Recently I checked out the Boryeong Mud Festival held annually at Daecheon Beach, South Korea. Seeing grown adults get completely covered in mud and hurling it at one another is a lot of fun; however, when it comes to protecting your camera it’s not quite as ‘playful’ to have it exposed to the elements.
I recently posted an article outlining how to protect your camera gear while traveling which featured suggestions on protecting it while transporting it from place to place. Some of those suggestions, such as carrying a proper camera bag and rain cover apply in this situation as well; however, in this article I’ll be suggesting a few different ways to protect the camera when it is out of its case or backpack.
I had serious observations about bringing Sony Alpha A65 dSLR with me to this mud festival. With serious mud being flung wantonly and high probably of rain (because it was monsoon season) I had to come up with a plan to keep it fully protected or else not take it at all.
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After reading some suggestions and talking to some friends, I came up with the idea to cover it with plastic wrap typically found in the kitchen.
I wrapped both the dSLR body and lens thoroughly several times covering every single area. When going around the body I wrapped tightly; however, when it came to my lenses I wrapped loosely with several layers, so as to not prevent the lens from being able to zoom in and out from telephoto to wide angle. Along critical spots such as where the body meets the lens I wrapped even more diligently with further layers. I made sure to put a cheap UV filter on my 18-250 mm lens to protect it as well. Finally I sealed two areas (where the body meets the lens and when the lens attaches to the lens hood with tape.
The results were impressive. I was able to withstand mud and light rains during the event while shooting with confidence the entire day. Come check out my photos for the day from my Boryeong Mud Festival Photos from Nomadic Samuel and my Boryeong Mud Festival Photo Essay from Backpacking Travel Blog.
