 Eli Warren |
Salt water protection for film SLR I may be wanting to shoot at the beach soon...was wondering what ways I can go about protecting my equipment. I have heard that being around salt water can be bad for a camera. How much should I worry about this?
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robert G. Fately |
Salt water can be quite corrosive, and while I'm pretty certain you don't plan on submerging your camera the truth is that sea spray can cause a goodly amount of salinity in the air. On the other hand, if the winds are low there may be little to worry about. Anyway, if you really want to protect your gear, then you can either go the expensive route - hard plexiglass or other types of material molded and shaped to fit around certain specific models of camera - or somethign a little less costly - the Aquapac bag (www.aquapac.net). I have an Aquapac bag for my P&S - it was about $40 and it's very nice...basically a really heavy duty ziploc bag except the pressure-type "ziploc" is replaced with a hard plastic pair of interlocking ribs with a gasket between them. SOunds more complex than it is - you put the camera in the bag (which is clear), push the two sides of the opening together (that's where the hard plastic ribs are attached) and lock the two ribs together. They also seem to make a mode for some SLR type bodies - it's about $120. Again, I use it with my P&S - a film camera since I like the wide-angle lens on the Ricoh GR21 (it's 21MM focal length) which is something not found on digital cameras today. The downside, of course, is that once I get to shot#36 I'm kind of stuck until I can get to someplace dry enough for me to remove the camera and replace the film. With a digital P&S and a large memory card, though, you could have hundreds of shots capability.
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BetterPhoto Member |
Buy a good lens and camera cleaning kit and go obsessive compulsive on your equipment when youa re done. Sometimes there just is no substitute for good old-fashioned elbow grease. Walrath Photographic Imaging
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Jon Close |
Protect the front element of the lens with a UV filter (or polarizer if the situation calls for it). I'm one of those who do not have a UV protection filter on at all times, preferring a bare lens and lens hood - but salt spray and blowing sand argue strongly for the protective filter. The filter can be easily cleaned without scratching from the dried on salt crystals or sand by placing it under running water.
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