I recently covered a paint ball tournament from the safety of the refs tower (I only got hit twice). I used 24-70L, 70-200L IS and 300/4L IS on three bodies (20 & 30D), and I used B+W MRC UV filters to keep splatter off the front elements (the filters normally stay in the bag and the hoods are always on the lenses). Next week I might do it again with the same gear, but I'll be roaming around in the open, so the chances of taking one on the front element are worth considering. I assume that the front element of any of these lenses could survive a direct hit by a paintball at "medium range", but it would be a pity to get goopy marker paint all over the glass. I doubt that a B+W filter could survive the same hit, but would it crack and stay more or less in place, or shatter and drive back into the front element? BTW, I'm not worried about hits on the lens and camera bodies, as I'll "saran-up". Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts and experiences, Jim.
hm, use lots of saran wrap. Last time I shot paintball, I got hit several times, including in the camera which I had protected with ziplock bags. One or two of the hits to the camera ruptured the bag and paint seeped into the 20D and 70-200 f4 and they had to go in for repairs. Good question about the front element though. Hopefully you'll be able to see the ball flying at you and duck before you get hit.
Might also ask the field to remind players where you'll be and not to shoot at you. Tell them that being as your photographing them there is a good chance if they are the ones shooting you that you'll have a photo OF them shooting you and players will be liable for all damage they cause to equipment.
Now if you could actually get away with chaging them is another thing but atleast then the'll think "oh yea, its a camera, it can take pictures of me"
Knowing what is involved, and how thick the glass of those UV filters is...
I would go to the local photo gear dealer and ask for a surplus old filter. Have a paintballer take a point blank shot at it. I would not be surprised if a direct hit with a paintball will not just shatter the glass, but send shards flying. And the latter has a great chance of damaging the front element of the lens itself. But I'm not sure at all, it might just crack only.
If that's the case you'll have to either take the risk, or stack 2 UV clear filters on top of each other. It shouldn't bring too much vignetting on 1.6x crop.
Ahh paintball... the hobby I gave up to pick up photography.
I wouldn't be surprised if the filter breaks if it took a clean hit. I played a pick up game with Dynasty once and a few shots to the mask cracked my lens (on the mask). Shocked? Yes. Did I think they were shooting hot? Yes.
Sometimes people up their velocity so each time it would vary. Maybe at 250 fps the filter may withstand it, but maybe not at 290. A lot of people wrap their video cameras in neoprene. Saran-wrap might not muffle the impact enough, unless you really DO use a lot. I would put on a few layers of Saran-wrap to make it somewhat "paint-proof", then wrap it once more in neoprene.
Well, talking about real bullet proofing, the plastic should be behind the glass. Glass takes a hit, fractures but can't go anywhere because of the polycarbonate sheet that's glued to the back and stops the bullet. If you hit it from the wrong side, the bullet will first puncture the plastic and then shatter the glass and continues flying.
Along that vein, you're right about saran-wrap and then neoprene: the paint proof layer should sit behind the absorbing layer.
Filter-wise? Get a lousy old scratched second hand uncoated el-cheapo filter, of the right size of course, and test it. It's the only way to be sure you're on the safe side.
Thanks for all of the suggestions. Ariel, now I think that saran won't be up to the job. I have some 1/32" transparent stretchy sheet plastic that I'll use with duct tape instead (it makes a great "cover" over the AF & IS switches on my 70-200IS; no more unexpected flipped switches). I did successfully duck out of the way from a volley coming at me last week, but I'm more worried about shots from The Spanish Inquisition (when you least expect it...). Tim, the pre-game briefing conducted by field staff will let everybody know that I'm shooting with light (not paintballs). The field owner really likes what I did last week, so I'm sure that I'll get good support from the refs on the field as well. Tentacle, good suggestion about shooting a surplus filter - I've got about a dozen in my "to sell" box, but I didn't think of that. I'll get my son to fire a few at it later today or tomorrow (it's Thanksgiving today in Canada). jasonjoo, neoprene is a great idea too. I still have about 1/2 of an old wetsuit out in the shed, maybe I'll use some of it. The course speed limit is 290 fps, so the're coming hot & hard. I'll post the results of the filter shootout in a few days.
