[Jason Dunn]

http://www.jasondunn.com/calgary-storm-410

This is completely off topic, but I had an eventful evening last night and I thought the readers of this site might get a kick out of reading about it. Here's part of the story...

"The thunder continued to boom, over and over, and the lightning strikes blazed in the sky. I started to notice the odour of smoke, but I didn’t think anything of it (idiot that I am). Ashley told me that there was a house on fire down the street from us, and I couldn’t believe it! I looked out my walk-out basement window and sure enough, amidst the sheets of falling rain there was thick black smoke rising from a house just a few homes down from us. When you see something like that, it’s a strange sensation. I thought “Ok, fire in the rain, this can’t last long, we’re not in any danger.” (Well, actually, I think my first thought was “HOLY CRAP, WHAT THE HELL?!?”). I grabbed my Canon SD800 digital camera, put on a jacket, and went outside with Ashley. There were already police and fire trucks on the street (why didn’t they turn on their sirens so we’d know there was something happening?) so that was a relief that help was already there. That meant though, of course, that the lightning strike that started the fire occurred at least 20 minutes prior. It’s a bit scary to think that there was a blazing fire a few hundred feet from my home and I had no clue. Since the fire was on the back side of the house, we walked to our back yard to get a better vantage point. Boy did we ever!"



I need to point out right away that no one was hurt - the people in the house got out safely. From a technology stand point, I was impressed with my Canon SD800 and my Nikon D200. Both of them got very wet, and both functioned without any problem. I was more worried about my SD800 - because the Nikon D200 is weather sealed, while the Canon is not - but the SD800 digital camera came through like a champ. From a photography point of view, I wish I had a steadier hand, but I had to balance the desire to get a good picture with the desire to not get my equipment too soaked. ;-)

Check out the rest of the story...

[Jason Dunn]

http://www.jasondunn.com/calgary-storm-410

This is completely off topic, but I had an eventful evening last night and I thought the readers of this site might get a kick out of reading about it. Here's part of the story...

"The thunder continued to boom, over and over, and the lightning strikes blazed in the sky. I started to notice the odour of smoke, but I didn’t think anything of it (idiot that I am). Ashley told me that there was a house on fire down the street from us, and I couldn’t believe it! I looked out my walk-out basement window and sure enough, amidst the sheets of falling rain there was thick black smoke rising from a house just a few homes down from us. When you see something like that, it’s a strange sensation. I thought “Ok, fire in the rain, this can’t last long, we’re not in any danger.” (Well, actually, I think my first thought was “HOLY CRAP, WHAT THE HELL?!?”). I grabbed my Canon SD800 digital camera, put on a jacket, and went outside with Ashley. There were already police and fire trucks on the street (why didn’t they turn on their sirens so we’d know there was something happening?) so that was a relief that help was already there. That meant though, of course, that the lightning strike that started the fire occurred at least 20 minutes prior. It’s a bit scary to think that there was a blazing fire a few hundred feet from my home and I had no clue. Since the fire was on the back side of the house, we walked to our back yard to get a better vantage point. Boy did we ever!"



I need to point out right away that no one was hurt - the people in the house got out safely. From a technology stand point, I was impressed with my Canon SD800 and my Nikon D200. Both of them got very wet, and both functioned without any problem. I was more worried about my SD800 - because the Nikon D200 is weather sealed, while the Canon is not - but the SD800 digital camera came through like a champ. From a photography point of view, I wish I had a steadier hand, but I had to balance the desire to get a good picture with the desire to not get my equipment too soaked. ;-)

Check out the rest of the story...

[Chris Gohlke]

Wow, hopefully their insurance company takes good care of them.

For your DVD inventory, if you don't want to take the time to write everything down, consider just taking a few pictures of your DVD racks. Your cameras have enough resolution that you should be able to ID all the DVD's from a zoomed in picture.

Also, consider scanning all your important documents and storing them off-site.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Chris Gohlke

Wow, hopefully their insurance company takes good care of them.

Yes, I hope so as well.

Originally Posted by Chris Gohlke

For your DVD inventory, if you don't want to take the time to write everything down, consider just taking a few pictures of your DVD racks.

Good idea - I did that years ago but completely forgot about that approach...

I was also thinking of using a Socket barcode scanner I have for a Pocket PC and seeing if there was a useful way to implement it.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Just because it's weather-sealed doesn't mean you should use it out in the rain. Warranty coverage does NOT include damage from weather. Get a rain cover for your preferred camera/lens combination. You have been warned!

[Crocuta]

I'm sure glad no one was injured. This serves as an excellent reminder, though, that you never know when something like this can happen to you. Remember, having all of your backups sitting next to your computer still leaves you vulnerable. Either take a copy to work from time to time or use an online backup service.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng

Just because it's weather-sealed doesn't mean you should use it out in the rain. Warranty coverage does NOT include damage from weather. Get a rain cover for your preferred camera/lens combination. You have been warned!

Hmm. Interesting - I guess when I read about the camera I thought that it was designed to be durable and to get wet. What sort of rain cover would you suggest for the D200 and the 18-200 lens?