We were not expecting heavy rain on Sunday - I could not have persuaded the family to go for a walk had we known!

I used to go cycle touring myself 20-25 years ago, so like you Doug I used to double bag everything. This was easier for things you did not need to access until you arrived somewhere. The Carradura bags I had were actually pretty good at keeping water out, but I was able to keep my camera in a small camera bag in the middle of the handlebar bag so that it was still reasonably accessible, but did not get at all wet in worse weather than Sunday's.

As I said above, and techno-terminator suggests I will have to make sure I carry some plastic bags with me in future.

Cheers.

Hi all, thanks for the advice.

It was much better weather today, so I went for a couple of hours walk with my younger daughter this afternoon. The camera and all 3 lenses seem to be working fine, thank goodness.

I think I will look into Bernard's suggestion of additional spray proofing as I would rather stick with the same bag. I think that as several people have suggested double bagging might help with waterproofing but not with access. A separate lens pouch may help for the lenses off the camera, but a plastic bag may be the best option to protect the camera when it starts raining heavily, if it is safe to get it on without getting the camera wet outside the bag.

Cheers.

It may be a bit late now but does anyone have any advice about the aftermath of my camera bag letting in a lot of water in heavy rain today.

I have a Lowepro Slingshot 102 AW bag that is just about big enough for my main kit of K-x, 18-55, 55-300 and Tamron 10-24 lenses with binoculars and bird book in the top section.

I have used the AW cover previously a few weeks ago, but we were only about 15 minutes from the car and everything was completely dry. Today we were out for about 40 minutes in very heavy rain after a couple of lighter showers earlier.

We had to get to the in-laws after our walk so it was not until we got there and I got the bag out of the car that I found the bag was completely soaked. I think that because the AW cover does not cover the back of the bag the rain ran down my back and soaked in around the edges of the cover.

The stuff at the top of the bag was completely dry and the kit lens (in the pouch for the 55-300) was fine. The grip end of the camera was wet and the 10-24 was soaked - with water actually dripping out around the focus ring ... Oops!...

I dried off the outside of the K-x with a towel and then opened up the battery and card hatches, took tem out and left it to air in a warm (not hot) for a couple of hours. After reinstalling batteries and card, the camera seems Ok.

For the Tamron I towel dried the outside of the lens and kept working the zoom and focus until I could see no more fresh water on the barrel. The lens elements were still misted, so I remove both caps and then left it to air in a warm place. The elements have now cleared, but can I expect the lens to be OK now?

Has anyone any recommendations for a similar style bag that would provide a more waterproof home for my kit?

Thanks Chris - I will have to dig out my meter and check the spec.

Well the list is useful for what it has told me as I don't have a digital meter - only an analogue one.

At least I know that the Pentax AF160 and Centon MR20 Ringflash are OK and that Hanimex Pro 550 is not. I will just have to get a slave unit for my other old flashes as the K-x does not have a sync port anyway.

If you are happy to go with someone elses reported reading the D650 looks OK here: http://www.botzilla.com/photo/strobeVolts.html. Shame the site does not list several of my old flashes from film days.

The Threlkeld Quarry and Mining Museum is well worth a visit - stunning views and lots of interesting machinery. May be quite hard going for a wheelchair user though and the mine itself would be inaccessible.

If you wee on Mother's Petunias, they won't last very long anyway

They have missed one from the list Barrie - my first K-mount camera (and SLR) was a Cosina CS-1 in about 1980. Odd that they have listed the CS-2 and CS-3 but not the CS-1. The CS-1 was manual, but a rather bulky aperture priority add-on was available (which I aquired later) that fitted on the hotshoe and operated the shutter speed dial. I used mine for 12 years before I inherited a Pentax ME Super.

I found Chiswick Camera Centre very helpful when I bought my K-x by mail order from them back in January. They are a Pentax Pro dealer but I don't know if they stock Sigma and Tamron. I would have thought Chiswick fairly easy to get to from Staines by public transport.