Do you like to shoot in the rain?

foc · Tuesday at 6:02 PM

Where I live, if I didn't shoot in/before/after the rain, I'd never take a photo.

Pieter12 · Tuesday at 6:19 PM

Sometimes right after a storm

MurrayMinchin · Tuesday at 6:52 PM

Crappy iPhone snap of a print: North Pacific Cannery near Port Edward on BC's north coast from a 4x5 negative.

This was made on graded paper before I started pin registered masking...the textures in the foreground planks could be improved significantly.

DREW WILEY · Tuesday at 6:59 PM

Dramatic thunder and lightning was mentioned on an earlier post. That was almost every summer afternoon in our high country. Of course, you don't want to be crossing a pass or up on a peak under those conditions, or in the middle of a lake in an aluminum boat, or out on some bald prow of a hill. But with some common sense travel timing, it is one of the great joys of mountain travel to witness. And talk about the evening light when the storm breaks up!

What is not so entertaining is when the sky suddenly goes black all around you, and you're up on some high point, and you hear the air somewhat Rice Krispies crinkling, the hair on your arm stands up, you small ozone, and worst of all, there's a strange glow around your aluminum tripod. Run downhill as fast as you can - don't walk - and leave the tripod behind. Back when I still used an aluminum tripod, I'd leave it about 50 yards from my tent at night. When picking a campsite around timberline, look around to see if there are charred trees or not from previous incidents. Lighting is fairly predictable.

Andrew O'Neill · Tuesday at 7:03 PM

The only time I've photographed in the rain, is when I'm caught in it... otherwise a big no! I will however, don ski-doo pants, gloves and a toque, and gleefully drag the big camera out when it's snowing!

eliadesqu · Tuesday at 10:07 PM

I enjoy shooting immediately after rain. Something about the world glows with a fresh liveliness.

loccdor · Wednesday at 10:06 AM

I've enjoyed reading all the responses, this week here is all rain and it's been fun to go out in it. I know people who hate the rain and will never come with me in such conditions. I'm not very fond of strong winds unless it is very warm. My favorite is the gentle, steady rainfall with still air.

Regarding lightning, I've done a few long exposures of it from behind a window, but being outside for it is another level of dedication and intensity.

I am in the market for a good pair of waterproof pants. Haven't got around to buying them yet.

slackercrurster · Wednesday at 10:23 AM

loccdor said:
Do you like to shoot in the rain? What precautions do you take?

I really like, for example, the extra-deep color from autumn leaves and plants when they are wet.

You also have softer lighting conditions, so that more temperamental film stocks become easier to use.

For extended or heavy rainfall it's either an umbrella or a plastic camera covering. The umbrella is a poor choice in wind. A filter and lens hood help, too.

Or perhaps you are the type to just let the rain hit the camera?

In light rainfalls with small cameras I'll often just put them in a belt-mounted camera bag and take them out briefly to use them, before wiping them with a cotton cloth and putting them back. After the outing things are left to dry for a few days before storage. I've had some leather ever-ready cases develop mold, but no lenses did.

I want to shoot in rain and snow more often. It's more interesting and you can see things that are rare in nice weather. You typically have the place to yourself and animal behavior is different, too. Reflections and shininess can also be a subject.

Yes, used to. I'd use an umbrella for street work. It was not something I looked forward to, just did it sometimes. I'm not much for landscapes. I did a project of people jumping melted snow puddles and such across from St. Patrick's Cathedral NYC. I will have to dig them out someday and finish it up. The cameras they got nowadays are water resistant...some.

DREW WILEY · Wednesday at 12:07 PM

Do you mean dig up the negatives, or the people still stuck in the mud?

psmithp · 2025-10-23T07:29:14-0400

A (hooded) raincoat large enough for you and your camera (assuming it is not a large format one). A woolen muffler to cover the camera while you walk around. If it is not too windy you can squeeze an umbrella between you left elbow and your side. And most important - the deepest sun shade you can get for your lens.
You may add a huge cotton rag in an inner pocket if the camera gets seriously wet.
The kind of rain matters. Careful in an equatorial shower of 50mm (2in) in half an hour, but the usual north European drizzle should not keep you inside. Cameras (my experience is with Canons from 1978 until today) can take a lot.
The worst is sleet - the heavy, lazy flakes land and melt on the buttons, your electronic camera misbehaves and you have to go home.

