Hey, I live in San Francisco and am looking to buy rain protection for my camera...I was wonder if anyone that has one for their camera can give me some advice, I am trying to figure out what the difference is between like a petrol rain cover or a porta brace rain slicker...bh does not show the rain slicker on a camera so I can not tell how much protection it provides, and it looks smaller than the rain cover...does anyone know if it still provides good rain protection?

i have seen quite a few tv crews use plastic bags (from a grocery store) for rain covers. discovery channel had a documentary on a documentary, and that is what they used.

I looked around quite a bit and chose the Porta-Brace. I recommend it highly. I think it's the top model and worth every dollar.

What you get with a cover that you don't get with a plastic bag are the zippered and velcro openings for accessing the various parts of your camera. For instance, changing a tape or adjusting the settings or grabbing the top handle or accessing your wireless receiver or checking if your camera on custom White Balance 1 or 2. You get the idea. Covers are silent. Plastic bags are not.

The PB has a nice stiff lens hood that velcros closed. There's also plenty of double zippers on the bottom to accommodate handlheld and tripod setups. If all that isn't enough, the PB accomodates the MA-100 and MA-200 adapters with velcro flaps.

Ultimately, I think the time it takes to put the cover on is quicker than a custom tape-on-plastic-bag-from-the-grocery-store. Your mileage may vary. My cover folds and stores on the bottom of my PB camera bag so I always have it.

I can't offer and first hand experience with the Petrol or Kata but would guide you to examine their websites to see how custom their cover is for the XL1 series body. My sense with a Petrol I bought for a small camera was that it's little more than a slightly shaped vinyl bag with a couple seams and a such. Perhaps you can judge this by how many cameras a given cover model will fit.

Lastly, the PB is made in the USA if that matters to you while I'm pretty sure the Petrol and Kata are not.

discovery channels deadliest catch series cameramen used plastic carrier bags on their cameras and their filming in realy wild seas. I am not suggesting that you do the same but a simple plastic carrier bag takes up no room has no weight and can be used in an emergency. Ben it might be the same series that you describe.

Alan

On the cheap http://www.stormjacket.com/
On the pricey side http://www.kata-bags.com/Item.asp?pid=36&cid=10&perentId=1&ProdLine=1

I wouldn't be surprised if the plastic bag was over a porta-brace. Most people on board sea fairing boats go overboard, (forgive the pun), with water protection.