rain covers???

[milehigh]

What do you folks use to cover your gear when photographing in bad weather? I've been doing some research for a trip this may and I'm not terribly impressed with anything I've seen yet.
thanks,
DS

[Bonish Photo]

We keep a package of these in our camera bags for if it starts to rain, but that's about all they're good for.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4 ... ve_2_.html

EWA/Marine makes waterproof bags that are rated at 30' that I'm going to get, but they said they are making a new one soon, so I'm waiting for that one to come out.

[wildpicture]

For my biggest lenses I made a cover myself. It is not specifically a rain cover but mainly a cover to protect the lens from bumps and scratches and at the same time to camouflage the bright Canon white. It consists of a 2-3mm thick plastic neoprene like coat, covered with cotton camouflage tape.

As the lenses themselves already have weather protection, it works okay when it starts to rain. I wouldn't want to stand outside with such a lens in the rain forest for many hours. But then again I wouldn't want to do that without a lens anyway.

Here is a picture of the lens cover on my last trip in Africa, where we had several days of quite heavy rain as well as sunshine.
http://www.wildpicture.com/temp/Afrika_portret.jpg

[Bonish Photo]

That's a pretty sweet set-up Hans. Where do you find the raw pieces of neoprene? I'd like to make some of those myself.

I hate how cold the lenses get in the winter time, something I'm sure you've forgotten about in South Africa, you lucky dog.

[wildpicture]

That's a pretty sweet set-up Hans. Where do you find the raw pieces of neoprene? I'd like to make some of those myself. I hate how cold the lenses get in the winter time, something I'm sure you've forgotten about in South Africa, you lucky dog.

Well, South Africa can be cold too. Last year I was there all July (winter over there) and normally the weather is lovely then. Warm days and cool nights with clear blue skies and lots of sunshine and no rain at all. The day before I flew there, the rental company sent me a picture of the Landrover covered in snow!!! Still most of the time we would like to have their winter weather in our summers.

The covering I used to protect the lens came from something completely different. I am not sure about the correct name in English. It is a kind of plastic/neoprene/rubbery carpet about 2-3mm thick that is used under parquet floors, for insulation and to reduce noise. It is quite cheap and available on big rolls. I had a roll left over from our floor and found it was ideal for this kind of thing. So I just cut it out to cover the lens with and then covered it with the cotton camouflage tape. Works perfectly and costs very little. The only thing is you can't remove it without cutting it away.

The camouflage tape I used was this:
http://www.ronniesunshines.com/product_ ... cts_id=445