The soft cases that are often bundled with higher-end lenses are good for preventing minor scrapes and bruises, but offer little when it comes to protecting your glass against harsher dangers. The BETA Shell line of SLR lens cases are designed to guard your lens against most things extreme environments can throw at them, offering protection from water, impacts, and extreme temperatures.

The cases range in price from $45 to $84 depending on the size of your lens, and are available through the official website.

BETA Shell (via PDN)

Lens caps, filters, and hoods are great from protecting lenses from scratches and bumps, but they aren’t the best for reducing the impact in the case that you accidentally drop your gear. The Lens Guard by DeluxGear is designed to absorb this kind of shock, protecting your lens from the impact of bumps and drops, and slips over lenses snugly with or without the filters or lens cap attached.
Read the rest of this entry »

A few days ago we came across this brilliant trick for protecting your valuable camera gear while flying. Most airlines don’t allow you to fly with your luggage locked, but there’s a clever way around the rule — bring a gun.

No, we’re not advocating violence, and no, you don’t need a real gun at all:

A “weapons” is defined as a rifle, shotgun, pistol, airgun, and STARTER PISTOL. Yes, starter pistols – those little guns that fire blanks at track and swim meets – are considered weapons…and do NOT have to be registered in any state in the United States.

I have a starter pistol for all my cases. All I have to do upon check-in is tell the airline ticket agent that I have a weapon to declare…I’m given a little card to sign, the card is put in the case, the case is given to a TSA official who takes my key and locks the case, and gives my key back to me.

That’s the procedure. The case is extra-tracked…TSA does not want to lose a weapons case. This reduces the chance of the case being lost to virtually zero.

It’s a great way to travel with camera gear…I’ve been doing this since Dec 2001 and have had no problems whatsoever.

If you’ve ever lost anything valuable while flying, or have had anything mishandled and broken (I have), this might be a good way to ensure your gear’s safety.

Expensive Cameras in Checked Luggage (via Boing Boing)

Image credits: B A N G ! by mr.beaver and Lufthansa by caribb