Not that I would want to intentionally place my camera in harm's way, but maybe sometimes I'd like to go someplace slightly hazardous, where bumps could occur and maybe there's some debris flying around, like Iraq or my little brother's birthday party. Better safe than sorry, right?
We start off with a cage around the camera (ex. RED cage, link). From there you can put on the secondary cage--the "shock cage." This cage suspends the camera in its center using bungees or straps. You need the inner primary cage so that the tension is equal on all sides of the camera. Additional protection could be added to the secondary cage as necessary, like a debris cover or various protection front and back.-- Eugene, Oct 10 2006 RED cage http://red.com/accessories.htm [Eugene, Oct 10 2006] Mercatroid! That thing must weigh 50lbs. With the secondary cage you're going to be hefting around quite alot of camera. Good for war zones I think but not so much for back-yard use.
I wouldn't mind a shock-proof cage for photographers though! :)-- ionsfromzion, Oct 10 2006 I don't see the need for the inner cage though. An elastic web would probably be sufficent. Then a light plastic outer cage a cm or so away, and you could probably throw that camera like a rugby ball.-- Galbinus_Caeli, Oct 10 2006 Or you could just make the camera so solid that it'll just dent any surface it falls onto while sustaining no damage at all - e.g. the Nikon F3.-- hippo, Oct 10 2006 This reminds me of a CCTV camera that I placed under a car shredder, to monitor for blockages of shredded scrap. The 8 inch cubed box was made from 1 inch steel plate, and the viewing port was 1 inch thick perspex with 1/4 inch sacrificial polycarbonate on the outside. It used to regularly suffer direct hits from pieces of broken crankshaft, and explosions from not-so-empty fuel tanks. But it was firmly anchored to the concrete, so it's not quite what you have in mind...-- Ling, Oct 10 2006 50 pounds? Not if it's aluminum (still can get pretty heavy) or carbon fiber (gets expensive). The inner cage is probably a good thing. I'm talking about a video camera, not a still camera, and the one I have in mind weighs about 8 pounds.-- Eugene, Oct 10 2006 Video? 8lbs? Should have mentioned that in the original idea.-- Galbinus_Caeli, Oct 10 2006 A standard underwater housing should do. Waterproof to several atmospheres also means dust proof, rain proof, bump proof etc. Probably won’t stop an armor piercing round but neither do tanks. A stiff snug housing is better than one with springs for any shocks up to the resistance of the camera itself and if it can’t take what the springs are able to deal with you might think of using another body. Why cameras aren’t rain proof as a standard I’ll never know. A polarizer filter is a standard precaution for lenses. Cheep to replace if scratched or broken.-- cjacks, Oct 10 2006 I'm just paranoid I guess.
[GC]--my bad.-- Eugene, Oct 15 2006 random, halfbakery