Protective Cover

[Alex Geschke]

Does anyone have a suggestion for a protective cover for my GL2? The only product I have seen for this function is a rain cover made by KATA.

I don't need protection from rain however, I am shooting some footage at the beach near the water and I want to make sure I don't get any sand or ocean moisture anywhere near the camera. Suppose I could go make-shift with a giant ziploc bag or something, but I'd rather rely on someone elses professional engineering.

Any suggestions??

Thanks

[Graham Bernard]

Alex - This is something I've been researching for some time now. I too have tracked down the KATA raincover, sourced a supplier and have even tried one on my XM2 - not for me. It was a bit of a squeeze, made form a material which for me made my hand sweat, raised the temperature of my hand while "inside", was uncomfortable and don't forget the XM2 produces heat when working. In general, I could only see me using this item with tripod work where, maybe, I would have set up the XM2 and needed to have that additional assurance that in the event of rain it would be protected. I've yet to track down a suitable, comfortable and ergonomically workable "protector" for my darling cammy.

A suitable, reasonably priced cover that would fit this camera - this has to be something for a creative manufacturing company to come up with. There are several "medium" to "high-end" prosumer cammies on the market now - not being able to be offered that final accessory to protect my investment appears really weird to me.

Maybe, on average, I/we spend something like £300gbp to £600gbp on accessories - mics, wide angles, extra batteries - on what is the basic cammie kit ranging from £1,550gbp to £1,800gbp. This constitutes something in the region of 20% > 33% ON top of the Canon Kit. Therefore I've committed finance to give my cammie that "extra" bite when filming. This tells me I'm willing to spend cash on such items. Somebody, somewhere must be thinking and saying , surely, you must wish to spend a similar amount on a raincover? Well no . . . IMHO the KATA raincover retails at a price that "wants" to reflect the value of the other high costs of the extras - lens, mics etc - BUT it is intrinsically a raincover, made from products that aren't requiring major high tech R&D - required by lens and mic production. This is another reason I haven't plumbed for what I regard is an over-priced item. - Hey, I am not naive to think that I don't know what's going on here! - That's my point. Oh yes, my KATA camera bag, with all the compartments, their R&Ded special protective liners with sponge comforters, clips, shoulder straps, zips, velcro adjustment . . . [ you get the picture ] costs something similar. There was a time when "raincovers" were thrown-in with the cammie kit or the cammie carrying bag . .

So, what do I want?

1 - A "protector", that is ergonomically viable and comfortable to use and does not "heat-up" with use.

2 - A product that retails at a realistic price AND recognising that I'm willing to pay for extra high-tech items that cost 20% - 30% of the initial investment, I am loathe to buy a product that IMHO does not fall into this "product-description" % range. Offer me an intelligent product, intelligentlly "thought-through", and recognises me intelligence - would get my vote and most likely my pound-notes too!

3 - A company that sees, although my cammie is a prosumer DARLING machine, it will also recognise too that there are many MANY such obsessives as I out there with a collective buying power wishing to purchase such a protector.

Reading my 3 points above, I know I could be regarded as being naive. But if you don't ask . . . you don't get . . . Hey you still might GET!

Anyways, as an example in moving this along, go see CAMKOTE site - this is the "direction" I'd be looking at - yeah?

https://www03.hway.net/stud94/camkote.htm

Sorry for the long post, but it has really been getting up my nose,

Grazie

[Ken E. Williams]

I am very happy with the RS-GL-2 slicker for my GL2. It’s another great, rugged product from Porta-Brace. It fits snugly and has lots of good features. The slicker is also useful for keeping out bit of grass, dust and pollen on a windy day. Works hand-held or on a tripod. Accommodates the WD-58H wide angle lens and hood. Price is around $140. Available from ZGC and other fine stores ;-)

For more info see:
http://www.portabrace.com/asp/ProdDesc.asp?DescCode=RP

[Graham Bernard]

Ken, brilliant!

Does your hand get hot inside? Is the " . . newly designed Cordura® fabric " a plastic type material? Does it breathe well? Really glad you posted this one - I DID see this too, I wanted some real world experience of it first.

