Lens for the desert

I would like to hear the advice from anyone who has been shooting pictures in a desert where sand storm is common. Will the 30D with the EF-S 17-85mm F4-5.6 IS USM lens be strong enough to survive? Or should I get an L lens?
Would love the weather seal of the 1Ds, but way out of my budget.
Thanks.

BBGG wrote in post #2109722
I would like to hear the advice from anyone who has been shooting pictures in a desert where sand storm is common. Will the 30D with the EF-S 17-85mm F4-5.6 IS USM lens be strong enough to survive? Or should I get an L lens?
Would love the weather seal of the 1Ds, but way out of my budget.
Thanks.

Well the storms may be common but in reality what are you going to shoot in a sand storm? I would use a UV filter to prevent any sand grains scratching the glass but otherwise just shoot when conditions are right and there is something worth shooting. That's basically what I did in Namibia. No big deal. A brush for dusting off grains from the filter would be useful. Just be mindful of the conditions and take care. Glare may be a bigger problem I think.

The best lens for DESERT is P&P in a water proof case.
My 1DSMKII + 24-70L is OK as long as you don't change lens.
My 5D + Sigma 24-70, hi, some fine fine dust gets in, don't know how????

I'm planning to bring one lens, to avoid changing lens and also pack light. Camera will be in a zipped bag when not shooting, and cleaned with brush and cloth every day. Hope that will work out.
As for the lens, thinking about the 24-105mm F4L seriously.
Condyk, any suggestions for the glare?

BBGG wrote in post #2118448
I'm planning to bring one lens, to avoid changing lens and also pack light. Camera will be in a zipped bag when not shooting, and cleaned with brush and cloth every day. Hope that will work out.

While your thoughts on cleaning would work for the camera body exterior and outer barrels of lenses, the brush and cloth method is absolutely the wrong way to start the cleaning process for glass surfaces such as your lens, viewfinder, filters, etc., when you have dust - and particularly sand particles - on your equipment.

You need to blow off as much of the particles as possible with a squeeze-bulb blower (NOT compressed air or "canned air"). Once you have most of the particles off, then you need to clean the glass surfaces with a wet cleaning process (moistened lens tissues) and avoid any pressure that could grind remaining particles into the glass surfaces and cause permanent scratches. Never use a cloth or other re-usable wiper to clean the lenses, as there is always the possibility of having particles trapped in the wiper from a previous cleaning.