Customer Reviews

MADE Products CA-1112-BLK Camera Armor for Canon XTi/400D Digital SLR (Black)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love my Canon Rebel XTi, especially its performance:price ratio, or bang-for-the-buck. You can spend lots more money on a Canon digital SLR, but additional improvements in overall image quality tail off rapidly for most non-professional photographers. This camera packs some serious imaging firepower.

One of the places Canon engineers are suspected to have cut costs for the Rebel XTi, though, is in durability-- especially in susceptibility to physical damage. Digital SLRs are delicate beasts in any event, but the entry level models are thought to be a bit more prone than higher-end Canon SLRs to damage from a 6-inch plus drop to a hard surface, or a sharp bump from a camera swinging on its strap and tagging a concrete wall, or exposure to liquids including light rain. These incidents can easily toast a digital camera, and contrary to what many first-time victims expect, physical damage to a camera due to accident or water is expressly excluded from camera warranties.

Some people who know the risks prefer to live out on the edge, anyway: ride bareback, and jam their iPod in pocket or purse or run carrying it with no case, or wave the Wii controller around without the strap, and if it dies in an accident or a display gets badly scratched, they may whine about poor workmanship and warranty coverage, but just buy another. Other folks readily admit their klutziness and worry that their camera will die at the start of a trip or whenever it is needed most and when a repair represents many lost photos, and start wondering how to better protect it.

For butterfingered where's-the-seat-belt types-- like me!-- Camera Armor is just what the doctor ordered. It gives the Rebel XTi a small extra measure of protection against the countless slings and arrows of photographer misfortune and normal wear and tear.

This particular model has a medium-gauge rubber-like skin designed to fit the XTi like a scuba suit. It seals most camera openings against water and dirt while still allowing full use of all camera functions. Even with Camera Armor in place, you can still swap out the battery, memory card or lens without additional hassle. Though solid skin covers all of the camera buttons, the suit is made with molded rubber buttons so it is still a snap to feel and operate them. Camera Armor comes with a rubberized lens protector for a typical mid-size kit lens as well-- some people like the lens protector, and some people don't-- but its use is completely optional. (It does attract dust, so I normally leave it off.) Camera Armor also includes a clear plastic shield held in place by the skin that covers an otherwise scratch-prone LCD display. The shield does not significantly reduce visibility of the LCD display. The skin does not cover the two dials or power switch on top, so they remain very easy to use but potential entry points for water into the case.

Would a Camera Armor equipped XTi survive a tripod fall, a drop in a swimming pool or a downpour of rain? With luck, it might help a bit in some relatively minor accidents or brief exposure to some water, but at best, one is only reducing risk, not removing it. A very hard camera drop can still break any digital camera, especially an entry-level SLR, with or without Camera Armor. The rubberized skin does not waterproof the camera, and XTis are not designed to survive getting even a little wet. But against everyday minor wear and tear and the random sprinkles of life, and truly minor bumps which would break some XTis, the Camera Armor surely helps.

I hit up against two "gotchas". First, depending on your gear, you may have some issues mounting a Camera Armored XTi to a tripod. The thickness of the rubberized skin that wraps just over the bottom edge of the camera leaves the screw mount easily accessible, but standard tripod screws are not long enough for the additional distance required, if a quick-release plate has to extend over two edges of the rubberized skin. Stretching the skin around the plate, or getting a longer screw to mount the plate to the camera body, or carefully trimming the skin so a plate fits flush with the standard screw but still firmly grips the bottom of the camera, or removing Camera Armor for tripod use are all potential workarounds, if a bit inconvenient or unsightly.

Second, the plastic shield on some early release XTi Camera Armors partially interfered with the operation of the sensor which controls the automatic LCD display. As suggested on the manufacturer's website, I emailed them describing the way the sensor didn't work correctly, and they immediately mailed out free of charge a redesigned shield that restored full functioning of the LCD viewfinder with an apology for the inconvenience. (Great customer service that can no longer be taken for granted for a product in this price range!) Current shipments of the XTi Camera Armor come with the redesigned shield, so you would only need to replace yours if you happened to get the original model, as I did. (The problematic shield has a clear plastic window that covers the small sensor just below the viewfinder. On the redesigned shield, this sensor is left uncovered.)