TIA

Grazie

[Ken Tanaka]

I, too, have the PortaBrace rain slicker for my GL2 and it works very well, as Ken noted.

But if dust and sand are the real expected culprits it may not do so well. Honestly, in that situation, I would seriously consider sealing the camera in a heavy-duty plastic bag with packing tape (of course leaving some way to operate it). The rain slickers are designed to protect the camera principally from precipitants falling from above. Dust and sand will easily work their way in from all directions.

Just my 2-cents.

[Ken E. Williams]

Grazie,

>Does your hand get hot inside?
I used the PB rain slicker again yesterday. It was a warm day and I recorded for about 5 hours without any heat or dampness problems.

If you look at the GL2 photo at http://www.portabrace.com/asp/ProdDesc.asp?DescCode=RP , your hand is actually under an adjustable tent-like flap (with the PB logo visible) that can be released at the front and back if you want. I’ve had no reason to do that, except to change tapes.

FYI the product design has evolved slightly from the picture on the PB web site. The front end now looks closer to the XL1 model shown but with a deeper cuff shielding the lens.

>Is the " . . newly designed Cordura® fabric " a plastic type material? Does it breathe well?

This is certainly a fabric as opposed to a polythene sheet that would trap heat and moisture. I’m no expert on the material’s composition but I can say that I have a number of cases, and boots, covered in Cordura that have survived travel very well and not had any humidity issues. I’m sure that you can see all the info about the fabric that you’d ever need here: http://www.cordura.com/

I’m still very happy with my well-designed and constructed rain-cover for my GL2. Good luck with your search!

Ken W.

[Jeff Price]

I use the cam-kote. It's ok, but I find it very cramped to get at the controls - I wish it was a bit baggier.

Maybe the solution is to convince one of the companies to make one out of gore-tex?

If the conditions are too bad you could consider the EWA rain slicker (big plastic bag) or full-blown flexible housing. Warning - hand sweat time!

[Graham Bernard]

Ken that's exactly the info I was looking for - bar actually "feeling" the product. I'm getting some shipping costs from ZGC for the item to come to London UK.

Ooooh can't wait to, " . . . .see all the info about the fabric that you’d ever need here: http://www.cordura.com/ . . ." ;-) Going there right n........

[Alex Geschke]

Wow, thanks to all of you, this is really good info. I did see the cam-kote before, and I looked up Ken's suggestion on the Porta-Brace, but these items are almost a bit more than I was looking for. This is really a one-time shoot on the beach, so I might just work up some sort of plastic bag. My only concern would be condensation, but I suppose I can poke a few vent holes. Also, the camera has a warning indicator, but I don't want to even take it to that limit if I don't have to, especially near saltwater air. The more I think about it, the beach is probably the worst place on earth you can take a camera. I'm sure it'll be ok if I use extra precaution.

[Jeff Price]

Condensation will be more of a problem if you undergo a temperature change. If the bag and the camera are at about the same temperature as the outside air you should be ok. You can always get some silica gel and put it in the bag with the camera. Besides the tiny packs that come with electronic goods you can get fairly good sized packets at camera stores.

For a one time shoot a bag may be your best bet. You could also consider the EWA rain cape.

[Alex Geschke]

The gel packs are a good idea.

I also just realized from reading my own post a day later that if any condensation were to form inside the bag it would not contain saltwater properties. I just got a flash back of distilling water in high school chem lab.

[Jeff Price]

Make sure you have some sort of protective filter over the lens! UV filter, skylight, something. Salt water can plat havoc on lens coatings. Better to ruin a filter than the lens.

[Alex Geschke]

Got a UV filter on there now. I never take that baby off!

[Jeff Price]

If it's an expensive multi-coated filter and you expect it to take a lot of salt spray I'd swap it for a cheap one for this shoot. There is some controversy over how susceptible coatings are to salt water - but why take a chance? If you don't expect salt spray I wouldn't worry about it - I don't. I just leave the filter on all the time.

Saw a picture of a reporter in Iraq working on his story. he had a laptop set up on the top of his jeep. Dust plays havocs with laptops as well as cameras. His solution? Wrap the whole bottom of the laptop in plastic wrap!