Camo rain covers [Archive] - Talk Photography

Canon Bob

09-03-2009, 08:20

I recently ordered a couple of custom made rain covers for my two long lenses. The covers are made from fully a waterproof nylon lattice weave printed with a camo style which is pretty close to the "forest green" pattern used by Lenscoat for their protective covers.

The covers are extremely light and store flat. The objective lens end has elastic sewn in to snuggly grip the lens whilst the camera body end has a semi-flexible wire hoop shaped to the size of the body. The underside of the cover has a long slit sealed with Velcro to allow the tripod foot to protrude.

There's also an optional tripod shelf which is a small triangular piece with three elasticated loops to fix over the legs of the tripod and hold a few sundry items (a tin of Golden Virginia in my case)

The quality, whilst not up there with the proprietory brands, is excellent for the price and makes this a valuable edition to the bag when there's a chance of showers (or a bit of camo for those folk who don't have Lens Coats wrapped around their tackle).

Ruth (the lady who has supplied this) will make the covers based on your own given sizes and she will provide a simple skecth with dimesnions A, B, C etc to be returned. She's also building up a database of standard body/lens combo's for simplicity.

Price?...well, I paid £40 (inclusive of delivery) for covers for my 600/4 and 300/2.8 and a tripod shelf. This all equates to about a third of the cost of one cover from the proprietory brands. It was 4 days from ordering to delivery which is darn good for a made to measure item. Ruth's hubby Brian is an avid bird tog (Ruth also gets out with him when she's not knocking up covers) and the prototype was simply to fill their own needs.

Ruth can be contacted at brianwardell1@btinternet.com if anyone would like to grab one of these bargains....I'm glad I did.

Bob

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/Rain_Cover_2.jpg

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/Rain_Cover_1.jpg

erding

09-03-2009, 08:45

Looks interesting Bob - do you have a photo of the tripod shelf as well?

Canon Bob

09-03-2009, 08:49

I'll grab one later Tom.

Bob

erding

09-03-2009, 08:52

I'll grab one later Tom.

Bob

Appreciate that Bob

09-03-2009, 09:03

That looks pretty good. Another possible option for you: -

I've just removed the camo sleeves (as in the above photo) from my tripod, and was dismayed to see the horrible tarry deposit left by the adhesive strips inside the sleeves. It took me ages to clean it off! :bang:

Looking at the 3 leg sleeves, it strikes me that with the foam inserts removed, you have 3 very large pieces of camo material which will all fasten together with the velco fasteners already fitted. I'm still undecided whether to put the sleeves back minus the goo, or utilise them to cammo a couple of lenses.

Amp34

09-03-2009, 16:35

They look like they will be very noisy?

Canon Bob

09-03-2009, 21:51

Looks interesting Bob - do you have a photo of the tripod shelf as well?
Sorry Tom, time got away from me today but here's a shot taken by Ruth's other half...I hope he doesn't mind me linking to it
http://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=163231&d=1223395067

They look like they will be very noisy?

They rustle a bit whilst being fitted but shouldn't be a problem in use....for long lenses then the subject will be some way off and the rain will likely be more noisy.

Bob

fracster

09-03-2009, 22:15

erding

10-03-2009, 04:15

Thanks Bob.

tikkathreebarrel

10-03-2009, 04:51

Bob, I bought some gortex ex army camo leggings,cut the legs off and :

And you've now got a pair of goretex cammo shorts? Cool!

puddleduck

10-03-2009, 09:11

And you've now got a pair of goretex cammo shorts? Cool!

Almost literally going commando...

Claymore

13-03-2009, 20:07

Sorry Tom, time got away from me today but here's a shot taken by Ruth's other half...I hope he doesn't mind me linking to it
http://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=163231&d=1223395067

They rustle a bit whilst being fitted but shouldn't be a problem in use....for long lenses then the subject will be some way off and the rain will likely be more noisy.

