Playa proof SLR housing?

nonuniform · Post by **nonuniform** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 8:40 pm

Every single one of my cameras has been to the desert - Black Rock and a number of others. I take them out to take photos. They aren't jewelery, or fine china. They're tools.

The D700 and D3 have been out there 3 years in a row with no cleaning or other attention besides a wipe down.

I've also taken my 4x5 press camera, random polaroids, etc. Never had a problem.

I've had more equipment broken while on the job covering stories surrounded by hundreds of elbow-wielding news guys.

chris2010 · Post by **chris2010** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 9:11 pm

Before Burning Man 2010 I had been debating bring my Expensive camera & lenses because of the Playa dust and the chances of loosing things out on the Playa. I wound up getting a Canon PowerShot D10 which is a 12MP waterproof camera. It did a good job on the Playa for my still, but it was limited to 3X zoom. It had a great strapping system which made it easy to attach to my backpack (or other things). For my HD Videos I got a Sanyo Xaci VPC-CA9 which is also a Waterproof camera. Both are great camera, but since I got them there have been a lot of new waterproof cameras which shoot great Still and Video in HD.

Irreverent Moniker · Post by **Irreverent Moniker** » Thu Jun 02, 2011 8:57 am

I didn't worry about my camera last year, but I took an older D60 that I didn't really care about it. It didn't get damaged or even all that dirty.

I'm planning on taking a better camera this year, with my much more expensive 18-200 VR, so I'm a bit more worried. I might pick up one of those Aquapac waterproof bags just in case.

CapSmashy · Post by **CapSmashy** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 10:29 pm

Irreverent Moniker wrote:I didn't worry about my camera last year, but I took an older D60 that I didn't really care about it. It didn't get damaged or even all that dirty.

I'm planning on taking a better camera this year, with my much more expensive 18-200 VR, so I'm a bit more worried. I might pick up one of those Aquapac waterproof bags just in case.

My 18-200 has been on the Playa every year since 07 and hasn't had an issue.

CapSmashy · Post by **CapSmashy** » Fri Jun 03, 2011 10:36 pm

Super Evil Brian wrote:Megapixel count means nothing. It's like horsepower in cars or wattage in an amplifier. The first few years of digital SLRs was pretty rough, but the last year was pretty good, if one has the money. I don't recall a 3MP digital from Nikon.

Ummm... not really true and a pretty bad analogy to boot.

mp comes into play in terms of making clean enlargements. A 3mp image with a 50% crop blown up to 11x17 will look like absolute dog piss in a frame. Unless of course you were going for blocky abstract.

And there is a very big difference between a 270 horsepower 02 T/A and a 600 hp 02 T/A.

Older digital cameras also had a bad problem blowing out highlights, which is a serious problem in a bright and high-key environment.

The D1 was pretty awesome for its time, but is pretty much obsolete junk today compared to even the low end DSLR's of today.

Playa Status · Post by **Playa Status** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 6:05 pm

Got myself a canon 5d. Was wondering if anyone has experience shooting the 5d on the playa and if the camera had survived. It's expensive...I don't want my baby to break ;)

CapSmashy · Post by **CapSmashy** » Sun Jun 12, 2011 11:33 pm

Playa Status wrote:Got myself a canon 5d. Was wondering if anyone has experience shooting the 5d on the playa and if the camera had survived. It's expensive...I don't want my baby to break

Follow basic rules of common sense, like minimizing lens swaps, and you'll be fine.

Playa proof SLR housing?

Stop worrying (or how I learned to live with the dust)