Best way to protect DSRL camera - Renting?

[rideincircles]

I got my Canon 1D Mark 2 in and it seems good to go ($330 with battery, charger and 110k shots on it). The memory card door is a little loose on it so I may have to seal that area off inside the camera, but otherwise it should work well. I took it out for fireworks over the weekend and had no major issues taking pictures, but any night photography will probably be long exposure. I think the biggest issue would be focusing with low light, but otherwise I can adjust to manual settings at that point.

I currently only have the 50mm f1.8 which would work, but is really narrow (its a 1.3 crop so 65mm actual). I may consider the 40mm pancake, or the 28mm f2.8 which would be ideal, but will play it by ear based on how much I can spend. I can only use EF lenses so my other two lenses won't work. I am good to go as is if I just use the 50mm, just need to update the firmware so I can use memory cards larger than 2gb. I figure I will tape the ring connection and inside the memory card area and it will be good to go. Probably will get a filter also, I don't own any at the moment.

[DrYes]

I got my Canon 1D Mark 2 in and it seems good to go ($330 with battery, charger and 110k shots on it). The memory card door is a little loose on it so I may have to seal that area off inside the camera, but otherwise it should work well. I took it out for fireworks over the weekend and had no major issues taking pictures, but any night photography will probably be long exposure. I think the biggest issue would be focusing with low light, but otherwise I can adjust to manual settings at that point.

I currently only have the 50mm f1.8 which would work, but is really narrow (its a 1.3 crop so 65mm actual). I may consider the 40mm pancake, or the 28mm f2.8 which would be ideal, but will play it by ear based on how much I can spend. I can only use EF lenses so my other two lenses won't work. I am good to go as is if I just use the 50mm, just need to update the firmware so I can use memory cards larger than 2gb. I figure I will tape the ring connection and inside the memory card area and it will be good to go. Probably will get a filter also, I don't own any at the moment.

The advantage of primes out there is that so many zooms physically extend and retract, and can bring dust into the lenses when doing so. And the dust is so fine that I'm not sure how much I really believe weather sealing will completely protect a camera, though of all the Canon's, certainly the 1D seems like it'd have the best shot at coming out unscathed.

Couple tips:
* If you must change lenses, do it inside a fresh garbage bag. Like, put it in the garbage bag and manipulate it in there with the opening as closed as possible to minimize dust on your sensor.
* If you want to be super paranoid, you can take a really big ziploc bag, stick it in there, cut out parts of the bag wherever you need to, take the edges of those cut-out bits down firmly, and then cut out a circle for the lens, and carefully tape the edges to your filter. Downside: Can't change filters or lenses easily.

I've brought my own and rented cameras out, and am bringing rented gear again this year. I've done the in-a-plastic-bag method and it was so unpleasant that I just didn't enjoy shooting like I normally might. So this year, I'm just going to store it in a ziploc in my backpack and take it out when I need it. Both the camera and lens I'm renting are weather-sealed enough to survive rain if not submersion, but I'm still unlikely to bring it out in a full-blown dust storm, which is one downside of that approach for sure.

[mr chips]

If you're interested, I wrote a detailed blog post about my experience as a first time burner and photographer at Burning Man 2015, along with my favorite photos.

Please share, and connect up with me on any of my social media channels, or comment below, if you have questions!

http://goo.gl/i03f4A

[happydragon]

Not familiar with the weather sealing on the Canon line, but after two years with a point and shoot, I finally decided to bring one of my big guns out. I didn't do any extra sealing, just put the 24-70 on before I got on playa, kept it on all week, kept the camera in the case when the dust was up and I wasn't shooting, unless it was very dusty it was mostly hanging open on my belt, and I even pulled it out a bit in a dust storm later in the week. 2014 was a pretty dust free year, didn't get a ticket this year so can't say how I would have fared in those conditions, but other than a crack on the LCD from not paying attention crawling through some art, all I did after was wipe down the exterior of the camera and lens and everything is still fine. You can read all the details and see images of how dusty everything was when I came home on the blog post below:
http://happydragonphotography.blogspot. ... rning.html

When next I make it I will probably bring my X-T1 which will be much lighter to carry around, has decent high ISO performance and is also weather sealed.

Wayne