There are three other minor issues, which I can live with, but you may want to consider. First, the marginal added value of the protection of Camera Armor is a close call for me in terms of its cost, and this along with the tripod issue is probably the main reason I award Camera Armor only four stars instead of five. The price seems fair to me in terms of engineering design and execution, as this is a very well-made accessory, but one way of looking at a Camera Armor purchase is that as with most insurance products, you're buying some protection against gambling loss. Most people lose buying insurance, while only a few come out way ahead. (And to be clear, the Camera Armor manufacturer does not warrant against physical damage to your camera.) On the other hand, even if you never bumped your XTi or never got it wet enough to have damaged it only without the added protection, a camera will have fewer scratches if Camera Armor is used a lot, so this product could pay for itself in enhanced camera value if the XTi is traded in or resold in two or three years.

Second, XTi buttons are labeled with small, raised rubber lettering or symbols on Camera Armor, but the labels are the same color as the rest of Camera Armor, making it a bit difficult to see which function is where in dim light. You can apply liquid whiteout to the labels to make them easier to read, and many frequent camera users wouldn't be bothered by this because they know what buttons control what functions by feel alone.

Finally, Camera Armor is a little difficult to install, even after temporarily removing the lens and strap. Some patience and hand strength is needed to stretch the skin so it precisely fits the XTi body. After an initial installation that took me several minutes while I feared that it might not go on or that I'd tear the skin, the skin is now much easier to remove and reinstall, if necessary. If it wasn't at least a little hard to install, it wouldn't fit the camera tightly and protect it as much as possible, so I now consider this a feature and not a bug.

Would I buy it again, or recommend it to a friend? Yes, definitely.

The premise for this is great -a way to protect your camera from dings and scratches, at a reasonable cost. But for me,the drawbacks were too many for me to give it more than two stars.

This particular kind of rubber is a dust magnet, and I work in an extremely dusty place, Afghanistan. I was constantly having to wipe it off, not a flaw in the Camera Armor itself, as much as a flaw of the composition and static charge of the "skin."

This, however, was what made it give it two stars - it is NOT compatable with a battery grip or an eyepiece extender, two very common accessories for this camera. I tried to make it fit by trimming the bottom to eliminate some of the "extra" rubber on the bottom that was preventing the grip from fully mating to the camera body, and I wound up cutting too much.

The plastic lens protector holds on to the camera by fitting around the camera's original eyepiece thingy, and the eyepiece extender will not fit on the camera if the Camera Armor is on, and the Camera Armor will not fit the back of the camera if the eyepiece extender is in place. So it's a no win deal.

For $40, they should make it compatible with at least these two Canon accessories, or, at a minimum, provide scored guidelines for trimming to make the battery grip fit.

Bottom line - it's a decent, useful product if you don't live in an extremely dusty environment, and you are not using these two accessories. If you are, save your money until they come out with a revision to the design, or find some kind of protection if you can find it (I haven't, so far.)

One last thing - the "lens protector" is made of the same material as the skin, and you can deform it simply by touching it, not permananently, it's just that it is soft silicone. Totally useles, especially compared to a hard plastic or metal hood lens. I don't think it will protect the lens from anything, it certainly won't against dropping it. Plus, it simply looks (and is) extremely oversized, and borders on ridiculous.

I put this on my XTi before travelling and was very happy to have the extra protection as my young nephew grabbed and dropped it one morning. No damage - and it might not have hurt the camera anyway but probably would have left a scratch or ding. I really like the clear protective screen for the LCD - it is an excellent fit (must be the newer version)and now has a couple of slight scratches on it which are NOT on the original--just why I bought this. It was a little tight to put on originally but a bit of patience and it fits well. I did carefully cut a tiny bit of the rubber around the opening for the CF card as it always was slightly in the way when I needed to remove the card. I will also be removing a bit more rubber to put on a tripod; however, overall this case does exactly what it is supposed to and looks good too. I am buying another for my 30D with no reservations. I say the money is well worth keeping your XTi looking new and free from scratches and dings!

My main gripe about this item is that the supplied lens hood is useless; to put it on you have to pull on the lens with enough force to cause significant damage; throw the lens hood away immediately. My second gripe is the fit over the plastic LCD screen protector on the kit I purchased was bad, leaving some of the opaque parts of it exposed. Third is the lcd screen protector is made from soft plastic that scratches easily with no way I know of replacing it with an identical one short of buying an entirely new armor kit.

