"D-slr Force-Fields?"Nikon D200 carrying-case and/or protection?

[Dukemantee]

Hello all!

I just bought my Nikon D200 (5 days ago) and i should start off by saying i'm a student. I had to save up to buy this great camera and I want to protect it and care for it in the best possible way. It cost a lot and i'm afraid to carry it out even when there is the chance of rain.....

Well my question for any D-slr owners or D200 owners specifically is if any one out there has come across any amazing products to protect the camera itself. I'm willing to spend a decent amount in the category of "protection & care" of my camera. I know force fields have not been invented yet, but is there anything on the market that comes close, or can help me in this department. I want to have the camera around my neck at all times and in every setting: city, country, in a pool with everything except the camera not submerged..... I bet you all can imagine plenty hypothetical situations.... that include splashing, rain, sand, sparks, even some (light) banging or force applied to the camera body is what i want a solution for. In short, I want to buy "peace of mind" if that's possible with a $2000+ camera.

Maybe a hard plastic shell? or a jacket that covers everything except the front of the lens? These are things i came up with maybe they exist Can anyone help??

2) Aside from a possible "Shell/ case" does anyone know of any carrying cases that offer the D200 or D-slr's the best protection, may be even waterproof and protection from falling so i don't have to put the carrying case in my knapsack. ..... I had a really good laptop case for my macbook, i'm hoping for similar solutions for my Nikon D200..... I'm not looking for something big, I just want to go mobile with the camera, 3 lenses (1 on the camera), extra batteries, and room for the wireless Flash kit i will eventually buy for my nikon.



*Any help finding links, sites, retail locations, or even DIY solutions for my problem is appreciated! Does anyone feel the same way or found any solutions?

Thanks!!
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[Sw1tchFX]

I want to have the camera around my neck at all times and in every setting: city, country, in a pool with everything except the camera not submerged..... I bet you all can imagine plenty hypothetical situations.... that include splashing, rain, sand, sparks, even some (light) banging or force applied to the camera body is what i want a solution for.
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That's why the body is sealed and metal. So if you bang it up against something you'd have to hit it pretty damn hard to break it and it's sealed so you can shoot in the middle of the pouring rain and be ok. What you need to be careful about is your lens, and as far as I know the user the best protection it's got. And of course, the more expensive the lens, the more durable it is. The awesome 17-55 is a brick, the crappy 18-55 is a paperweight.

 

[Mike_E]

LOL I bought a big -and I do mean big- fanny pack that will fit the D200 and any lens I have except the 80-200 f2.8 attached. It had 2 pouches for water bottles that will hold extra lenses and a zippered pouch for extra batterys and CF cards. Spray a little Scotch Guard on it and I'm good to go. Sb600 case fits on the strap. Next to no one knows that I'm carrying 3 grand worth of camera gear around my waist so I go where I please.

The "D" can take care of itself (to a point) so worry more about using it than scratching it!

mike

 

[table1349]

Best protection you can have is insurance. Call your family insurance agent. Tell them what you have, (you will probably have to provide reciepts) and purchase an insurance policy for you gear. I pay $10.00 a year for every $1000.00 worth of gear. Best $60.00 a year I can spend. I am insured against theft, and accidetial loss or damage at full replacement value. Drop camera or lens... new one. Bag gets stolen or I forget it and leave it somewhere and it is gone... shopping trip. I have not had to use the insurance, but good to know it is there.

One piece of advise, do not add this to your or your folks home owners insurance. That will have a deductable, and if you end up making a couple of claims on the camera in a specified period of time, it will go against your homeowners insurance and your deductable will raise.

I think you will find that you take better care of it than you think. After all this was your hard earned money.

 

[Dukemantee]

LOL I bought a big -and I do mean big- fanny pack that will fit the D200 and any lens I have except the 80-200 f2.8 attached. It had 2 pouches for water bottles that will hold extra lenses and a zippered pouch for extra batterys and CF cards. Spray a little Scotch Guard on it and I'm good to go. Sb600 case fits on the strap. Next to no one knows that I'm carrying 3 grand worth of camera gear around my waist so I go where I please.

