Is it important to cover the hot shoe in the rain, dust, dirt, etc?

I find that there is no provided or OEM hot shoe cover.
While I don't intend to get my camera wet, it could happen. The 6D is weather resistant and so are my 24L and 100L lenses.
Is this something to worry about? Being on the top of the camera, metal and electronic, it seems like this should be the first thing to protect and cover.
Also, is there a hot shoe cover to recommend, that sits flush or covers the whole hot shoe metal? All I find are cheap $1.00 covers.

Don't worry about the hot shoe...

Worry about the whole camera and use some reasonable protection to keep it dry.

Get some of these. Or the fancier and more expensive type. Or just use some plain plastic bags, rubber bands and gaffer tape.

Your camera and lens are "weather resistant". That means a few drops are unlikely to do any harm. But it's by no means "water proof", it's still an electronic device, and a drop of water in the wrong place can wreak havoc.

amfoto1 wrote in post #16552540
Don't worry about the hot shoe...

Worry about the whole camera and use some reasonable protection to keep it dry.

Get some of these. Or the fancier and more expensive type. Or just use some plain plastic bags, rubber bands and gaffer tape.

Your camera and lens are "weather resistant". That means a few drops are unlikely to do any harm. But it's by no means "water proof", it's still an electronic device, and a drop of water in the wrong place can wreak havoc.

Exactly my thinking, I see all these photo-journalist lugging their 5D MKIII's around the globe in extreme conditions and I will not be doing that.
If it was a large problem getting a few drops of rain or snow on the hot shoe.
I assumed that there would be pages and pages of people with ruined hot shoes or camera.

[QUOTE=InfiniteDivide;​16552654]Exactly my thinking, I see all these photo-journalist lugging their 5D MKIII's around the globe in extreme conditions and I will not be doing that.

I would love to be able to do that - they probably get their equipment supplied so don't need to worry too much about wrecking cameras/lenses?

You can adapt the Nikon BS-1 or BS-2 to some Canons.
http://brightbit.blogs​pot.com …ection-caps-on-canon.html

Far more liable to water damage are the variety of buttons and dials. The hot shoe is bulletproof compared to these. In wet weather consider placing the whole camera in a plastic bag to protect it, with just the lens hood extending beyond.

Try Amazon or eBay
I found one for the 5D3 - same hotshoe
Really just to keep the contacts clean.

Other advice is totally valid - I think of the camera as NON - Waterproof - with a little comfort that it might hold of if you got caught out in light drizzle for about as long as it takes you to get it under your coat.

If I were to shoot outside I would definitely have a 'rain jacket. They are pennies in comparison to a decent camera and L lens.

Quick search on Amazon for Canon Hotshoe Cover came up with a couple of different options.
I like this one best as it couples it with a bubble level.

http://www.amazon.com …words=canon+hot​shoe+cover

Or just a plain and simple cover for a few bucks:

http://www.amazon.com …words=canon+hot​shoe+cover

why should you worry about hotshoe ?

I have one of those cheap $1 covers, honestly dont think you could use anything better.

Well maybe if one had a built in O ring.

I also have a rubber bubble gauge one, but its a pain to put on/take off.

I was shooting one of my daughter's basketball games with my 40D. One of the mothers said, 'I had a nice camera with a flash like that. I got out of the car in the rain and went inside and the camera and flash caught on fire'.
Just one o'them thangs...
I try not to get my camera, or flash, wet.

Richard Franiec makes some very high quality hotshoe covers, which are primarily intended to help prevent snagging the hotshoe on items of clothing. Not cheap, though, but well appreciated by some folks. Fit flush, very nice. http://www.kleptograph​y.com/rf/ They will prevent Canons with pop-up flash units from popping up.

EOS series 40D, 50D, 5DMKII, 7D, 1DMKIII, 1DsMKIII, 1DMKIV -- cover CHSC-ND.

EOS series 10D, 20D, 5D (Mark 1) -- cover CHSC-P.

I would think a cover would cause more problems than it would solve if it was not water tight. Imagine a single drop of water on the hot shoe... now imagine that same drop sandwiched between the hot shoe and a cover. Not only would a cover pretty much guarantee and water penetration is going to short all contacts but it would tend to hold water in and might prevent you from noticing there is water under the cover.

Blaster6 wrote in post #16556902
I would think a cover would cause more problems than it would solve if it was not water tight. Imagine a single drop of water on the hot shoe... now imagine that same drop sandwiched between the hot shoe and a cover. Not only would a cover pretty much guarantee and water penetration is going to short all contacts but it would tend to hold water in and might prevent you from noticing there is water under the cover.

fears of conductivity of water are greatly exaggerated. I just measured with an ohmmeter with probes placed in a very thin bit of water on a plate (maybe 1mm deep), and whether the meter was set to either extreme (200 ohm range, or 2 million ohm range) the reading was '1' (same as probes in air)...even if the probes were less than .01mm apart from each other -- they had to touch to get any reading!

Wilt,

Try that with mains voltage and see how big a bang you get! Its all about the voltage. But damage might still occur to VERY sensitive electronics even if your rather simple ohmmeter was unable to register anything.