Other than that there were no problems I could not clear up; as supplied the rubber attracted a lot of dust and hairs but I corrected this by spraying it with a can of automotive interior sealant. The tripod adapter I bought for the camera didn't fit with the camera armor installed but this was quickly corrected by carefully trimming the rubber with a razor knife.

In addition to providing protection from all manner of scratches, dings and gouges the camera armor provides enough rubber gripping surface to prevent the small camera from slipping easily out of the photographer's hands in the first place. If you know how to hold a sharp knife or spray can I highly recommend this item and if the fit around the screen protector was better and it came with extra protectors instead of the ridiculous lens hood I would give it five stars.

It hugs the camera like a jacket to give it that one more level of protection. I can get the lens off and one without issue, the buttons are fairly easy to read and the screen prevents the LCD from getting scratched up. I'm hard on my camera and this is good to keep up.

I love my Canon Rebel XTi, especially its performance:price ratio, or bang-for-the-buck. You can spend lots more money on a Canon digital SLR, but additional improvements in overall image quality tail off rapidly for most non-professional photographers. This camera packs some serious imaging firepower.

One of the places Canon engineers are suspected to have cut costs for the Rebel XTi, though, is in durability-- especially in susceptibility to physical damage. Digital SLRs are delicate beasts in any event, but the entry level models are thought to be a bit more prone than higher-end Canon SLRs to damage from a 6-inch plus drop to a hard surface, or a sharp bump from a camera swinging on its strap and tagging a concrete wall, or exposure to liquids including light rain. These incidents can easily toast a digital camera, and contrary to what many first-time victims expect, physical damage to a camera due to accident or water is expressly excluded from camera warranties.

Some people who know the risks prefer to live out on the edge, anyway: ride bareback, and jam their iPod in pocket or purse or run carrying it with no case, or wave the Wii controller around without the strap, and if it dies in an accident or a display gets badly scratched, they may whine about poor workmanship and warranty coverage, but just buy another. Other folks readily admit their klutziness and worry that their camera will die at the start of a trip or whenever it is needed most and when a repair represents many lost photos, and start wondering how to better protect it.

For butterfingered where's-the-seat-belt types-- like me!-- Camera Armor is just what the doctor ordered. It gives the Rebel XTi a small extra measure of protection against the countless slings and arrows of photographer misfortune and normal wear and tear.

This particular model has a medium-gauge rubber-like skin designed to fit the XTi like a scuba suit. It seals most camera openings against water and dirt while still allowing full use of all camera functions. Even with Camera Armor in place, you can still swap out the battery, memory card or lens without additional hassle. Though solid skin covers all of the camera buttons, the suit is made with molded rubber buttons so it is still a snap to feel and operate them. Camera Armor comes with a rubberized lens protector for a typical mid-size kit lens as well-- some people like the lens protector, and some people don't-- but its use is completely optional. (It does attract dust, so I normally leave it off.) Camera Armor also includes a clear plastic shield held in place by the skin that covers an otherwise scratch-prone LCD display. The shield does not significantly reduce visibility of the LCD display. The skin does not cover the two dials or power switch on top, so they remain very easy to use but potential entry points for water into the case.

Would a Camera Armor equipped XTi survive a tripod fall, a drop in a swimming pool or a downpour of rain? With luck, it might help a bit in some relatively minor accidents or brief exposure to some water, but at best, one is only reducing risk, not removing it. A very hard camera drop can still break any digital camera, especially an entry-level SLR, with or without Camera Armor. The rubberized skin does not waterproof the camera, and XTis are not designed to survive getting even a little wet. But against everyday minor wear and tear and the random sprinkles of life, and truly minor bumps which would break some XTis, the Camera Armor surely helps.

I hit up against two "gotchas". First, depending on your gear, you may have some issues mounting a Camera Armored XTi to a tripod. The thickness of the rubberized skin that wraps just over the bottom edge of the camera leaves the screw mount easily accessible, but standard tripod screws are not long enough for the additional distance required, if a quick-release plate has to extend over two edges of the rubberized skin. Stretching the skin around the plate, or getting a longer screw to mount the plate to the camera body, or carefully trimming the skin so a plate fits flush with the standard screw but still firmly grips the bottom of the camera, or removing Camera Armor for tripod use are all potential workarounds, if a bit inconvenient or unsightly.

