Photo Tip – Take Care of your Gear!
Written by Mike on February 21, 2009 – 11:44 pm -OK…Photographers whether professional or amateur should know the value of their gear. You would think that with the money invested in camera gear (from hundreds to tens of thousands) that the person would have the common sense to protect their gear from the elements. This however is not the case!
Not too long ago, I was at an event and there was a couple media persons at the event covering it for their newspapers. The two photographers I mention were veterans. They had very nice camera gear which was worth well over 8,000 dollars. It was an overcast day, the weather had been crappy for 2-3 days previously and the weather network was calling for continued rain for the next week. The weather was NOT a surprise.
I had my trusty Laird Rain Hood for my cameras. It was a $43.00 investment. The camera cover does not impede your use of the camera not does it make it very difficult to shoot action. It DOES however, protect my cameras perfectly. They remain bone dry, accessible and ready to shoot all the time it is raining.
These two Einsteins had NOTHING to protect their camera gear. When the sky opened up (and it did), they were following me (everyone always follows the leader!). We were at almost 1km away from any shelter and they not only didn’t have any covering for their gear, they also didn’t have any rain gear for themselves. Having no pity whatsoever, I sat happily in the rain, watching riders come in on their bikes, happily snapping AWESOME ACTION PHOTOS and watching as the two “professional” photographers scurried like mice in a maze.
Let me make this perfectly clear. Your camera and equipment is your investment. Whether personal or professional in nature, let me be blunt…BUY A FRIGGIN’ COVER! Idiots like these two I mention are more common that you would think. If you assume you will never need to protect your gear, then you will lose your gear. If you intend on taking shots outside, assume you will need to protect your gear.
1. WATCH THE WEATHER NETWORK
2. ALWAYS HAVE YOUR PROTECTIVE COVER READY
3. FIGURE OUT WHERE TO RUN IF YOU GET CAUGHT IN A DOWNPOUR
Mike Cheliak
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