Customer Reviews

MADE Products CA-1115-BLK Camera Armor for Nikon D40 and D40x Digital SLR (Black)

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This product is essentially a rubber body glove to protect cameras from impacts and scrapes. In addition, it comes with a rubber attachment to protect the front of one lens as well as a plastic shield for your LCD. The D40 already comes with a similar protector but if nothing else you can use this one as a spare.

Installation of the armor is a pretty simple affair. You will need to remove your neck strap to put it on and can reattach it when the armor is in place. It requires a bit of tweaking, but once properly arranged, the rubber fit the camera snugly, had no bulges, and was not prone random movement. Many of the controls and buttons are left exposed but certain buttons are covered to improve the structural integrity of the armor. In these cases, the button is articulated into the armor and the label is also molded into the button so you can see what it is. The problem is that the label molded into the armor is black-on-black whereas your camera has white lettering against the black button for far superior ease of reading. Some of the controls are also uncomfortably close to the edge of the rubber so that it is not as easy or comfortable to manipulate them.

In terms of protection, I was disappointed. On the plus side, it should provide very strong protection from scratches. The rubber will also provide very minor protection from impact but you need to be realistic about what it can do. Any real impact against rock or concrete will likely pose just as much chance of fatal damage as a camera would face without the Camera Armor.

The lens protector is a nice idea but is also a decidedly mixed blessing. If you use any filters, it will be very inconvenient to put them on or take them off while the armor is in place. Even adjusting a circular polarizer is difficult. You can take the armor off and put it back on but this is a pretty rigorous process and not something you want to do all the time while trying to shoot. Also, you can forget about using a lens hood. The armor will completely cover the threads that the hood attaches to. Both of these are deal breakers for me as I use a circular polarizer almost constantly and I can't accept anything that makes it difficult for me to use. Lens hoods are equally essential on sunny days. I should add that, like the armor for the camera body, this piece will protect your lens from only the most gentle impact.

Finally, there is one more drawback to this Camera Armor, although it will not affect everyone. The armor extends down to the bottom plate of the camera. If you use a tripod, you will need to check the plate that attaches to the bottom of your camera. If it protrudes beyond the edge of the camera at all, then you probably won't be able to attach it while the Camera Armor is on.

This is a long review, so allow me to summarize. Camera Armor offers superficial protection, primarily against scratches. If this is important to you, then you should definitely consider buying. You must be prepared to sacrifice all filters, ease of use for your camera, lens hoods, and most likely the ability to use a tripod. In my eyes, this is simply an unacceptable level of restrictions to use something that offers so little real protection.

OK, I am not advocating that anyone go out and drop their cameras, but I have dropped the D40, in Camera Armor, onto a concrete floor from waist height, and it survived. Actually, I cringed, and it bounced.

I have also banged it on the table, bumped it into walls, heavy machinery, and stuff it into my bag without any other case when I travel. I guess I am what you call a hard user, and I think that's exactly what camera armor is all about.

I do agree with the other reviewer that there is a potential problem with tripod quick release mounts. I use a Manfrotto base plate, and it was a little tight so I took an exacto knife to the overlapping bumper and removed a little. Fits great now, and my camera is still protected.

As far as the lens armor goes, I use this as a sun hood, and like it, although I occasionally take it off, as it is a little bulky. I have used it with big lenses on other cameras, but with the D40, which is my travel camera, I just use the kit lens. I use a polarizing filter as well, but have never had any problems fitting it.

Over all, I am very satisfied with the product, particularly the protection.

This camera armor protects the camera body and screen well, and I recommend that part. But the Lens protection is useless, here is why:
1) It blocks the light sensor when using flash
2) It doesn't hold well at all on my telephoto 55-200 VR Lens
So therefore I can't use it when using flash using my shorter lens, and it doesn't hold onto the longer lens. I have contacted the company via e-mail and they have confirmed this. If you are just using this to protect the body, go ahead and make the purchase. Also, the lens protector is soft so it is easy for something to bump it and if pushed in enough, it will hit the lens.

The rubber camera armor is fairly easy to put on the camera. It makes the camera look bulky & clumsy but it will work to prevent bumps & damage to the camera. I won't keep it on permanently because it doesn't fit well in my camera bag but if I am going somewhere where I might be more apt to drop or bump the camera I will use it. Overall, it appears to do what it was intended for.

