How do you make your camera "water resistant"?

[theandies]

With all the rain we are forcast to have this weekend on the east coast I want to protect my T6i.  I've got a high school football game to shoot tomorrow night and I'm going to the Maryland vs. Michigan game Saturday night.  I have some ideas but wanted to see what the good folks here have done in the past. 

Thanks

[Waddizzle]

It is best to let the manufacturer do it.  Buy one that is already weather resistant. 

I have seen special cases for some of the Canon Powershot cameras, but not anything of the sort for the T6i.  Be careful with your lenses, too.  The Canon "L" series lenses are water resistant, although some seem to be more so than others. They use different language to describe some lenses, which makes them sound "weather resistant", but not "weather proof" against the elements.

If the weather is bad, I'd pass on taking pictures, and put the camera back into my backpack with its' rain cover. 

[TCampbell]

You can buy a rain sleeve.  There are cheap disposable sleeves that cost a few dollars (little more than a plastic Baggie with a hole for the lens.  There are higher end non-disposable rain sleeves that are more durable.  They have a window on the back so you can see your screen, and sleeves on the side that you put your hands through so you can operate the camera in the rain without it getting wet.

But if it's hard driving rain and wind, it would be good to have a weather sealed camera body just in case water manages to work its way in anyway.

[ebiggs1]

Of course I have cameras that are pretty weather sealed but I did shoot a football game during the aftermath of Ivan a few years ago with a Rebel Xti.

Get your self a pretty large trash bag and some gaffers tape.  Make a hole about the size of the lens you want to use.  Tape it securely around the lens.  Put a 1a or shylight or UV filter, a Protecto or some sort of clear filter on the lens.

The bag needs to be big enough for you to put both hands in, maybe your head!  But you get the idea.  Big enough for you to operate the camera.

Shoot away!  A camera is useless if iy won't do what you want it to. 

[Waddizzle]

A word of caution before you attempt to improvise with a plastic covering, or bag.  It sounds to me like those make shift protection ideas have one serioius drawback.  If your lens does internal focusing, then it shouldn't be a problem.

However, If your lens focuses by rotating the end, and changing its' length, then you could be in for some unforeseen problems and accidents.

[theandies]

I used a plastic bag,  Took my lens cap and cut a hole out the same diameter as it.  It fit perfectly around my lens.  I could zoom in and out without much hassle.  As it turns out I didn't take many pictures anyway but it worked flawlessly.

[ebiggs1]

" It sounds to me like those make shift protection ideas have one serioius drawback. "

It goes with out saying, in a tough situation you should choose your equipment carefully.  It is a compromise to use equipment that is not weather sealed in the first place.  But it can be done with success.

[Waddizzle]

If that sounded like I knock [it does in the rear view mirror], it wasn't meant to be.  Just a caution about how the lens operates. 

In the case of a lens that changes it's length when focusing, I would set it up like the photo, but with an extra bag taped to the end of the lens and extending into the main bag.

[theandies]

No offence taken on any reply. 

I thought of doing what Waddizzle suggested but didn't (that's my brothers lens anyway LoL).  It turned out that it didn't rain very hard at all so my makeshift protection worked fine and I didn't end up taking as many pictures anyway.  I'll eventually get a good rain sleeve.