Roger N. Clark (change username to rnclark) wrote:

Bill,
Great information, as usual. I'll add try getting
Tenba rain covers. Even though I have a 1D Mark II, and
L lenses, I'll still put on the tenba in the rain.

Hi Roger,

We have a Tenba and a Laird rain hood for the 500's but what worked
better was just a $12 rain poncho with bungee cords ... these hoods
keep slipping off and didn't cover as well when the wind was high, I
thought.

I might try this in dusty environments too.

The problem in Africa is you are driving around with the gear on top so
the wind keeps blowing covers off (or at least flapping loudly), even
with bungees ... we took duct tape last time, thinking we'd tape a
cover in place, but it wasn't dusty (rainy season) so we didn't try out
*that* theory yet. I think it will still be a problem with the
flapping.

Bill, you have a 24-105 f/4 L IS, correct? Is that sealed?

Yes, I got it for Africa and it has the gasket at the mount and
switches.

How do they seal the zoom function?

Good question, I dunno ... the rear element moves about 1 - 1.5" max
when you zoom so you know that's having a bellows effect on any dust in
the chamber. Didn't notice a problem with it but didn't use it that
much in Africa either.

After the rains here in Colorado while doing wildflower
photography, maybe I need to look into a shorter sealed
lens, than just my telephotos.

That one would do it I guess, though it's not a great lens optically
.... because the contrast is so low when it rains we almost never shoot
with a shorter lens ... at least with a longer lens you can get in
tight.

Bill