Sony DSLR A900 at Dakar Rally

However, I have a lot to say about the hits and bumps and Bonecki?s signature handling of the camera. As I previously mentioned, in the fight or, if you prefer, in the heat of photographing, all the statements about photo backpacks, bags or covers are a bit exaggerated. Photo equipment is safe if it is tightly packed and when each and every strap and buckle is locked, which unfortunately makes it impossible to pack and unpack the camera and shoot in the meantime. The subject is gone before we unstrap all the protections. This is why many professionals always have their equipment just dangling on their neck. The camera has no protection and bumps on everything that is around. Matters get even worse in a car. I don?t know a car that has ideal space to transport equipment; generally, there is no room. So, a camera lies there in an open camera bag, often on one of the lenses, flies around between the seats or falls down on the floor when the car brakes or jumps. It is a good solution to immobilize the camera by sitting on it, but in order to do that you need to have certain anatomic facilities.

When the camera struggles with gravity, both the body and the attached lenses must be very resistant to knocks. The situation that we know from old Zenit cameras would be unacceptable ? such as a dial falling off or the insides of the body or a lens suddenly starting to rattle. Similarly, paint is required to withstand a certain amount of abrasion. And the Sony DSLR A900 had to survive in those conditions. And it did. The body got two new scratches, but it continued to work as it should.

Obviously, you can always snuggle your equipment, but I really am not a camera vandal. It?s just in some situations, reality went beyond our plans. Professional equipment should be ready for those conditions and very tough. Regardless of what the manufacturer wrote or didn?t write in the instructions. There are examples when poems are written exalting the protections... and painful practice later on, and the other way around ? this applies to the criticized apparent absence of sealing in Zeiss lenses.
 

Fot.: Jacek Bonecki

Fot.: Jacek Bonecki