Equipment Recommendation: Rain Cover
When looking through which camera’s and lenses you want to invest in, one of the features they love to throw out there is that the camera is water resistant. But, the truth of the matter is that the camera body and lenses, while SLIGHTLY water resistant are not waterproof. In San Diego, we do not have too much of an issue with excessive rain, however, there have been cases where even dust, a drizzle or too much moisture has caused a camera to stop working. The worst part about this is that camera warranties usually don’t consider water damage under issues they fix for free. That is why keeping your camera dry is very important not only for the sake of your camera, but your wallet.
When we asked you, the Right Light Community, what you do when it is raining outside there were different precautions suggested. Many suggested the cheap, but temporary protection with garbage bags, umbrellas, and plastic bags. While these all can work, they also are impermanent to protect you from the rain. If necessary, your camera may need a “raincoat”. And they make these super easy to use and durable rain covers for your camera at many places. While they sell plastic see through ones for very cheap, these are not durable and you might as well use a free plastic bag than spend the $12 on these glorified plastic bags to protect your camera. What I am recommending this week though is spending a little more money to ensure your expensive camera stays protected in dusty and moist weather. Recently, Jason came across a great deal to invest in a protective rain cover for your camera and get for a limited time only a free eye piece also. Jason is actually going to be using this week’s equipment recommendation for a rain cover, the eye piece, and more from Think Tank’s durable and quality supply in his upcoming week long trip to Iceland. (Expect photos and stories when he returns).
The specific rain cover he will be using is from Think Tank Photo’s Hydrophobia rain cover collection! The Hydrophobia 70-200 and Hydrophobia 70-200 Flash rain covers accommodate a DSLR with up to a 70-200 lens and even the option of a flash. These rain covers will protect your camera from more than just “heavy-duty” rain, but also protects it from dusty wind storms, and other challenging conditions. An awesome option that they usually don’t have in the other options of rain covers, is the fact that the rain cover has an external camera strap that allows you to attach the rain cover and eliminates the need to remove the strap attached to your camera body. This makes it extremely simple to carry your camera through the rain with the cover on it. Some other rain covers make arm holes just large enough to slide your arm through it, but the Hydrophobia rain covers have sleeves designed to be big enough to not only let you control the camera (with a clear window around the back to view the shot), but gives you room to swap out batteries or memory cards. It also comes with a nice mesh bag with storage for the rain cover and eye piece to keep everything organized and accessible.
Find it here on ThinkTankPhoto.com
When you check out this website you will be asked which eyepiece you would like to receive for free!
Overall, the worst part of investing money in a nice camera and lenses is the fact that a single drop of water in the wrong place can break it and cost even more money. So, it is important to instead invest in protecting your camera with something of quality and excellent design.
