Outdoor photography with unsealed lenses (1 Viewer)

My new camera (Olympus e-m1 mark II) is weather sealed, but the lens (Zuiko 75-300) isn't. How can I protect it against the elements in UK weather?

Since coming to m43 I have always used a holster http://tinyurl.com/zqap2jj

...keeps hands free for bins, and can zip up, and even use a raincover (never have yet though) when it rains.

Of course when photographing in the rain I always use the lens hood and keep the rain off as much as I can, pointing camera down etc, wiping lens outer down when finished.

A bit of rain won't hurt most lenses if sensible, although of course too much rain on the front element can easily ruin pictures!

The attached is my favourite rainy day picture I have taken, my Panasonic 100-300 survived just fine.

A non-sealed lens usually is good in a light drizzle for a short time. I would not bring it out in a really heavy shower, but birds usually don't look good then anyway

Niels

And a cheap option would be to pick up a cheap plastic rain sleeve that you could put over the lens (and body, even though it's sealed). Most of these are so light and small they can be folded and placed in a back pocket unnoticed - and placed over the lens in the event of rain or drizzle in just a few seconds.

Living in Florida where rain can be a daily random occurrence, I always bring rain sleeves with me. I've had good experience with Op/Tech's rain sleeves - but since they're all just slightly glorified plastic bags with drawstrings for the lens and a back hole for your hand, I'm sure any would work fine in a pinch.

If you go onto Amazon amongst many photo shops and enquire on lens raincover you will get masses of possible variations. About the only time I used anything like that was on an open boat with salt spray breaking over me and as an emergency measure used a hacked poly bag and rubber bands. Not ideal but it worked for the short time the camera and lens was exposed.