Bob
Hi Bob,
Thanks for the great salesman bit!, glad you like the camo covers.
I like to add your right regarding the rustling and hopefully we will have some different fabric available soon. Ruth has managed to make some out of a piece of desert camo Gore-Tex which is fantastic stuff but very hard to get hold of, she's made approx 4 and put them on fleabay but not sure when she'll get more Goretex.
She has also got some more normal coloured camo fabric which is softer than the standard stuff and claims to be waterproof, I will be testing it over the weekend to see if it is LoL and if so She'll be able to make some camo covers out of that. The new fabric is a bit more expensive and the custom sized covers will be £15.00 + £3.00 Postage.
I will keep you posted on our tests.
Cheerio
Brian
Ps if anyone know where to buy Goretex let us know as its like a DoDo to find LoL

kevshore

13-03-2009, 20:21

Try here:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LARGE-ROLL-OF-EX-ARMY-DESERT-CAMO-GORE-TEX_W0QQitemZ320349404186QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Col lectables_Militaria_LE?hash=item320349404186&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1684%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C 240%3A1318

;):D

Kev.

markyboy.1967

13-03-2009, 21:58

The person in that link may have got his large spindle the same place as mine came fromThere is a company called Gore up this way which uses it.I have a large spindle in black and have just had a cover made in the material.Seems to be working perfectly.

Claymore

18-03-2009, 18:33

Hi Bob,
Thanks for the great salesman bit!, glad you like the camo covers.
I like to add your right regarding the rustling and hopefully we will have some different fabric available soon. Ruth has managed to make some out of a piece of desert camo Gore-Tex which is fantastic stuff but very hard to get hold of, she's made approx 4 and put them on fleabay but not sure when she'll get more Goretex.
She has also got some more normal coloured camo fabric which is softer than the standard stuff and claims to be waterproof, I will be testing it over the weekend to see if it is LoL and if so She'll be able to make some camo covers out of that. The new fabric is a bit more expensive and the custom sized covers will be £15.00 + Postage.
I will keep you posted on our tests.
Cheerio
Brian
Ps if anyone know where to buy Goretex let us know as its like a DoDo to find LoL
Hi,
Quick update on this, The new softer camo fabric test was a success! Its waterproof! so the camo macs will be available in this fabric (as well as the original fabric) prices start at £10.00 for Bigma 50-500mm sized cover and all larger custom sized ones are £15.00 in the new Fabric.
Cheers
Brian
Pm me if this doesn't make sense LoL

krazy_horse

20-03-2009, 21:13

Bob, I bought some gortex ex army camo leggings,cut the legs off and Mrs Frac did some sewing on the ends and fixed elastic fasteners into each end.Cost only a few quid and a few hours work.Fully waterproof and wonderfully cheap.

Just an idea...........:thumbs:

I've done exactly the same thing, though mine are just standard waterproof trousers and not the breathable goretex ones.

Also just as a heads up you can buy some camo fabric tape called "no-mar camo tape". But trust me it certainly does mar, it's like when you've had a plaster on your finger too long, and once you've peeled it off, you get that sticky residue left on your skin, bloody horrible stuff - stay away!

Jonathan

Claymore

21-03-2009, 16:09

There's a couple of photo's of the new softer/quieter fabric now available for the Camo Macs in my Gallery
Pm me for anymore info
Cheers
Brian

Claymore

15-04-2009, 16:27

Jolly nice weather for these!

Canon Bob

06-05-2009, 22:25

There's a couple of photo's of the new softer/quieter fabric now available for the Camo Macs in my Gallery
Pm me for anymore info
Cheers
Brian

I've had a chance to do an appraisal of the new design covers. Much quieter than the "rustling" fabric and the extended Velcro slot makes installation much easier. The "noise" issue with the early version wasn't a big issue for me personally but I appreciate that it may be a negative for some users.
I've got the cover suitable for a 600/4 and 1srs body (or gripped 20/30/40/50D) here and will happily post it off for anyone who wishes to give it a try.
I'll link Claymore's picture (from his TP gallery) so that anyone interested can see how it looks.
Bob
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/014_640x480_.JPG

Claymore

08-05-2009, 07:55

I've had a chance to do an appraisal of the new design covers. Much quieter than the "rustling" fabric and the extended Velcro slot makes installation much easier. The "noise" issue with the early version wasn't a big issue for me personally but I appreciate that it may be a negative for some users.
I've got the cover suitable for a 600/4 and 1srs body (or gripped 20/30/40/50D) here and will happily post it off for anyone who wishes to give it a try.
I'll link Claymore's picture (from his TP gallery) so that anyone interested can see how it looks.
Bob
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/014_640x480_.JPG
Cheers Bob, glad its ok. Ruth's thinking of making Kites next (we have 70mph gales here today) LoL
Brian

48thEagle

08-05-2009, 08:03