Test it 'till it breaks Make sure that the poor to-be-tested-to-destruction filter is properly supported/restrained. It's no use to put it upright without any backing so that it can simply bounce away when hit. After all, it can't bounce away when it's on a lens.
I would have thought you'd need two filters to be sure. I've been hit at a reasonable distance with a paintball in the stomach it knocked the wind out of me and brought me to my knees for a minute and bruised for about 2 weeks. It probably hurt more because it was a bouncer, which isn't likly if it's hitting a hard lens, but even so they're fast and powerful balls so I don't think 1 filter will be enough. If you have two it'd have to break both for paint to get to the actual lens.
have you considered an underwater waterproof bag? i don't think any filter will survive no matter how good it is. i also think that cheaper ones will be worse than good ones, and neither of them will be as good as the lens itself. IOW, you get hit in the front of the lens, your lens is toast.
Isn't underwater camera equipment REALLY expensive? I honestly think that a few layers of saran-wrap, and some neoprene will be sufficient. I have seen many videographers on the field with their cameras wrapped in neoprene. A layer or two should take the impact very well. As for the front element, try Tentacles idea to get an idea of how strong filters are.
I'd try it at 300 FPS and maybe 3-5 consecutive shots to "over-estimate."
If all else fails and you still manage to get a damaged front element, I heard its not TOO expensive to replace. I think I caught this info in a thread regarding Canon's telephoto lenses. Someone was worried that there are no threads on Canon's longer lenses, but some one mentioned that the hood was sufficient but even so, that the front element was easily replaced and not too costly.
You should double check on this info. Maybe a call to Canon might help.
an underwater bag would be under $100. an underwater housing would be strong enough to be able to take a paintball hit. depends on how often Jim does this. more than two trips to Canon to replace a front element and that underwater housing rated to 300m might look cheap.
I do have a waterproof bag made from an Otter "See Bag" with a homemade clamping viewport in the bottom. I use it for sea kayaking with a Tokina AT-X 24-200mm on an Elan 7. The bag works well, I can even hold it underwater to take shots of the near-shore marine life, but I like to keep my dSLRs and L-series lenses away from the salt water. Maybe after I get a 1D-series body next year, I'll use my 20D on the kayak, but not yet. The underwater bag is a good suggestion, but not for this particular application, as I'm using three dSLR bodies and three L-series lenses (see OP); two of which are too big for ewa-marine's biggest enclosure, the UA-Z. Besides, I'm not about to buy three of them. Anyway, I have a plan which involves the thick plastic I mentioned earlier and maybe some neoprene - but first, I have to write up a posting to describe the paintball filter shoot out that my son and I just did. Thanks again to everybody for the comments and ideas.
You'd better watch out...I remember going to my local paintball ranch a few years back (to participate, not photograph) and I remember seeing a few jerks bring out some frozen or partially frozen paint balls to intentionally hurt people. I don't think any sort of filter will help you if one of these flies your way.
It would be extremely difficult to freeze a paintball. Since paintball's are oil-based, it would take a lot more than a regular freezer to "freeze" the paint.
before you shoot you should learn the sport a little bit. learn about firing lanes and soforth. you need to get a feel for where people will be shooting and where they wont.
i wouldnt shoot PB without two filters infront of my 70-200, as well as the hood. but as long as nobody is being a jerk or just shooting anything that moves; if you stay behind bunkers and watch where people are shooting you should be fine
If he's shooting tournaments, I doubt he would have to hide behind bunkers. The most access you could get is probably on the sidelines. If you can have a "caddy" with you, maybe you can have him hold a shield up for you
If they do let you onto the course, what about wearing something to make it very obvious that you're not shooting paintballs, only photos. Something that people will notice in the heat of the moment. Maybe something like a big flag on your head so people know who you are and you don't surprise them by popping up.
Okay.. something less silly than a flag on your head but you get the idea.
I won't be hiding behind bunkers and I plan to stay out of firing lanes. I'll be like a ref but different: refs don't like getting hit and players that do it on purpose often find themselves on the wrong side of the fence. Don't worry about what I'll wear; it'll be the same bright orange stuff that I wear when I'm in the woods during hunting season, similar to paintball but somewhat higher stakes.
I dont think a filter will survive a direct hit. I also dont tink a saran wrap is the answer - how about a plexiglass shield mounted to the tripod mount? Those things hurt like hell - cant be good to hit the camera.