This is a great product. It has saved my camera (Nikon D40) from getting scratched. The only problem was with the cover for the lens. When I took a picture, the lens cover created a shadow in my pictures, so I just don't use the lens cover. Overall I would recommend this product.

One of my cameras was dropped from a height of 3' and that was the end of it. I was passing the camera to my daughter and she did not have a grip on it. Camera armor would have saved that camera. Manufacturers do not honor warranties if there are any scratches on your camera - armor prevents scratches. Even if my camera could have been fixed, I lost the opportunity to take pictures that week, while traveling in a corner of the world without camera stores. Camera armor gives an extra measure of protection from drops, as well as rain and sand. It may not be perfect, but it is worth the money if it saves you from replacing your camera, or it allows you to take pictures when your camera might otherwise have been trashed.

I bought this one for my 15 year old photographer. She brings her camera everywhere, but just in her purse, not in the case (as I wish she did). While the camera is rarely in a case, it is always in the armor. It is protected from knocks and bumps. She is less likely to drop the camera as the silicone armor is easy to grip.

Worth the money for a $400 camera.

i wanted something that would A. protect my cherished D40 and B. add a bit of size to it since it is the smallest in nikons lineup.
this product does just that. as mentioned in other reviews, it does take some pushing and pulling and stretching to get this sheath of rubber on your camera properly, but once it's there, it stays there. the plastic LCD protector is a nice addition since we dont have the snap on option like many of the other cams in the nikon family.
2 of the buttons that i felt were way to hard to get to with this thing on were the top buttons next to the shutter button. (one is the info and one is the aperature/exp comp button). i was able to remedy this with a nice sharp new x-acto blade, and simply trimmed the rubber from that area...while i was at it, i opened up the area around the power switch too.
to echo others reviews...the lens protector thing is USELESS...not only is it huge and clunky...it makes manual focus harder, and totally blocks the light emitted for AF assitance...now THAT is just plain stupid.
as an external flash user, i don't find that the hot shoe cover hinders any use of flash...you just have to pull it back and slide the flash in. no biggie. (use your flash off cam and it wont be an issue ;) )
i also have a grip on my D40, and i actually like the way the rubber extends past the bottom of the body. there's about a half inch of rubber that makes it around my grip, so that's cool.
as far as tripod use...i dont think the armor affects it at all...even without the grip. ive used tripods with standard quick release plates and it was just fine. then i moved to a Slik tripod that uses the cylindrical quick release and it;s also fine.
the buttons on the back seem to line up well, making navigating thru menus easy.

good product! im sure it's saved my camera from dings and scratches.

This is a hinder to you using your camera. Hard to attach a tripod to camera with the rubber flopping into the underneath of the camera. Fits like a glove - a baseball glove. The Rubber on the back covers all the buttons and makes all the buttons sloppy to push. Each change of the menu was an ordeal and a lesson in anger management. I ended up going underneath the rubber to get access to the controls.
Nice try, but don't bother. I cut mine off with a razor so I would not be tempted to use it again.

Just got a D40x with the big-boy Nikkor 18-200mm VR AF-S. Since it's all brand new, I ordered up this Camera Armor and slapped it on. It does come out to a tight fit and takes about 5 minutes to wrangle it on. The camera is now easier to grip with the rubber, and also I feel more secure setting it down and not worrying about scratches. All the controls seem to be accessible. The clear plastic shield over the rear LCD screen fits perfectly and I haven't noticed any significant detriment in picture quality (although I haven't checked out the screen performance in the sunlight...glare might be increased). The lens hood armor works with my UV filter and lens cap ... but it's impossible to change the filter without removing the lens hood armor. Also, the original lens hood that came with the lens doesn't work with the rubber one...not that it should.

Finally, some people were complaining that the armor just makes the D40/D40x too bulky. Since the D40 is small to begin with, I actually prefer the more rugged look that the armor gives it. However, I doubt this would save the camera or lens from a waist high fall.

I really enjoy this product, and am glad for the protection it lends to my camera. I especially like the plastic protection over the screen and the viewfinder. The rubber went on easily, and can be easily removed.

My only two concerns are that first, if you're not acquainted with your camera when you put the product on, it can be hard to figure out where the buttons are, how they're labeled, and what they do. Secondly, the protective ring around the lens gets in the way of the flash and causes an ominous dark shadow at the bottom of some pictures.