Do-It-Yourself Rigid Camera Rain Cover

I often find myself photographing in the rain, snow, or near waterfalls and while I have sealed fabric rain covers for all of my gear, there are times when I'd rather have an umbrella-like cover that makes using the camera and lens controls easier (or even possible). After many years of not finding exactly what I was looking for, a simple idea came together. Cut a piece of 1/8" thick clear acrylic (Plexiglass) to the desired size and glue it to a Vello Cold Shoe Extension.

The acrylic sheet is the rain/snow shield. I selected a single 12x12" sheet of plexiglass and cut it to 8"x12" for version I of this accessory. The plexiglass can be cut to any size and shape that makes sense for your setup and, if needed, instructions for doing so are easy to find. Smooth any sharp edges remaining.

The acrylic sheet gets glued to the top edge of the cold shoe with the cold shoe mounting to the camera's hot shoe, holding the cover over the lens and providing adjustability for the acrylic shield. The length of the selected cold shoe extension supports the acrylic sheet and provides a range of adjustability. The 6" length seems optimal for the wide-angle through short telephoto lenses I intend to use with this cover.

After being impatient and breaking my glue seal before it was fully set, my acrylic sheet became a bit glue smeared (and I opted to add a rivet to the end of the cold shoe to enhance the durability). Note that any pressure applied to this mounted setup will be directly transferred to the camera's hot shoe, potentially damaging it. Of course, the same applies to a flash or other accessory mounted to the hot shoe.

While I initially made one cover, it may be logical to have multiple sizes for various camera combinations.

I find the transparency of the acrylic sheet helpful for seeing the settings and controls, but if transparency is not helpful to you, a colored cover can be selected. The cover can also be decorated to taste. Your creativity will be the limiting factor.

Being flat, the acrylic shield part of this accessory may fit in your camera bag's laptop compartment for easy carrying (use discernment).

The illustrated cover weighs 9.3 oz (263.3g).

You are going to like the price of this cover. The acrylic sheet is just over $10 and the cold shoe is just under $20. Add a few dollars for glue (if you do not already have it) and you have a very inexpensive rigid camera cover.

I'm interested in hearing ideas for improving this camera cover design. Feel free to send them my way!