3 April 2007 0:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

How clumsy are you really? Fairly clumsy? Not clumsy at all? Well if you’re the former, then an American company is hoping to offer your DSLR camera some protection with its Camera Armor.

Like the silicon rubber cases for the iPod, Camera Armor is a rubberised case that snuggles over your Digital SLR camera stopping you from scratching or damaging it from the odd knock or bump.

Camera Armor, is available for most main stream cameras including Nikon's D80 and D200 models, as well as Canon's EOS 400D (Rebel XTI in the US) and the higher end EOS 5D.

We tested the Canon 400D variant.

Simple to fit, the package is made of three parts, a plastic LCD shield that protects the screen from impact and abrasion; a rubber mould that fits over your camera, but not the lens, and a rubber lens ring that aims to protect your lens ring but not the rest of it.

The Lens Armor doubles as a sun hood, and can be rolled out of the way for wide angle shot. It even comes with a handy lens cap leash that attaches your lens cap to the Lens Armor with a silicone tab.

In use and Camera Armor does what it sets out to do; protect your camera from the odd knock or bump.

Afraid to drop our camera from any real height we weren't able to test the Armor wearing camera to destruction, but gather from the thickness of the rubber that this isn't designed to protect the camera if you drop it off the side of a mountain.

As for our biggest fear - still being able to use all the buttons - and on the whole the experience is good. With the 400D the back buttons surrounding the LCD where easy to use as before and the only one we had slight difficulty with, was the top dial catching on the rubber.

As for the lens hood, we weren't able to get to grips with this at all, with it either making the lens cover hard to take on or off or catching on the focusing ring - still this isn't the be all and end all of the product.

Verdict

Depending on how clumsy you think you are will determine whether or not you feel you need a product like Camera Armor.

At £40 it will stop your camera picking up scratches and knocks when you put it down.

Some however will find it a hindrance, so if you can get your hands on one before you buy it's probably advisable.

Score

Review Recap

Made by

Kata

Price as reviewed

£40

The good

Easy to fit, plenty of different moulds for DSLR models, protective

The bad

Rubber casing can get in the way, lens cover awkward

Quick verdict

If you're clumsy then this will be for you, but some will find it a hindrance in getting to the controls quickly

Score

• Link - Kata Bags

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