Another Rainy Day

Hi Lannie,

A nice shoot depicting the weather conditions .

I have been experiencing heavy rains for many days now.

While it limits what can imaged outside, it is still fun to give it a try without

damaging the camera electronics. My first Nikon F film camera and 50mm F2 H lens could be used in the rain and still operate the next day !

Best Regards my friend, Mike

Thanks, Mike.  I like to shoot rainy weather, but I try to avoid having the camera exposed to more than a light drizzle for a very brief period of time--after which I wipe it off.  So far so good. . .

--Lannie

          Hi Lannie,

Thanks, Mike.  So far, I have not been caught in very much weather.  If it is raining hard, I try to shoot from the car.  I have even used an umbrella for extended periods of time--although it was a pain in the wind.

Living in the humid Southeast does raise concerns in my mind about the long-term survival of this equipment when used outside for extended periods of time.

For the above shot, I locked open the front storm door and shot from just inside the house.

--Lannie

Hi Lannie,

One good procedure that I have used for over 30 years in the humid South Florida area is to keep my lens caps off the lens when coming into a house that is air conditioned, cooler or warmer then the outside temperature. The same is true for the camera. I keep it well exposed, often with the battery door open, and the battery and memory card removed too.

The equipment will vent off the excess moisture naturally, and no harm will come to the instrument.

To demonstrate this to my colleagues, I once left a computer outside in the rain, with its cover off.

It became soaked. When it was allowed to completely dry by itself, it booted up and continues to operate today. If I had powered it to early, it would have been ruined. This is true of many electronic systems.

For salt water, the procedure is similar. I have had many marine radios totally submerged from waves that came over the boat. I took the cover off, sprayed the interior with water repellant (like WD 40) and after everything dried out, the radio worked fine for many years afterward.

Now, you can not easily do this with a camera, but there are ways to rescue wet camera and lens equipment if need be from salt water. Rinse salt water exposed areas with fresh water and let dry. It is rare that anything internal will rust to the point that harms the operation of the camera. In lens, there are few parts that could be oxidized by salt water unless the lens rested underwater for an extended period of time.

Best Regards my friend, Mike

Thanks, Mike. Letting the camera air out in the warm, dry house sounds like a very good standard procedure for this part of the world.  This time of the year, our dew points are right up there with yours.

For that matter, I saw a dew  point of 73 F in Minneapolis less than a week ago.

I have once or twice in the last couple of years seen dew points of 80 F in the Piedmont of the Carolinas.  Of course, the diurnal fluctuations in relative humidity push that near 100% many mornings in many places.  One has to think about these things when one is holding and using camera bodies that are so expensive.

At least I don't have to worry about salt spray here.

--Lannie

--Lannie

Nice detail of the rain!  Doesn't look like there is any distortion either.

Thanks, everyone.

Diane, I could not get all the lines right on this one.  Look at the slanting roof line and also the door, which is now a parallelogram.  Shot wide, this lens can be a challenge.

Since I could not get all lines right, I emphasized the vertical lines, since they are more obvious than the horizontal ones in this composition.

Most of the left side has been cropped out.  The center of the frame was to the left of the driveway.  The top and bottom were cropped away.  The shot was made in landscape mode.

--Lannie

I like the atmosphere that this summers rainy day evokes........you can almost smell the wet earth and the newly cut grass.

I am a fan of wet weather images also, and being a resident of the UK, its unavoidable!

I noted your concerns ref: getting your camera wet, and I recently come up with an idea that might go some way to solving your problem.

I found an umbrella on "Amazon" designed for wheelchairs and golfers with a flexi stem at the base, and a clamp. I was thinking it would be ideal to clamp to a tripod, keeping both camera and photographer dry and also leaving both hands free to focus etc.

Best Regards

Alf

Kelly, Love summer stormy days from time to time, love how the colors are deeper when wet. This scene has mood and feeling. Great capture,  Best regards,   Sherry

Was recently in some thunder-stormy weather in the northeast and had fun shooting some stuff through the raindrops on windows . . . from inside. It was interesting to switch back and forth between having the raindrops in focus and blurring the action outside and having the raindrops out of focus and the action more apparent. Also had the benefit of some porches with overhangs that I could protect myself with and catch the activity outside. Have to sort through hundreds of photos I took on this trip and will post some in the coming weeks.

Nice composition here. I like the implied cross in the roadway and the puddle action on the street.

Hola Lannie, tanto tiempo sin saber de ti. Me gusta esta imagen, has sabido crear una atmósfera melancólica y un poquito angustiante, de soledad y calma, pero lo mas sobresaliente es la composición, la calle pavimentada horizontal y la calle que baja hasta encontrarse con ella está descentrada hacia la izquierda, y eso balancea perfectamente la imagen. Me gusta mucho. Un abrazo desde el sur del mundo.

Thanks, everyone.  The street slopes to the right here, a fact which causes most shots made across the street to seem a bit out of kilter.  I was standing just inside the door as the rain blew by from left to right.

--Lannie