[MrM]

I treat my camera like any other woman in my life.

[FullertonImages]

I treat my camera like any other woman in my life.

You either treat you camera too well or your women like crap... ;-)

[FullertonImages]

I treat my equipment like crap. Not on purpose. It's not my goal to damage my gear. But I'm an adventure photographer, and I prioritize getting shots above protecting gear. So I pretty much punish the crap out of all my gear. While shooting the Teva Mountain Games a few weeks ago, I knocked my 50-135 lens hood off into class 5 rapids, cracked the screen protector on the back of my k-7 by smashing it against a rock, broke the remote trigger jack off into the body of my K10d, and got lots of stuff scratched and dirty. During the life of my cameras, they have been covered in a bare minimum of dirt, mud, sand, water, rain, ice, snow, sleet, slush, chalk and chocolate milk. I've driven off with a k-7 and 16-50 in a lowepro toploader on the rof of my car, which then flew off while going around a corner in the parking lot and landed and tumbled on the pavement. While shooting climbing, I keep the lens hoods on, just because it very hard to scramble and ascend ropes without you cameras swinging around and slamming into the cliff, and lens caps only break in such situations. So, I can attest to how tough Pentax equipment is. Be safe and sensible, but there's no reason to be over protective or paranoid.

[opiet70]

Mine is a tool. I use it as one. I care for it carefully, but I expect it to stand up to some abuse, weather, and such. If not, I'd have bought a Canon or Nikon

[Mr. Ben]

I think Pickles brought up an interesting point. there is a population of photographers who go beyond respecting the equipment to appreciating the asthetics of the equipment themselves. On the one extreme you have the collectors of gold plated Leicas who never handle their cameras. And I guess if you have an eye to maximizing your resale value, it wouldn't hurt to treat your camera with kid gloves.

In general, I'm more careful of the lens than the camera body, and I'm adamant about having a hood attached if its out.

[jct us101]

I've treated all of my cameras fairly well, but not so incredibly well that they haven't got their bruises and marks from me carrying them around. The worst was my old Canon 28-135mm IS lens, that thing was so huge on my small Rebel XTi body that I would hit it on EVERYTHING. Poor lens.

[Ratmagiclady]

I think Pickles brought up an interesting point. there is a population of photographers who go beyond respecting the equipment to appreciating the asthetics of the equipment themselves. On the one extreme you have the collectors of gold plated Leicas who never handle their cameras. And I guess if you have an eye to maximizing your resale value, it wouldn't hurt to treat your camera with kid gloves.

In general, I'm more careful of the lens than the camera body, and I'm adamant about having a hood attached if its out.

I'm there with you. I do keep hoods on any lens pretty religiously, and I like to see the the element pristine, even if I figure I have a sensible notion of how clean it needs to be.

Personally, while I appreciate things being pretty, for me, well, I'm not entirely comfy till something shows some signs of handling, at least by feel. I felt like I was somehow standing out like a sore thumb till my K20d got through that feel of crisp-brand-newness.

I think my cameras see pretty moderate-to- gentle wear, but a lot of it. I don't baby things, cosmetically, anyway, but neither do I bang em around or anything, (Can't say there's much occasion to, really: I'm not exactly out skydiving or shredding or anything. )

There's sort of a casually-familiar sort of care one can cultivate about things like this, that people who carry equipment of any kind on a constant basis often can be seen to develop: I remember it being observed once when I offered a co-worker my old sports rig to handle long ago, how he treated the thing delicately, whereas upon taking it back and re-slinging or whatever, I was 'handling it like a football.'

If you're really really familiar with your gear, or gear in general, you can in fact show a lot more care with a lot less effort than most people think of. Beginners, I always observe, tend to lean either toward either great carelessness or, more commonly, being really too fussy about things.

Almost none of my stuff is pristine, and little of it was when I got it, so I don't think about it too much.

I've got *one* FD lens that's freakin' cherry, though. Sometimes I feel a little more protective of that one's looks just because it *is* pretty old to be in such perfect shape, at least considering it's in my posession. But that won't stop me from shooting or carrying.

I actually like to see a little brass and character on black cameras, though: I wouldn't put it there myself deliberately, but it shows some past.

[41ants]

You either treat you camera too well or your women like crap... ;-)

Ike Turner

[bdery]

When the weather gets crappy, I use my WR lens. I also avoid placing the camera on really scratchy surfaces, or I'm really careful if I do. Apart from that, I expect it to obey my wishes

[macTak]

I'm careful with it, and try to keep it in a wrap when I'm not using it at the moment (which has saved it once or twice) but then again I'm careful with all of my things. I still will use it any way needed without worry. I'm actually much more careful with my lenses than the camera. I can always get another camera body, but scratching/damaging one of my favorite lenses....

[Ira]

I take minimal care using it, and maximum care picking it up and just holding it:

90% of damage is caused by just dropping the damn thing.

Even non WR can survive some water, dirt, etc.

But they can't survive stupid carelessness.

I thrush mine, along with lenses. You guys would not want to buy my gears, that is for sure.

[HEEGZ]

I focus mainly on protecting the lens and LCD. I don't mind getting the rest a bit dirty or wet really. Oh, and I try to avoid ledges where the camera can get bumped.

[FullertonImages]

I take minimal care using it, and maximum care picking it up and just holding it:

90% of damage is caused by just dropping the damn thing.

Even non WR can survive some water, dirt, etc.

But they can't survive stupid carelessness.

But I thought WR meant Weather Resistant and SR meant Stupid Resistant. Uh-oh. I haven't been using it right...

[mcleoud151]

As a motocross photographer, I seriously trash my equipment. My local shop sends me Christmas cards thanking me for all the business, and it's mostly repairs, not purchases!

I've broken more flashes (I think the 360 and 540 have a fatal flaw in their design at the foot) than I can remember. I've cracked two LCDs on bodies (One was my old *ist, and I can't remember what the other was). One from banging up against a bike, and one from falling off the back of a quad. My K10 took a little fall while it was paired with my 50-135; the K10 is fine, the 50-135, not so much.

It seems like people treat their cameras based on their personality. I'm an action sports, aggressive, go-get-em type of guy. Like a couple other folks on here, I figure the camera can handle the abuse. If it can't, well, that's what the shops are for. At least I get my shots.

I take photos in heavy dust/heavy rain/hail/ every few days (not all at once usually). There's mud, sand, ash, snow, and rocks, all being flung at me and the camera. Thus far my Pentax bodies have held up magnificently.