Photography in the wet?

[Barney McGrew]

Every year I attend the remembrance day parade as part of the uniformed services. Today I decided I would photograph the lads from my station marching instead of marching myself.

However, apart from the fact I cant seem to get good shots from my camera, one thing I did notice was the effect the rain had on the camera.

How do I best protect my camera, mainly the lens from water droplets when taking photos in the rain. I noticed a few had some sort of shroud but I think these are for light purposes rather than wet weather.

Also can anyone recommend a decent cleaning kit as it obviously could do with a wipe now on the lens.

Any advice much appreciated? My camera is an EOS 450D

[Tony]

The 'shroud' is a lens hood, and it's advisable to use one regardless of the weather as it blocks stray light from cutting across the camera lens and reducing the contrast of your image - think of it like when the sun is at a low angle and you put your hand up to block the light and everything becomes clear again.

In terms of rain, if you have a pro camera then they have weathersealing on them, yours doesn't, so it's advisable to protect it from the rain - you could stick it ina  plastic bag with the lens sticking out and an elastic band around it - a lens hood would help to keep rain off the lens as well in this situation.

You can buy ready made raincoats for your camera, but a clear plastic bag and elastic band will suffice for ad-hoc use.

[Barney McGrew]

Cheers Tony

I will look into getting one of these hoods then, sounds like it would be of benefit anyway

Not sure about the plastic bag, Im struggling to get it work with everything on show, I would be snookered with it all covered. I dont think I am cut out for photography.

Cheers.