When the rain comes most chose to just skip the day of shooting and avoid the risk of getting your gear all wet. Well, a cheap solution exists. I had mentioned in my previous article I was using the Tenba RC-24 and am reconsidering my decision. The Tenba is an expensive piece of plastic. The RAINSLEEVE made by OP/TECH USA runs a measly 7$…for two of them! It is definitely thicker then your every day shopping bag. I’d relate it more to a trash bag like thickness. As long as you aren’t ruggedly abusing it it should be around for a while. I think the best way to show you some of its abilities is with some pictures. Here are a few I took using a point and shoot. I tried the rainsleeve on a Nikon D300 and a Nikon D70.
It comes in a plastic sleeve. Nothing too special; however it does have a flap that you can open and close it for storage to protect the Rainsleeves a bit.
The sleeve in a nutshell. From left to right you are looking at a D300 w/ battery grip, D70, Sigma 150mm, and a Nikon 80-400mm for a size comparison. You can see the drawstring end on the far right and the dip side to the far left. In hindsight I should have put the dipped side facing downward. These two directional pieces of plastic are electronically fused together, it is not one solid piece. Doesn’t appear to be an issue. The downward slope is so that when you put it on over your camera body the rainsleeve will go downward to protect the body as well. Also giving you a way to protect the ballhead portion of you tripod setup or to stick your hand in there for operating the controls.
This is the rainsleeve fully engulfing my lens, body, and most of my ball head. This is really a no worry solution with the advantage of not shooting through some piece of plastic. Just a crystal clear optic. One other thing that could come up is using the zoom ring through the plastic. There appears to be enough room that it isn’t a huge issue. Of course it will slow you a bit getting where you want to if your going from end to end of your zoom range. I personally find in most situations you are sitting at the extremes of the zoom range and only slightly adjusting more often. Something I will definitely be testing if it plans on raining on Saturday.
Here you can see the rainsleeve is over the D70 body and the small hole provided is slightly stretched over the viewfinder. I used my older D300 eyepiece for the D70 to get a better hold then the normal rubber piece provided (it uses the grooves on the rectangular eyepiece.) The hole is small enough so that when you put it around the eyepiece it stays put. It remains smaller then the eyepiece as well when you take it off. Though in time it will probably widen. (If you are curious the eyecup setup I am currently running with my D300; please feel free to check out my Gadget & Tools section.)
You can see here how you can slip your hand under the plastic rainsleeve and how it lets you still use your optical viewfinder. There is one issue you might ask about that I address in this next picture.
If you are hanging the strap around your neck it may seem like an issue. I personally don’t let my camera dangle from the strap as I never trust any of the support. I’ve seen all sorts of things go that aren’t supposed to. However when shooting, this isn’t as much of an issue. Only when it may dangle could it become an issue.
You can see here that I haven’t even fully raised it to my eye and already the eyepiece is already easily accessible. When your gripping, well the grip, it helps to hold it down. You definitely could rig a way to get the straps through by cutting the rainsleeve, but personally I wouldn’t want to compromise the weather protection. To me this is completely manageable for it’s value and most alternatives out there (plus you can stick your hand inside the sleeve. I just prefer not to eventually get my wet hands on my camera.)
This is a draw back that plagues all rain coats that I am aware of. How to keep the rain protection attached to the end of the lens. Considering the lens hood (which you should always be using) is slick. The draw string is able to be drawn tight enough to definitely stick it out for a while. In time I can definitely see it sliding toward the lens. I see Velcro as a solution. Many don’t seem to like the idea of Velcro, but me personally it isn’t an issue. It goes on a smooth surface of my lens hood and if I ever want to take it off I can use a product like ‘goo gone.’ To each his own of course and always do it at your own risk as this is just what works for me. I can understand why some might not want to put some sticky product on their loved lenses. For those who do however you can run a strip around the front and just add a few touches to the inside of the rainsleeve. Another way is to put the rainsleeve on first. Then once it is setup you can place some Velcro lining on specific spots. This way you can minimize the amount of glue on your lens hood. I will be giving the draw string a try, but will have Velcro in my gear bag just in case. See even I am hesitant. 
If your interested in a few extra random pics you can click here. As for the RAINSLEEVE it also comes in a flash version. I am not sure it will fit a betterbeamer by the looks of it, but if you pick one up make sure to let us all know if it does. I personally have stored these in a compartment in my car. This way in emergencies I will always have it. This is definitely a cheap insurance that is light enough to have on you. Provided these work out this weekend I will definitely be adding them to my gadgets and tools list.
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UPDATE
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Just wanted to add a quick update. We went out whale watching while in Provincetown, MA and we both used the RAINSLEEVEs to take on the elements. It was 40degrees, 30mph winds, heavy rain, even hail at certain points and it took all the punishment you gave it. Shooting through optically makes it worth every penny. I am adding three more pictures to show the issue I mentioned about keeping the plastic from bunching up in front of the viewfinder. One solution that isn’t shown is the use of a carabiner. I had a cheap carabiner and used it for clipping the strap to my jacket. I am not a fan of hand holding the camera in wet conditions and over the boat side. Just in case it were to slip the camera could be caught or provide an extra few seconds to nab it in time. This allowed the strap to hang low and not pull the plastic upwards if it was around my neck.Velcro wasn’t a necessity as the drawstring held for most of the trip. To make sure it never moves it can definitely be an option. Once I had the carabiner setup going I didnt shoot with my hand up the plastic sleeve as seen here. I just operated my controls through he plastic. The only tricky buttons to get to were the function button/depth of preview button area. Zooming also wasn’t an issue as the humbacks/finbacks would constantly be up-close and then far out.
Thankfully I thought to take these images before the action was starting. These were taken on the way to the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary when the skies were holding at overcast. After a few minutes of getting used to pinning down the plastic it was easy to put it out of mind. It became second nature. The RAINSLEEVE will now permanently being carried with us no matter where we go.
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