Wear Some Protection...

A piece of advice that applies equally well to photographers, police officers, and teenage boys is the age old expression: "Wear some protect." And though these three distinct groups might have completely different notions as to what exactly the word "protection" might mean, the fact remains that this is still sound advice no matter who or what needs protecting.

Myself, being a photographer who lives in the very moist, very damp, and very rainy Pacific Northwest section of the United States (and as someone who is neither a police officer or a teenage boy), my definition of the word "protection" pretty much revolves around the idea that -- when I go outside on a rainy day to take some pictures -- that my camera should remain relatively dry. Yes, there are some commercial products that are specifically designed to help in this regard (I highly recommend the Kata Bags line of equipment), though the commercial products do tend to be a bit bulky and cumbersome, and they're usually not all that necessary during a light drizzle.

Typically, the way that I keep my camera dry during periods of lighter rainfall is with either a Ziploc bag of some sort, or with a clear plastic shower cap that I've stolen borrowed from a hotel. Personally, I tend to prefer the shower caps in most situations, as they are extremely light weight, have a built in elastic which wraps around my camera lens, are thin enough and flexible enough so that I can actually manipulate all of my camera controls through the bag material, and -- last but not least -- they come free with every hotel room.

Not to be too obvious about this, but the shower cap material does not go directly over the lens front unless you're hoping for some weird distorted effect with your images. Simply slide the cap material over the back end of the camera -- wrapping forwards towards the front -- and let the elastic of the cap wrap tightly around the barrel of the lens.

Does this sort of set-up leave the very front of the camera lens exposed and subject to all of earth's fury and elements? Uhhhhhh... Yes. So this isn't really the best solution when the weather gets a bit nastier than just light rain (again, this is where a Kata Bag really shines). On the other hand, having a lens hood in place can diminish much of the rain that would normally hit the very front surface of the lens -- at least during a lighter drizzle -- and having a decent sized piece of lens cloth or microfiber on hand will often take care of the large drops that do manage to hit the lens front. Just be sure to check that open and exposed glass surface before taking a shot, and you shouldn't have too many issues -- at least not with the rain.

Matt