DREW WILEY · 2025-10-23T12:51:42-0400

Umbrella can be counterproductive if there's serious wind. For wiping a camera dry, I prefer a large microfiber cloth.
Sleet and electronic cameras? - that's an easy one. Don't shoot and electronic camera. I've known quite a few high altitude mountaineers; they tended to prefer all-mechanical ones like the Nikon FM2n. I gave my nephew a basic little Pentax MX for his arctic and Himalayan expeditions, and it held up fine. I used a mechanical Honeywell Pentax H1 back when I was a teenager, but in adult life, mostly view cameras supplemented by MF ones. Bad weather was for me what honey is to a bear. Not so much anymore (I just turned 76) - now I prefer gentle rain.

Pieter12 · 2025-10-23T14:41:31-0400

DREW WILEY said:
Umbrella can be counterproductive if there's serious wind. For wiping a camera dry, I prefer a large microfiber cloth.
Sleet and electronic cameras? - that's an easy one. Don't shoot and electronic camera. I've known quite a few high altitude mountaineers; they tended to prefer all-mechanical ones like the Nikon FM2n. I gave my nephew a basic little Pentax MX for his arctic and Himalayan expeditions, and it held up fine. I used a mechanical Honeywell Pentax H1 back when I was a teenager, but in adult life, mostly view cameras supplemented by MF ones. Bad weather was for me what honey is to a bear. Not so much anymore (I just turned 76) - now I prefer gentle rain.

The Leica S cameras are electronic and totally weather sealed. The Fuji XPro is too, I believe. The Leica S can be rinsed off after a day in salty air with no adverse effects to the electronics.

Chuck1 · 2025-10-23T14:54:33-0400

I once saw someone hosing off a digital eos, I didn't know you could do that

loccdor · 2025-10-23T15:16:26-0400

Chuck1 said:
I once saw someone hosing off a digital eos, I didn't know you could do that

With some caveats... I've let rain fall pretty hard on my year 2000 film EOS and it's been fine but it starts to get a mistiness under the LCD screen which worries me after a while. It's recommended to use a lens with a rubber gasket in the mount for this. It's always dried out fine afterwards but I'm sure high enough pressure in the wrong spot would mess it up. And weather seals can fail over time.

Pieter12 · 2025-10-23T15:18:11-0400

loccdor said:
With some caveats... I've let rain fall pretty hard on my year 2000 film EOS and it's been fine but it starts to get a mistiness under the LCD screen which worries me after a while. It's recommended to use a lens with a rubber gasket in the mount for this. It's always dried out fine afterwards but I'm sure high enough pressure in the wrong spot would mess it up. And weather seals can fail over time.

As can light seals. So what’s the point?

loccdor · 2025-10-23T15:25:05-0400

Just that even weather sealed equipment has its limits and you may still want to take additional precautions.

DREW WILEY · 2025-10-23T16:17:44-0400

Even batteries go dead. I sometimes had to put the light meter inside my sleeping bag at night, or otherwise keep the batteries warm. The less electronics and battery-dependence, the better. But people develop their own strategies.
For my P67, they even offered an extension cord so you could keep the battery in your pocket. With a view camera, the biggest problem is developing ice rime on the ground glass from your breath; one can wear a cold weather "snorkel" in relation to that. Condensation on the lens can occur if you bring your gear outside too quickly. I always pack with its photo gear outside the tent, but with an appropriate weatherproof cover. But don't do that if nosy bears
are around.

I've photographed right under a big waterfall with my 8x10. Had to pull the lens cap off at just the right moment, a second or two before tripping the cable release. The camera itself was wrapped in Goretex. Then I had to place the lens inside a little desiccation box I brought along, containing activated silica gel, and with a tight cover. It takes a couple weeks to clear out all the fog.

I had a friend who slipped while crossing a high altitude stream, and his expensive 6X6 with its Zeiss lens got dunked. We were a week of walking and six passes away from where our cars were parked; but once back, I managed to de-fog his expensive lens and save him repair expense. In the meantime, he had another lens to work with, which managed to stay dry.

