Next week, Rae and I are heading to Black Rock City for Burning Man. Though we’ve had numerous opportunities to go in the past, it’ll be our first time. I’m curious to hear what people’s experiences have been like bringin DSLRs to the event. I’ve read that the dust there is notorious for getting in everywhere. May and Salim were showing us some shoes they wore last year; despite several washings, the shoes still had dust on them.
I will be bringing my 1D, since it is weather sealed. As for lenses, definitely the 70-200. I’m leary of bringing the 28-70, since (1) it’s not weather-sealed and (2) it uses a push-pull method for zooming which will attract hordes of dust.
On a related note, here are the guidelines for photography and videography use at Burning Man.
Finally, if you’ve never heard of Burning Man before and want a glimpse of what to expect, check out Patrick Roddie’s excellent galleries.
Very cool! I’ve wanted to go to that ever since a chick told me about it!
Thanks for the link to Patrick Roddie’s galleries… agreed that they are most excellent, especially the “hips” and “women” ones :)
That would be a rather enjoyable job to have, I think!
The dust is fine and persistent. It gets into _everything_. It got into the A/C ducts of my truck, and every time I fired it up for the next ~year I smelled the playa dust.
I didn’t have my DSLR at the time. Given first-hand experience with the dust, I doubt I would if/when I go again.
Have a great time.