I wonder whether any of you experts bother about this. I've just had a quote for a D80 for £96 a year. I don't go underground, although I might shortely 🙂 , so not the same risk. From what I've read on this site most people repair their own or chuck it away and buy another. I'm not quite in this position but I think this is a no, no. Opinions appreciated.

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Your home contents insurance should give a basic cover 😉

I do have a 3 year insurance with Domestic & General on my newer camera.

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I've never had any of my compacts fail, and they have been used in some pretty bad environments underground.

No1 rule is: don't drop it in to anything (water, mud etc...)

And it should live a long life.

Personally I hate all this insurance that you can get or are sold, it is a fantastic money making scheme for the sellers of it and not needed.

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I can't see the point of insuring something when you intend to take it underground, which I suspect will invalidate the policy anyway. Insuring it otherwise is down to personal opinion.

If I could afford a D80 and if I then decided to take it underground I would plan on not exposing it to serious conditions and take the precaution of at the very least transporting it in and out of the mine/cave in one of those specialist instrument containers.

I have to take a rather doom & gloom view on some of my escapades with dangling cameras down holes,in water and suspending them x hundred feet up in the air beneath a kite. But I do try to cover myself, after all nothing ventured nothing gained.

Most of the kit I've assembled while collectively amount to a serious hobby, individually they are of a reasonable price. Added to which they are mostly sourced via ebay and the like, so are usually low cost.

Finally the biggest and best kit does not always give the finest result. Just look at the samples here on this site which in the main are taken with Point and Shoot cameras many of which are now available at very reasonable prices.

My take for what it is worth.

A robust waterproof Peli type case is a wise investment if you are planning on taking your camera u/g.

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Peli cases are great, but he tend to be both expensive and bulky, so it's a matter of taking a view on the value of what you intend to take down.

I do a fair amount of record photography at work, I just use 'point-and-shoot' cameras and try not to get them wet....

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I've always used BDH containers - cheap, waterproof and (if internally padded) bombproof.

Having said that any bit of kit you take underground is going to have a pretty finite life. The best policy has got to be: don't take anything underground that you are not prepared to loose/write off.

Thanks guys. Personally I tend to think much insurance is a rip off.

I'm not intending taking it u/g but but other ventures can be very risky. I'm hoping some time this winter to get some shots of Portreath harbour in very severe weather conditions to show why it was closed to shipping so often during the 19th century.

A couple of things to consider. Obviously personal safety: I have a very healthy respect of the sea having spent some of my life perched on top of 80 foot waves. Secondly of course ingress of salt water re. the camera. As you know not good news so the water proof case suggestion could be useful here.

Of course I could always, either choose a very safe vantage point, or buy a cheap digital and not worry about it.

Edit. the D80 is expensive but I had one of my many mad moments when I bought it.

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Interestingly, Carnkie, my paternal grandfather, when a young man, worked on the coal ships that plied the shipping lanes between South Wales and Portreath. I remember him telling me that at times the seas were so tempestuous off Portreath that the coal boat was unable to put into port. He could see the lights of home but would be stranded for days at a time just beyond the port, sick to his stomach. He soon gave up the job as he never really found his sea legs!

Hope you get your shots of a wild and elemental Portreath with your new camera. I used to love to park up and watch the power of the waves breaking over the harbour wall. :thumbup:

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Simon sells these - http://www.excellentstuff.co.uk/Aquapac/Camera-Cases/p-90-156/  which should at least deal with the salt spray issue! :thumbsup:

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http://www.portreathslsc.co.uk/43_3113.php 

try these folks, seems they have a surf webcam, so they might have what you are looking for

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Interestingly, Carnkie, my paternal grandfather, when a young man, worked on the coal ships that plied the shipping lanes between South Wales and Portreath. I remember him telling me that at times the seas were so tempestuous off Portreath that the coal boat was unable to put into port. He could see the lights of home but would be stranded for days at a time just beyond the port, sick to his stomach. He soon gave up the job as he never really found his sea legs! :thumbup:

I can well imagine it. For a start, as you know, the harbour is very narrow and is also positioned so that the vast majority of gales will blow straight in. It must have been a nightmare docking ships and on many occassions impossible, as your grandfather said, I bet he had some tales to tell. Hard men those sailors.

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Simon sells these - http://www.excellentstuff.co.uk/Aquapac/Camera-Cases/p-90-156/  which should at least deal with the salt spray issue! :thumbsup:

Looks interesting but I have an 18-135 zoom so I wonder whether it would fit. One way to find out. :thumbup:

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I don't find Pelicases too bulky and if you shop round they can be bought for £20 or so. My camera is still fine after many trips safe in it's case and not only is it waterproof it provides good protection against knocks.

If you find it's too much of a pain to lug around simply offer to take someone else underground and give them your stuff to carry.

My compact cost me £100 so insurance isn't really worth it. They tend to be quite durable, the only problem I have is that the telescoping lens stops working regularly and has to be fiddled with to stop it jamming halfway out; this has happened to all my cameras and is almost certainly because of dust etc. My plan (as it's still under warrenty) is to wait until the year is almost up and then send it for repair, assuming it's not packed in by then! Insurance is probably more expensive than just buying a new camera.

As for keeping it safe, I have a waterproof bag, and that goes inside the old ammunition box which is suitably filled with junk to pad it out for when I'm abseiling.

I believe cave ferret swears by kodak action insurance, but I'm not a fan.

Hi Carnkie, I use a D80 underground all the time and they are pretty tough. I dont have waterproof cases, I use a tesco carrier bag and an old tea towel and the camera has been drenched, bashed against rocks etc etc and never failed. I think they are tougher than what they seem to be.

I thinking of getting a pelicase to take it in a certain mine where it needs to be submerged though and I believe the correct one for the D80 is the Peli 1300. I think Vanoord knows the answer to that one better though.