I'm a bit skeptical of electronic cameras under extreme high altitude or arctic conditions. Yeah, I know they get used;
but I've also heard horror stories where they failed completely right when they were needed most. Extreme climbers and expedition types often depend on their photos to fund those kinds of activities. Of course, if a particular brand tasked them with using something fancy of their own design just to prove a point, yet it was disproved, weather-wise, it would be an embarrassment to try to retract the funding. I could cite specific examples, but won't.
And at least with digital, one doesn't have to be frequently reloading film with stiff potentially frostbitten fingers. I don't know how they manage to work with so many small buttons.

loccdor · 2025-10-23T17:19:28-0400

DREW WILEY said:
We were a week of walking and six passes away from where our cars were parked

Sounds fantastic, I'd love to go on a long hiking trip like that.

Yes, my batteries definitely don't last as long in the cold. About 1/4 as much.

Taylor Nankervis · 2025-10-24T02:47:56-0400

In a word, 'No'.
Only one of my cameras is truly unafraid of any weather (EOS 1N with power drive booster E1), having come through a violent storm in New Zealand's Catlins in 2006. The Pentax 67s must be protected from all weather, heat, cold, wet and dry — they really are the 'overweight babies' that need TLC!

As a specialist in rainforest photography, I have to deal with rain as a characteristic of the environment I produce work in, and those skills were learnt and honed in no other than the dark, dank rainforests of New Zealand in the mid to late 1990s. Memorable... for all the wrong reasons!

For drizzle and moderate showers, I lash a lightweight bushwalking umbrella (Five Moon Designs) to my tripod's head with a velcro strap, and elevate it out of the view of the camera; it works well, but if the rain is heavy, that will show like a fog at long exposure, and the angry drumming on the brolly is a signal that things may be getting out of hand. On the flipside, rain after a dry spell provides and excellent, invigorating atmosphere: ferns still, glisten and gleam, leaves are at all levels are calm and the aromas of musk, leatherwood, blackwood and eucalyptus fill the air; light is diffuse and very agreeable, and at the end of the exposure, I can just stand back and feel happily at home in my element. I swear I've even seen fairies (to be sure, it can also be a life-affirming visage from a wee bit of Tanqueray's orange gin....). If/when rain really becomes a problem, I walk away and plan for a visit some other time. It's no great shame to give in.

Taylor Nankervis · 2025-10-24T03:01:50-0400

DREW WILEY said:
I'm a bit skeptical of electronic cameras under extreme high altitude or arctic conditions

If I'm going into a very cold environment (3°c and below), I use the EOS 1N with 8x AA lithium batteries in the power drive booster. Though this camera comes standard with the 2CR5 battery in its front grip when new/in the box, that travesty went into the bin decades ago in lieu of the sturdy reliability and responsiveness of the PDBE1. I learnt through bad experience that the 2CR5 battery was the worst thing for the EOS cameras from time spent using the EOS 5 and EOS 50e (the 50e did much better with battery consumption than the 5).

nikos79 · 2025-10-24T06:17:50-0400

Definitely not. Rain = poor light and also annoying and distracting
Not to mention I am worried about my camera

tezzasmall · 2025-10-24T08:37:51-0400

Hassasin said:
That's what Nikonos was meant for, not diving, but in pouring rain. Best time shooting (I love running in the rain too, so maybe I am different)

Or a Canon WP1. It's a 35mm compact designed to take on the beach and swimming with, so rain? No problem!

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=canon wp1&t=ffab&ia=images&iax=images

Terry S

warden · 2025-10-24T09:18:21-0400

I love weatherproof cameras.

Tel · 2025-10-24T09:22:28-0400

warden said:
I love weatherproof cameras.

OH........it hurts to look at that!

warden · 2025-10-24T10:02:19-0400

Tel said:
OH........it hurts to look at that!

yeah the snow on the camera wasn’t intentional - a tree lost most of its snow just as we were walking under it but the camera was fine and I still use it today. To my surprise the snow on the lens didn’t have much of an impact on the images.

Do you like to shoot in the rain?

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