Protecting camera from sand

[Dominik Bauch]

I have a potential beach shoot coming up and wanted to protect my gear from sand.

What is the best way to protect an Alexa Mini from sand? I'll be using anamorphic lenses so it's doubly important that sand doesn't get anywhere by accident.

I'll be either on sticks or a slider and right on the sand at times... 

[Christopher Santucci]

I would keep the gear as far away from sand as possible. Get a magliner with a top shelf or a camera cart, and work off of it. Of course, some kind of motorized vehicle could also provide a clean platform to work off of. 

[David Mawson]

It might be worth searching lensrentals.com. They're very good on that type of info. Otoh, this might put you off doing the shoot at all -

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2018/08/please-dont-take-our-photography-and-video-gear-to-burning-man/

 

[Chris Steel]

Not just sand but sea air. Bag it. Keep caps on lenses as much as possible. Good sealing mattebox (clamp on) with optical flat. Lots of kenair, hand blowers. Small paintbrush to get rid of loose sand that gets in the bag. Silica gel packs in the lens box and camera coffin to reduce humidity.

I carry large elastic bands and backpack covers to help close gaps and keep bags tight to the camera. My backpack covers are silver on one side to reduce heat from the sun (works ok in the UK but hotter places may need additional effort to cool the camera).

Cover everything not in use. Clean lenses, filters & camera as often as possible, especially before boxing it overnight.

There are a few posts about this already so worth checking out. Some people are really used to it and are really minimal, which is fine if you know what is good and bad but if sand is uncommon for you, extra vigilance can't be bad right?

[Robin R Probyn]

Bin liner bags and camera tape..   if its not too hot Ive used rain covers too..   use  zoom lenses !.. pray its not windy ..