How to Keep Your Camera Dry in Bad Weather

So as you all know, we are headed into the fall and winter months here in the U.S., which means nasty weather. With the arrival of Hurricane Joaquin, we got a ton of rain in the Southeast, with massive flooding in South Carolina.

When headed out to shoot this time of year, you have to be mindful of keeping your camera dry with all the rain and eventually snow. One of the best ways to not have to worry about moisture getting into your camera is to buy a Professional camera like the Nikon D4S or the Canon 1Dx. Both of these cameras are weather proofed, which means they are sealed tight against rain, dust and dirt.

Now I am sure you are saying, “Yeah as a new photographer, I cannot afford a professional camera body, those things runs thousands of dollars.” I totally understand that and hopefully someday you’ll be successful enough to afford a professional body but in the meantime, there are a couple tips I want to share for keeping your camera gear dry.

1.) Don’t waste your time and money buying fancy camera water covers, you can go to a local store and just buy a shower cap to cover the top of your camera. It may sound silly, but those cheap shower caps actually work great for covering your oddly shaped camera.


2.) Don’t use your good lens cloth to get the excess water off your lens’ front element. Use a shammy to blot, not rub the lens to get as much water off as possible and then finish drying with the good lens cloth so you don’t get streaks in your photos.

3.) When done shooting in wet weather, put your camera body in a large Ziplock bag and toss in a Desiccant to absorb any lingering moisture. Canon support recommends ALWAYS using this third method when done shooting in rain or during the winter when it’s easy for your camera to develop condensation internally. I personally went on Amazon and bought a 50 count bag of 5 gram desiccant packs for $19.

So these are 3 simple tips to help keep your gear dry in rainy and snowy weather, now get out there this fall and winter and make some great photos!

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