Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)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.
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MADE Products CA-1115-BLK Camera Armor for Nikon D40 and D40x Digital SLR (Black)CAMERA ARMOR BLACK D40/D40X SLR
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