Save my Camera!!!

Hi all! This summer I will be taking a ten day canoe trip from Minnesota into Canada. I will be spending nearly all of my time on the water of course. I was curious as to what the experts recommend to me to be as careful as possible to keep my 30D and lenses safe from damage. I wont need any underwater housing, just a reliable, completely waterproof case. Thanks for your input in advance! -Cody

A pelican

Yup, get a Pelican Case.

DocFrankenstein wrote in post #5279469
A pelican

I second that.

It floats as well as being waterproof.

I think mine is bear proof too.

Another vote for a pelican case. Nothing better.

A Pelican case will do the job, but a LowePro Dryzone bag is probably more functional for canoing and camping.

My advice would be to look for "a dry bag for canoing that will hold my camera and lenses" instead of "a camera bag or case that will be waterproof".

Dry bags are specifically designed for kayaking and canoing and are tried and true. If it was me, I'd find a good dry bag that I could put my usual camera bag in. That way you still get the padding you need while being sure that it will stay dry. For some ideas, look at this link.

I've done some canoing on the Boundary Waters. What a great opportunity for some great photos! Hope you get a good shot of a moose (at a distance). Also, be sure not to let the Minnesota state bird (the mosquitoe) carry off any of your gear.

A dry bag is fine for a few hour or half day trip in a kayak or canoe where you are the one handling it. But during a ten day canoe trip, it's going to get slung around, stuff piled on top of it, rained on, thrown around by others who don't own it, sat on dropped and opened and closed a couple hundred times. Buy the Pelican and don't worry about the camera and lenses you put inside it.

canonloader wrote in post #5279604
A dry bag is fine for a few hour or half day trip in a kayak or canoe where you are the one handling it. But during a ten day canoe trip, it's going to get slung around, stuff piled on top of it, rained on, thrown around by others who don't own it, sat on dropped and opened and closed a couple hundred times. Buy the Pelican and don't worry about the camera and lenses you put inside it.

Would have to agree........and if the worse were to happen it would float too

I have done a lot of canoeing and kayaking in fast water and calm, day trips and week trips. Didn't have a Pelican then but I do now, and the only trip I took a camera on, it would have survived in a Pelican, it didn't in a rubber dry bag. And, as you said, it floats and it could go over a waterfall or hit rocks in the current and the camera and lens would most likely survive. You can't say that for any bag I know of.

If you end up using a hard case like a Pelican, just hope you don't have any portages. I'm getting this picture of you carrying a canoe over your head (which takes two hands) and somehow trying to hold a Pelican case. You'll need a third arm.

If you had a good padded backpack-style camera case you could roll up the dry bag when portaging and more easily carry your gear. (Regular backpack on back, camera backpack on front.)

Or, suppose you stop and camp for awhile and want to hike around with your camera. Again, you could ditch the dry bag and just use a normal padded camera backpack. Can't see you dragging a Pelican case through the woods on a hike. Only advantage of a Pelican that I can think of is that it would hurt a charging moose more if you threw it.

In my opinion, you have to decide whether you are going on a photo trip that just happens to use a canoe or a real canoe trip where you want to take pictures, but will still have to run rapids, do portages, take hikes, etc.

My two cents from an ex-Minnesotan.

Get a GPS for the case incase if floats down river

I have pelican's but my new favorite cases are HPRC's

High Performance Resin Cases

take a look at their backpack case -

http://hprc-usa.com/3500.htm

B&H links to the different versions

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …3500E_Backpack_​Empty.html

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …_3500F_Backpack​_with.html

http://www.bhphotovide​o.com …3500DK_Backpack​_with.html

Although this links to a UK website the case is made in the USA by Hardigg. I have one for just carrying the body and a single lens, plus a few bits and pieces. I also own a larger Peli case and they're both pretty equal when it comes to quality.

check out... http://www.songofthepa​ddle.co.uk/storm_im207​5.html

It may be just what you're looking for.

Cheers