Second, the plastic shield on some early release XTi Camera Armors partially interfered with the operation of the sensor which controls the automatic LCD display. As suggested on the manufacturer's website, I emailed them describing the way the sensor didn't work correctly, and they immediately mailed out free of charge a redesigned shield that restored full functioning of the LCD viewfinder with an apology for the inconvenience. (Great customer service that can no longer be taken for granted for a product in this price range!) Current shipments of the XTi Camera Armor come with the redesigned shield, so you would only need to replace yours if you happened to get the original model, as I did. (The problematic shield has a clear plastic window that covers the small sensor just below the viewfinder. On the redesigned shield, this sensor is left uncovered.)

There are three other minor issues, which I can live with, but you may want to consider. First, the marginal added value of the protection of Camera Armor is a close call for me in terms of its cost, and this along with the tripod issue is probably the main reason I award Camera Armor only four stars instead of five. The price seems fair to me in terms of engineering design and execution, as this is a very well-made accessory, but one way of looking at a Camera Armor purchase is that as with most insurance products, you're buying some protection against gambling loss. Most people lose buying insurance, while only a few come out way ahead. (And to be clear, the Camera Armor manufacturer does not warrant against physical damage to your camera.) On the other hand, even if you never bumped your XTi or never got it wet enough to have damaged it only without the added protection, a camera will have fewer scratches if Camera Armor is used a lot, so this product could pay for itself in enhanced camera value if the XTi is traded in or resold in two or three years.

Second, XTi buttons are labeled with small, raised rubber lettering or symbols on Camera Armor, but the labels are the same color as the rest of Camera Armor, making it a bit difficult to see which function is where in dim light. You can apply liquid whiteout to the labels to make them easier to read, and many frequent camera users wouldn't be bothered by this because they know what buttons control what functions by feel alone.

Finally, Camera Armor is a little difficult to install, even after temporarily removing the lens and strap. Some patience and hand strength is needed to stretch the skin so it precisely fits the XTi body. After an initial installation that took me several minutes while I feared that it might not go on or that I'd tear the skin, the skin is now much easier to remove and reinstall, if necessary. If it wasn't at least a little hard to install, it wouldn't fit the camera tightly and protect it as much as possible, so I now consider this a feature and not a bug.

Would I buy it again, or recommend it to a friend? Yes, definitely.

I bought this product when I needed a protective holster for my camera.
What I like about it is how it fits the camera nicely and I can still access all the buttons very easily. It became part of the camera. But if you're changing lenses back and forth, it takes a while to lock the lenses in position as the base gets caught in the rubber. I heard that people usually get the hang of it eventually. I'm hoping so too...
The most annoying thing with this armor is the lens protector. It's pain in the neck to get it in the correct spot. If you don't put it on the right spot your lens won't rotate! It moves out of position easily too, so I basically gave up on this part and I'm not using it. I didn't hear anybody else complain about this, so maybe it's just me...

I purchased quite awhile ago and have had several opportunities to "test" now. It is not attractive, makes the use of the camera a bit trying at times just because of the rubber texture. But I do quite a bit of sailing, and the general "salty" conditions will be the ruin of pretty much anything that is not protected, so I bought the Armor for my Canon Rebel XTi. The rubber "armor" seals off the camera casing from the elements and also guards against occasional sea spray. I simply do not chance taking the Canon sailing without it.

The lens hood attachment however is too much a bother. The rubber catches/picks up lint and fibers from everything, which of course end up on the lens.

Outstanding protective skin for the camera, and LCD protection for the back; I shoot almost exclusively on rough terrain trails at 4x4 events, and the camera is exposed to dust, dirt, and occassional drops or bumps - the armor is exceellent. Easy to install and remove for cleaning purposes, with the only hassle being that you have to remove the strap first.

As others have stated, the lens armor is ridiculous and useless - it gets in the way, attracts dust, and doesn't offer any significant protection -- get a regular hood and throw that rubber thing away.

I bought this product because often times, I have my camera around my neck and 1-2 kids in my arms. I can't tell you how many time I ding my camera into a table or a wall... Even though this does not damage my camera, it leave scratches... This product is perfect for me. the only complaint that I have is the back LCD cover doesn't fit as well as I think it should. Other wise, I recommend it for everyone.