paintball camera protection

[Alex_Galea]

I dont exactly have alot of money, not surprising comsiddering im in grade 9, and i want to shoot some paintball pics. Im asking for a 300mm (which will act like a 450 on my rebel) for my birthday and i really dont want to get it busted, or for that matter my camera. does anyone have any advice? will my lens break if hit?

[PaintballPhotography.com]

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Originally Posted by Alex_Galea

I really dont want to get it busted, or for that matter my camera. does anyone have any advice? will my lens break if hit?

I have absolutely no advice lol I seem to be the resident expert on this

I use a Kata cover (http://www.kata-bags.com/Item.asp?pi...d=4&ProdLine=4) to protect my equipment and a filter on my lenses. The lens in the first picture was not damaged. I just had to very carefully clean off all the shards of glass with a blower...a $100 filter saved my $2800 lens!

Unfortunately the lens in the second pictures was slightly damaged….



As long as you are careful and do not take pictures like these you should be OK


If you find your self looking directly in to the barrel of a paintball gun duck like any sane person would so. Yes I do break a lot of stuff, but I get paid for it so I can afford to have my expensive equiptment replaced as needed


This is what I look like at work...also not the head protection I wear

[Halliday]

What kind of paintball are you planning on shooting? Rec? Speedball? I take photos at my local field on rec days. I can shoot with my 10D and a 28-105 during rec because there not quite as many players and using the trees as cover can get me pretty close.

Examples:

[Alex_Galea]

hopefully i wont have to get that close, i was thinking of shooting speedball, but the only fields ive ever played at are indoors. but i think i would have to phootgraph outside, considdering im only looking at a 5.6 aperture lens

[chrono300]

Originally Posted by Alex_Galea

I dont exactly have alot of money, not surprising comsiddering im in grade 9, and i want to shoot some paintball pics. Im asking for a 300mm (which will act like a 450 on my rebel) for my birthday and i really dont want to get it busted, or for that matter my camera. does anyone have any advice? will my lens break if hit?

The only thing I can suggest is a thick filter. Most of us paintball photographers do not use covers. I did get a tip from one of the kids on the field that is really helping a lot, use writstbands on you lense. They help in two ways one they keep the paint from going into the lense when the balls break and they also absorb some of the hit so the balls tend to bounce off.

[mysubaruimp]

My 70-200L has been shot numerous times. No damage at all the the lense, and once cleaned up, it looks brand new again. I am not sure I would like a lesser lense getting hit though (75-300 for example). I just dont think that the plastic could handle a good hit.

I use one of these for lense cover. http://www.stormjacket.com/
Both it and the kata have their pros and cons, but the storm jacket being <$40 shipped won my vote.

I dont use a filter, but do use a lense hood. The hood will stop any non-direct shots (The f/4 hood is much better than the hood on the 2.8 pictured above). A filter would be great for added protection, but they are expensive.

[Doc Nickel]

The best protection, of course, is to not get hit.

Gary shoots professionally, for magazines, and of big-money tournaments. The tourneys are incredibly fast-paced and paint heavy. When there's a $50,000 prize on the line, the players shoot first, the shoot some more, then shoot again, then pod up and shoot some more, then call a ref to check, then ask questions later.

In the typical airball tourney field, too, the photographer is limited in movement- the netting keeps him from moving too far back, and the boundary lines keep him from moving onto the field.

So with those three things- needing the top shot for the mag, the sheer volume of paint, and the limited range of motion- guys like Gary take some nasty hits.

Now, if you're doing it for fun, as I do, you have to think of the camera first. That paint coming right at you might be cool to see in the photo, but for us average guys, it ain't worth the loss of an expensive lens. Duck, get out of the way, turn your back, whatever you need to do.

Woodsball and recreational are usually easier still- there's less paint flying, the photographer has more freedom of movement, less tourney/money mindset so there's less "shoot first, apologize later". I've taken several hits on an airball field, I've never taken a single one in the woods.

I have a clear filter like Gary- 'cept I paid like $17 for a cheapy, since it's just ablative armor to me. A more expensive filter may be somewhat optically better, but personally, I can't tell the difference.

I did also make some armor for my camera, out of an old mouse pad and a strap of aluminum. It fits nicely, but I haven't used it yet. Leaves plenty of room for using the controls, but doesn't cover more than the rearmost inch or two of the lens. I'll post a photo one of these days, but I'm in the midst of some computer problems.

Basically, your best bet is to just stay out of the way- and wear blaze orange.

Doc.

[sh0rt]

Gary is not the only one that gets shot in his 28 - 300 :P Nothing got damaged..but still a nice image....

edit: it was the first time i was using the 28 300 :P

[basroil]

if you have a dremil and don't care about loosing optical quality as much as protecting your lens, you could always go to home depot (or similar store), buy a thick piece of PMMA from a cheap supplier, buy a cheap filter with front threads, then cut the PMMA to fit inside the filter snuggly. now you have your own pexiglass lens filter (should be much more resistant to paintballs than a regular filter)

[Alex_Galea]

those are all good ideas, but i would still like to keep most of my image quality. im probably just going to buy a cheap filter, put my camera in a rain housing, and than try and "stay out of the action" as doc said.

[chrono300]

I am a player turned photographer so getting hit (not in the camera) is not that bad. I figure I go through a camera a year at this point. I may have to give the Kata cover a chance.

BTW- sweet flex shOrt (brand new in the photo)

[sh0rt]

Originally Posted by chrono300

I am a player turned photographer so getting hit (not in the camera) is not that bad. I figure I go through a camera a year at this point. I may have to give the Kata cover a chance.

BTW- sweet flex shOrt (brand new in the photo)

Hey same here i injured my back about 1,5 years ago and thats when i started getting a bit more serious about paintball photos.

The Kata-Covers are really good. I have the Kata 702(i think) for Camera with 70 -200 and for the 28 - 300 L i use the extra lense cover(Kata 704 i think ) it works really well, gary gave me the tip. They are by far not as expensive as the aquatech(here in germany 300€) and work really well i shot alot in the rain yesterday no problems at all.

[Alex_Galea]

i dont ming getting hit either, ive played paintball a couple times and it not that bad. unless your shooting pro i guess, lol 300fps. anyways, i think ill look into the kata cover, the 702 should work for me

[rayko]

When I cover paintball events, I normally use a "Kevin Keatley" loose cloth cover (camoflauged on one side and plain green on the reverse side) for my 100-400L and a storm jacket to cover the body. If the weather is quite bad I use storm jacket to cover the lens and my other storm jack to double up on the body.

I've only taken two semi-direct hits on the filter... maybe I'm not trying hard enough

[jbrevard]

has anyone ever tried to make a lens cover? i dont care much for the kata because it's pretty hot inside the bag and i hate looking thru the plastic to see thru the viewfinder. If i was using a cheap lens it wouldn't be that big of deal and i wouldn't use anything.