We had a very successful shoot last week and I am delighted to report no breakdowns or damage, whatsoever! Here is the summery of the conditions and camera protection. The documentary programme, for BBC A&N etc, explored the means by which the Vikings navigated from Denmark, across the North Sea, to the Shetland Islands and beyond. A sound recordist, director, assistant and myself were onboard a replica 57 ft Viking cargo sailing boat. This is an open boat. ie no hold save for a small galley. The journey took 3 days. Accompanying us was a safety boat. We installed a stabilized camera on the safety boat with an operator and assistant. The results from this camera were staggering. We encountered seas that made the safety boat roll up to 60 degrees, each way, yet in shot the horizon was always level. How about a perfect sunrise, Viking boat in foreground on the high seas with a 800mm. Wow. Because we were mostly filming with the vessels side by side, it was the tilt mechanism of the camera that was correcting the rolling motion of the boat. The pitching motion of the boat was being corrected by the roll mechanism of the stabilizer. However, had we been shooting from directly in front or from behind the Viking boat, the roll correction mechanism of the camera, which is limited to 30 degrees of correction each way, would have struggled to correct the extreme rolling motion of the safety boat. Faced with having to protect the camera on the Viking boat for 3 days and nights from salt water, sea breeze as well as torrential rain was a tall order. Splash bags kept being suggested as the way to go but having used them before, I knew that I could not operate the camera quickly enough to capture worthwhile lip synch from the sailing crew. I wanted full control of the camera so I came up with a solution that I figure anybody can use, for any camera, in any dirty, dusty or wet environment. Its simple, its cheap, its easy to apply and remove, it leaves no residue, it's heat resistant, it's waterproof it's readily available - it's electricians tape. After months of research into specialist camera housings, specialist tapes and plastics we discovered that 4 inch wide rolls of high grade, PVC electricians tape, wrapped around the camera made it splashproof, virtually air tight and didn't drastically change the feel or shape of the camera. Switches can be accommodated by making little holes in the tape and covering them with loosely folded clear plastic. Because the tape is thin it is possible to read led displays through it! It is possible to remove parts of the camera, say a shoulder pad, cover the camera and then screw the shoulder pad back on through the tape. We had a test day on the boat and the final version of the system (Mark 4) worked for the entire journey without need of maintenance. We used amalgamation tape to seal cables to connectors. Protecting the lens was achieved by putting it in a lightweight plastic bag that was sealed to the camera and the lens hood. A UV filter was screwed into the lens hood, with a dab of silicon grease to ensure a waterproof seal. The bag was loose enough to allow focus and iris operation. A small bag of silica gel was placed inside the bag to absorb moisture. Lens cleaning was achieved by occasionally spraying with distilled water and wiping with ordinary lens cleaning tissue. This was a pain but in the course of the shoot I can remember only a couple of shots that had any drops on the lens. We installed a G clamp bowl near the helm. The head was protected by a heavy duty plastic bag. We screwed the wedge plate on the inside of the bag and the baseplate on the outside. The baseplate was the only unprotected (other than for a coating of silicon spray) item of kit. The camera could quickly be placed on the head when the weather was rough or when we were not shooting to keep it off the wet deck. We also shot from this fixed position regularly to emphasize the motion of the boat. We hoped to wear lightweight sports helmets (£19.99 from water sports or snowboarding shops) in case we fell over but they offered little protection from the cold. As a last resort we took on board a pelican case large enough to take the camera and audio mixer in an emergency. We lined it with nappies (diapers, for the American fraternity) to absorb any splashes that could sneak in whilst putting the camera in the case. The camera was splashed half a dozen times or so by the equivalent of a large bucket of water. It was rained upon for hours on end. The camera did not have to endure being submerged at 25 knots as on a racing yacht (our top speed was 14 knots and we averaged 6 knots) but the tape method of protecting equipment is ideal for most other hostile environments in which we occasionally find ourselves. From now on my kit will always have a 4 inch wide roll of white electricians tape. When asked by the local media what the most dangerous part of the trip was, the Viking skipper said "being driven around the island by the BBC director"! Thanks for all your advice and yes we did get seasick:) Mike Brennan

Update

The tape came from Adhesive Specialties Ltd a British manufacturer. Their sales arm is called Tiki Tape, (tel 441816909922). They supply and make gaffer, silver foil and other specialist tapes. We tested the tape, (type PVC electrical BS3924, 100mx33m in white or black) before we left by sticking it on various items of grip equipment and leaving it in the English summer sun for a few days. Those in hotter countries should test it accordingly. There was absolutely no gunk and virtually no residue. I know that there must be some residue but we can't detect it. My camera assistant simply peeled it off the camera - that's it! We applied the tape by overlapping it so no water could travel down the creases. It didn't peel at the edges like I thought it would when it was exposed to water. The camera did not look pretty! I put half of a porta brace cover over the top of the camera, more to hide the thing than for any added protection. We wrapped the whole viewfinder assembly in 4 inch wide, white yachting amalgamation tape which is rubbery. It formed a neat seal over the articulated joint of the viewfinder. I applied silicone grease to the join between eyepiece and viewfinder, then enclosed the viewfinder and the top part of the camera with a modified Portabrace cover, which left an unobstructed lens. When we finished the 3 days at sea I left the camera taped up as it offered such a effective protection from the salty atmosphere. We shot scenes of the boat in the Shetlands for another 6 days. I removed the lens protection as I needed to use prime lenses, but the tape stayed put. It took us a few days to figure out how to best apply the tape, then we had a test day on board the boat, followed by a short journey with a break before the journey proper began. So we had plenty of time to develop the gusseted arrangement for the switches. I would allow 3 hours of playing around time to experiment with the holes for switches, removing the shoulder pad and wedge plate of the camera. The question as to whether blocking the few ventilation holes damages the camera, should best be left answered by Sony. However, I have covered these holes before in a very very hot and smoke filled environment, for a 3 week shoot, without adverse affect on the camera, which I owned, and continued to use for 18 months after. It was this experience that gave me the confidence to tape everything up on this shoot. I had one minor problem with condensation when I got the lens too close to a steaming pot onboard the boat. The steam traveled through the gap between the UV filter and its ring. I had sealed the thread of the ring with silicone grease when screwing it to the lens hood. I was reluctant to use silicone grease on the inner edges of the UV filter as I k

Note we also used a Ultramedia II stabilised camera on a saftey boat.

Copyright Michael Brennan