Whoa, very rainy and windy day today
But still a good day for photography, actually, bad conditions
might be perfect to create unique images that we cannot create in sunny weather
Shooting in these conditions has some risks to our camera gear that we are
going to be addressing today in this video, I'm going to tell you what I do
to protect my camera gear and try to make the most of these days
I'm not an expert on this, though, so I want to hear about what you do, your tips, hacks, whatever
Of course, the more waterproof your camera gear is, the better
For example, I'm shooting this video with a GoPro,
which can go underwater so it's going to be more than fine in this rain
Even though photography is totally doable with action cameras or phones,
I'm not a big fan myself, I'd rather use cameras that have photography more in mind
When it comes to proper camera for photography, every camera is different,
some are better weather sealed than others but at the end of the day,
I believe you want to keep them as dry as possible, just in case
The first obvious option to keep them dry is to use an umbrella,
I've tried that many times in the past and it's never worked out for me
I'm not giving up, why would you?
I rarely find myself in a situation where it's raining and I can use an umbrella,
because it's usually very windy like right now, an umbrella would be totally useless here
But hey, it might be useful to have one in the car just in case, I don't have one
with me today so I can't pretend that I'm using one, but yeah, you get the point
Another option I've tried in the past is to use
underwater cases, I used one for my a6000 and it works, obviously, the camera stays dry
But they are designed for a specific combination of camera and lens, in the case of the a6000 was
with the kit lens, so it didn't really work for me because I want to be able to use other lenses
All my lenses, actually
I've been using the Sigma 30mm lens here because it's the only one that fits in here
So the best solution I've found so far is also the simplest and the cheapest: to use a plastic bag
You can use a grocery shop bag
I bought some plastic bags that were designed for cameras so they fit the cameras better,
but as I said, you can use regular plastic bags for this
They will keep your camera gear very dry for the most part, and that's all you need
I made a couple holes in my plastic bags, one for the viewfinder so I can still use
it, and another one for the tripod plate so I can still mount the camera on the tripod
I find it very useful and almost the perfect solution for shooting in the rain and the snow
Ufff
It's also very cold out there today
That's why I find using a car for photography during bad weather very useful
I can drive to different spots, I can get out there for a few minutes, take a few shots,
come back, if I'm wet I can change, I can dry my camera gear, I can get warm
I mean, just take a break from the rain before going out again
This is the first time I use this setup to record videos, with the microphone on top of the GoPro
And I just realized that the deadcat is showing up in some of the shots
If you see something on top of the frame, that's the deadcat from the microphone,
I'll try to figure out a way to keep it out of the frame somehow
My camera bag comes with a built-in rain cover, as you can see
It's basically a plastic bag for the backpack,
I've been using it for years, many times in the rain and the snow
It's worked perfectly fine and it's kept my camera gear dry
Once again, the simples and the cheapest solution
In the end, no matter how much you prepare for the bad conditions, no matter how
much care you want to take of your camera gear, there's always the risk of getting it wet, there's
always the risk of damaging your cameras and your lenses when you are shooting in bad weather
Whether it's worth it or not, to risk your camera gear for a few shots, it's up to you
For me, it's about finding the right balance
between the potential for a good image and the potential for damage
That's also one of the main reasons why I don't use expensive gear, I like to
use cameras and lenses that I can afford to replace if they break, or if they get wet
If my camera were $3,000, $4,000 or $5,000,
I'd think twice, three or four times before taking it out in these conditions, for sure
Also, I wanted to point out that I'm spending money on this trip, a lot of money actually
to be here in Northern Washington, we had to drive
thousands of miles and that costs money, on gas, lodging, and all the logistics involved in this
So camera gear, when you think about it, or at least my kit,
is the least expensive part of all of this
My point being: the health of my camera and lenses is not my first priority
when it comes to making images, this place was hard to get to, expensive to get to,
I'm not going to be here for much longer I only have so many hours and days here
So I'm going to use the camera gear that I have
even if that involves some risk when it comes to damaging, losing or breaking it
Oh, look, there's someone here
Hello!
You might remember this camera, this is the RX100ii,
it's not only an old camera but it's barely working now
So it's the one that I'm going to be using now, it's raining quite a bit now,
I don't want to risk my other cameras for these images so this is the perfect camera to use here
The images still look good, when the camera works of course, so yeah
Alright so I've switched to my A7R2 again,
because this is a more protected spot from the rain and the wind
But it was a little bit sketchy, to get down there
And that brings me to the last point I wanted to mention today
We've been talking about the safety of your camera gear during bad weather,
but the most important thing, the first priority should always be your own safety
This that we are experiencing today is a winter storm,
here at the coast that means a lot of rain, wind, and cold too
But a little bit further away, inland, they are getting a lot of snow today, heavy, heavy snow
As much as I love snow, my safety
is the reason why I'm here today at the coast and not in the mountains
Driving in windy mountain roads is the last thing I want to do in the middle of a snowstorm
Driving during bad conditions is not a good idea
If you still want to photograph a snowstorm or a blizzard, what I'd recommend you to do
is to keep an eye on the forecast and when you see that that is going to happen,
go to the location that you want to photograph the day before, or a couple of days before
I did this 3 years ago at the Badlands National Park in South Dakota,
I was expecting a big storm with a lot of snow, and that's what happened,
but I never drove through the storm, I never drove on really bad roads
I was already at the park when that happened, so I was able to photograph those amazing
winter landscapes in a safe way
Isn't this place just beautiful?
This rain, this mist, are making it even more beautiful!
That's why I wanted to encourage you to get out there even if the weather is not the best,
even if it's a nasty day like today
because there are always images to be made out there and on days like today,
those can be very unique
you can see that there's no one else making images here today
Use common sense, be careful out there and remember that no image is worth risking your life
but, your camera gear? Maybe!
That's what it's for, to create images not to stay at home
So don't limit yourself to just sunny, clear and warm days, get out there when it's cold,
when it's rainy, when it's snowing, there are very unique opportunities out there waiting for you
And now, I'm going to head back to the car because it is freezing out here, I need to get warm
But I'm going to keep making photos that I'm going to be showing you in the next video, hopefully
Thank you so much for watching again, and see you in the next one!