Photographers out there, advice please

[onasilverbike]

Up to now I have been using a Canon compact (well a brick of a G5) wrapped in a plastic bag with an adaptor and a UV filter to keep the paint off, to get some team photos. Nice and easy, tough and almost idiot proof, can be lent to almost anyone who can manage a couple of buttons and a viewfinder and doesn't suffer from the DTs (lol). However, I want to proof up an SLR to get some better action shots/closeups etc. and am looking for advice.

I was thinking of using an EOS 300D, as I have one that I've almost used to death and consider it almost disposable now, should the worst happen.

For the body, I was going to sew up son Black vinyl I have kicking about to form a kind of mitt to cover the front/sides with a semi-rigid ring of plastic in the front with velcro on the outside to attach a lens sleeve to. Possibly with some wire sewn into the edges to make a bit easier to use.

The lens I am most likley to use with this is an EF 75-300 1:4-5.6 III USM that should cover a field nicely, however I have realised that the front element rotates during focusing, I was thinking that a Cokin or similar filter holder could be used to attach the front end of the sleeve too, alowing the front of the lens to rotate within.

Has anybody done something like this, will my idea work, or do you have a better solution, all helpful hints kindly accepted.

Thanks

 

[Mario]

Try neoprene instead of vinyl. Vinyl would be a little to weak to stand up to repeated bashes.

 

[danrandon]

personall i don't use anything, but then again i don't pay for repairs to my nikons

but http://www.warehouseexpress.co.uk/ do some stuff that is made for the job

 

[Bob]

If your minted then go for a dive housing, got a quote on one for a D70 fo only £2800

If not then get yourself some tuperware (sp?), with some cunning modding you could get a similar size to the body of you camera and make suitable button holes, for the lense neoprene (as mario said) would be great and a couple of layers would give it a reasonable level of protection, cant realy think of a suitable lense cover, but maybe a make shift collar (if it doesn't effect the light levels) to decrease the angle the the lense can be hit at?

 

[onasilverbike]

Try neoprene instead of vinyl. Vinyl would be a little to weak to stand up to repeated bashes.

Its upholstery type vinyl, should have thought it would take a bit of punishment. (off cut from a motorcycle seat cover job, thats still going strong). I'm sure neoprene would give a bit mote 'bounce' I was thinking of linning it with sone thin closed cell foam I have too.

personall i don't use anything, but then again i don't pay for repairs to my nikons

but http://www.warehouseexpress.co.uk/ do some stuff that is made for the job

lol, lucky you, unfortunatly I do, is it LensCoat you were looking at, that looks fine for standard lenses, though it don't cover the rings/buttons, and leaves the sliding bits of a tele exposed, really don't want to be clearing paint from the inner workings of the lens at the end of the day and it don't cover my lens.

I think I spotted Ray at HG4 with what looked a bit like a walking gaiter over his lens.

 

[onasilverbike]

If your minted then go for a dive housing, got a quote on one for a D70 fo only £2800

If not then get yourself some tuperware (sp?), with some cunning modding you could get a similar size to the body of you camera and make suitable button holes, for the lense neoprene (as mario said) would be great and a couple of layers would give it a reasonable level of protection, cant realy think of a suitable lense cover, but maybe a make shift collar (if it doesn't effect the light levels) to decrease the angle the the lence can be hit at?

Went down the route of chopping up an ice cream carton at the weekend, but it was just too bulky, unless some b'stard is aiming right at me I'm hoping hits will be 'glancing' thb I haven't had a problem with the current plastic bag setup. Need to be able to operate the lens, no power zoom, had consideed some sort of collar but too bulky and prone to vignetting (dark corners) but, like a lens hood does, restricting stray light is a good thing.

 

[danrandon]

http://www.warehouseexpress.co.uk/index.cfm?photo/cameracovers/keatley.html?cd=1061711

try this

 

[onasilverbike]

http://www.warehouseexpress.co.uk/index.cfm?photo/cameracovers/keatley.html?cd=1061711

try this

Thanks Dan, must have missed that, looks more feasable.

 

[rayko]

For your 75-300, yes it does have a rotating front element. Buy a 58mm Hoya UV screw in filter (cost you about a £10-15 off eBay), then get a ET60 lens hood (I these cost about £20-30)

The Hoya will protect the front element, and the ET-60 will reduce glare, and reduce the angles you might take direct hits from.

Cover the the length of the barrel with a lens sleeve (as per Dan Randon), and use the camera cover or a use a plastic bag to cover the body up. Because the 300D has the LCD settings and virtually all the controls on the back it works out quite easy.

FYI, I use most of the time a 100-400L IS USM, UV(N) HMC, ET-83C lens hood, and a Kevin Keatley lens sleeve.

 

[rayko]

FYI, I use most of the time a 100-400L IS USM, UV(N) HMC, ET-83C lens hood, and a Kevin Keatley lens sleeve.

Forgot to add, that is for a dry weather setup. Intermediate and full wet up setups are slightly different.