The "D" can take care of itself (to a point) so worry more about using it than scratching it!

mike

Can i get the brand & model name for the bag?? TO update the situation! I found 1 product called "Camera ARmor" Here is the Link: http://www.camerarmor.com/camera-armor.html

I'm in canada, so it's going to cost me about $90 for this product...do you all think it's worth it or should i save the cash for a battery or vertical grip or save it for a speed flash??

has anyone tried Camera armor?

 

[Dukemantee]

Best protection you can have is insurance. Call your family insurance agent. Tell them what you have, (you will probably have to provide reciepts) and purchase an insurance policy for you gear. I pay $10.00 a year for every $1000.00 worth of gear. Best $60.00 a year I can spend. I am insured against theft, and accidetial loss or damage at full replacement value. Drop camera or lens... new one. Bag gets stolen or I forget it and leave it somewhere and it is gone... shopping trip. I have not had to use the insurance, but good to know it is there.

One piece of advise, do not add this to your or your folks home owners insurance. That will have a deductable, and if you end up making a couple of claims on the camera in a specified period of time, it will go against your homeowners insurance and your deductable will raise.

I think you will find that you take better care of it than you think. After all this was your hard earned money.

Nice.... I'll look into that, i'm in canada i hope this exists up here..... It's not about not taking good care of it, i always take great care of my things i'm just more reserved with this camera being my first and $2000+.... but insurance should do it!

 

[GreenSlime89]

What about "Camera Armour".
Here's a link to the site. I don't know how good it is but as has been said before the D200 is pretty tough.

 

[jwkwd]

Camera armour seems cool, except for one thing. It seems to me that if you had something covering the body, any moisture from high humidity etc. would be trapped between the body and the casing. e.g., I have heard in the past that people that had bed liners in their trucks found that although they did not have scratches after removing them, they had rust from the trapped moisture. The best protection is insurance, eventually, even the most careful user is going to bang something up. Sometimes if you are too careful, you have more problems than if you just got used to how your camera hangs or swings while it is around your neck, and when to grab on to it.

 

[mubles]

I too was looking at the camera armor, sounds like a great idea. I read a few reviews and they did mention humidity being a problem, no good for me in hot humid houston. They also said it is more to prevent scratches and such on the body of the camera than to protect from impact.

The old slr's have cases, why dont the digitals? Too many buttons?

 

[panocho]

I can understand that, since you've expent a lot of money, you feel like carrying eggs or something, and are afraid or absolutely everything that might happen to you expensive adquisition. However, precisely because you've expent such a lot of money, one of the things you've paid for is a highly resistant and weather sealed body. That means that something VERY aggresive would have to happen so that your camera ended up with something more than a little scratch here and there.
So be calm; you've paid for a great body that, apart from giving you excelent features and quality, will resist even next to extrem situations.

A different thing, as mentioned, is the lens

 

[JIP]

As far as a bag any Lowepro bag http://www.lowepro.com/ marked with AW will protct your camera in any weather. The AW means it has a rain cover that tucks into a pouch in the bottom of your bag. I have one of them and carried it in pretty much a monsoon rain on a trip to Mexico and not a thing in my bag got even the slightest bit wet.

 

[Max Power]

I have Camera Armor (http://www.cameraarmor.com/) and I love it! I understand your concern about humidity, but I have never had a problem with it.

MP

 

[jstuedle]

I am going to be a smart a$$ and relate a little story I was told. I was relating how some "kids" in a band I shot treated there guitars. They would actually shred all the strings every gig, jumped up and down swinging there 5K axes around there heads and made the worst noise... er... a.... music I had ever heard. Just beating there fine instruments to a pulp weekly. This musician friend, who is really the best guitarist I have ever met, told me: A guitar is just a tool, beat it until it bleeds money. You bought the camera to use as a tool to take pictures and hopefully to make money with. Are you going to save it for the next owner that might pay.05 on the dollar for it in a few years? Or are you going to were it out, loving every capture and still selling it for that same .05 on the dollar?