17-35 and up to my 70-200.
Posted by Joe Sulik on January 18, 2011 at 3:42 PM
A NPN member posted a video review of Think Tank's rain cover. I've never tried it but it looks pretty cool. It kind of folds onto the lens when not in use, so once its on you can leave it on rain or shine.
I too can say that the aquatech line is one of my "don't leave home without it...ever" pieces of gear. I have never had a wet piece of gear, and I can have them on or off in less than a minute if I need too...even on the 600. They are worth every cent!
Posted by Lorna Taylor on February 1, 2011 at 6:11 PM
Hi all, I made my own Gore Tex rain covers for my camera and len's using french seams to keep them water tight because I lived on the rainy coast of B.C. and they worked great. My new problem is we resently moved to northern Alberta and yesterday while out shooting in -29 with wind chill of -35 my lens after 3 hour's out shooting were getting very stiff and hard to even manually focus.Any tips???
Discussion
18 repliesI'm often forced to do my bear photography in the rain. We've worked out a simple strategy of personal rain gear and plastic garbage bags for the cameras and camera packs. I'm interested in learning how others cope, because there's always a "better" idea floating around.
Same problem - lots of shooting of bears and other coastal beasts in the rain. For years I've used specially designed rain covers for my cameras and lenses. These have the advantage of allowing easy access to all the cameras controls and even have clear plastic wherever there may be LCD's on your camera (so you can still review images, see how many shots are left on the card, etc.). I personally have always used AquaTech Rain Shields and have been happy with them, but in recent years more and more of my clients have been using similar covers made by Think Tank Photo and they seem to have worked very well. The down-side to both of these brands are they're NOT cheap (and you may need to buy more than one to fit different lens/camera configurations), BUT when I have seen people using cheaper brands they have been invariably disappointed and/or frustrated with them.
Both brands I've mentioned above can be viewed (complete with pricing) on one page on Outdoor Photo Gear's website (note that while I have had good success with this company, I am not necessarily "endorsing" them here - just consider it a link to information and comparative between-brand pricing):
Rain covers @ Outdoor Photo Gear
Hope this helps...
Brad
PS: I can NOT recommend rain covers from other makers that you may find on that same web page by following the link above (if you get my drift)
Each lens gets its own bag, and moves with the lens when we do lens changes. We use the same strategy with 2-gallon ziplocs on smaller lenses. We're still torn between clear bags and black for bigger lenses, simply because the clear are harder to find.
It's not a perfect system by any means, but I don't think there is one, including the commercial alternatives. A box of a dozen bags is cheap and compact enough to carry in the field. They're good backup if the commercial covers aren't working out, and the extra bags are useful for everything from pack covers to sealing food, as well as dry spots to sit on.
Speaking of camera packs, I've found commercial covers for those work better than bags while carrying the pack, but when you arrive on site it pays to shove the pack in a bag before you lay it on the ground.
I've attached another photo showing attempts to use a Rite in the Rain notebook page to fashion a lens hood for a lens without one. Ish... It worked, but the owner's first step after the trip was to order a lens hood.
I'm not sure what commercial covers you've used, but my experience differs - I've found my AquaTech covers far better than "home-made" solutions (however well thought out). Besides the points I mentioned above (clear plastic so you can see LCD covers, easy access to all camera controls) they do fit quite snug and have never had a problem in the wind (and I've shot with them in gale force winds). One other feature that they have is that the brand I use is made of a breathable fabric (similar to Gore-tex). At first I laughed at this (it's not that my camera perspired from exertion!), but they help move condensation - including that introduced by inserting wet hands into the cover - out of the closed system and kept the cameras and lenses drier.
I have shot with these covers in sessions up to 8 hours long in absolute downpours (you know what the northern coast can be like) and have never got a soaked camera or lens.
But...if your system works for you - great!!
Cheers...
Brad
A few years back, my wife fashioned some covers for me using waterproof marine grade fabric, velcro, elastic bands and some mylar windows so I could see what I'm doing (to an extent). It was a cheaper, albeit imperfect solution. The cover she made for my medium zoom lens in particular did not hold up in a Costa Rican rainstorm due to a few small openings here and there. Plus, the mylar fogs up all the time. The larger cover (for the 500mm) still works pretty well, though it would be really great to have an eyepiece like the commercial models.
Max
Pick the over-trousers carefully and you can get one that have adjustable cuffs, and which can take even a 500/4 with lens hood attached. You can also use some short luggage bungee straps or elastic with toggles to snug down any loose bits and stop it increasing any wind resistance/vibration. I've used a setup like that to photograph seals in the middle of sand storms without any issues. If the sewing machine has a bit more skill, you can even manage to fit an extra bit in to cope with mounting to something like a sidekick.
Having said all that... Garbage bags are incredibly quick and easy to put on and take off... Great for short sharp showers.
On bush fly-outs we usually don't go alone either, and many of our companions have kind of pieced together their gear for the trip and certainly haven't invested in covers. A breakdown in companions' gear ends a shooting day just as fast as a breakdown in your own gear.
I bought my last commercial cover over 10 years ago, so I can't even tell you the brand, much less where it is at the moment. Over time it's migrated to the bottom of a drawer somewhere, or come to think of it, I might have put it in one of the boxes out in the barn loft. It's good to hear that commercial covers have improved so much in recent years, but they're not as universal a solution for us as plastic bags.
My post is offered as a very workable solution for people who don't have commercial covers on hand when the rain breaks out or don't want to invest in expensive covers. I'm not selling the plastic bags, so I don't have any stake in whether people choose to use them or not.
Leave the waist and body of the over-trouser on, then it forms a great 'dark cloth' which can easily accommodate the biggest of pro camera bodies. The leg you cut off can be cut down to size to fit a smaller lens and body.
Two for the price of one kinda
Lots of good solutions offered up so far - should help anyone "wading" into this topic a bunch. Hope more ideas come in!
Brad
We're REAL photographers...rain, sleet, snow, heat, sandstorms, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. don't dissuade us.
Brad
I switched from the oversize ziplocks to a ThinkTank rain cover a few years ago and have been pretty satisfied. As a rain cover, it's been excellent. My cameras have never gotten even slightly damp. For photography, it's better than crawling under the big zip lock, but the plastic viewing windows have a tendency to fog up, and I've never been happy with the way it clamps around my view finder.
The rest of my gear is in sealed bags, all stuffed into a white water canoeing dry sack with comfortable shoulder straps; essentially, a really, really waterproof backpack. My regular Lowe Computrekker camera back pack has a rain cover, but water leaches in.
For me, the problem is blowing rain, which will get on the lens even if you have your cover over the lens hood, in most cases. The lens hood for the 100-400 is long enough that it does pretty good, but for wider lenses, they just don't stick out there very far. I've had plent of images ruined by raindrops on the lens. So I carry an umbrella in the truck to hold over the camera/tripod.
The other problem is rain dripping down, and then running somewhere else when you pick up the tripod to move on. That's one reason I like the garbage bag fix is that you can just shake the water off, wrap the bag around the tripod legs, and go on your way.
Another product that I always have in my camera bag is the Op/Tech Rainsleeve. I use these for my wide angle, eg 17-35 and up to my 70-200.
http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/bbs.cgi?a=vm&mr=56971&CGISESSID=25dad404ff83f0f5a1948e97915287e1&u=28981