M9 Rain cover?

[vladik]

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I will be using my M9 in rain and snowy weather using tripod and a ballhead with 35, 50 and 75 mm lenses. There are all sorts of bad weather camera protection on the market design mainly for SLR cameras. My question to your is what sort of product have you used personally and can recommend for M9 on a tripod (or hand held) use? Thank you.

[algrove]

I have used the OP/Tech clear plastic rain covers which are L shaped. They are cheap and you get 2 in the package. When these are not sufficient I stop photographing. Also the hotel shower caps work too, but just not nearly as well. I only use shower caps for the emergency of being caught in a sudden downpour.

[pico]

Plastic bags are just fine, especially with a motor-wind or M9. I put a strong rubber band over the opening, attached to the lens shade. Focus is slippery, but... well, it's cheap.

[bocaburger]

The problem with rain covers for the M cameras is this: An SLR can be viewed and focused clearly with just the eyepiece and (filter/hood protected) lens front exposed. Trust AF and you can even put clear plastic over the eyepiece. With the Leica, you need the eyepiece, front view window and rangefinder windows clear or else focusing becomes difficult and spotty. Unlike most SLRs, the eyepiece of a Leica doesn't really have enough "meat" to get an elastic around it, and the front windows have nothing. What I find works the best for me is the shower cap, pull it off to shoot quickly, then put it back on. Of course that doesn't work well in a real downpour. If the wind isn't blowing, and you are using a tripod, an umbrella is useful. Somewhere I saw something that lets you attach one to the tripod, but I forget where I saw it. Fortunately (I guess) for me, I detest being out in downpours, so I'm unlikely to produce any memorable images no matter if I was using an underwater housing.

[250swb]

And the other downside to rain covers, or trying to seal the camera into something, is that one drop of water that gets inside will then evaporate to fog the viewfinder. Better to let it get a bit wet and then leave it in an airy environment to dry out, or use a weather sealed camera and lens to start with.

 

Steve