I don't seem to suffer from that problem too much. First of
all, every bit of my OM gear is pretty normal stuff. Nothing so
expensive and prestine that I worry about it. Secondly, I bought
the stuff to use. It won't last forever, so I might as well
have it earn it's keep.
That said, I do take certain precautions:
1. In blowing sand, a skylight filter is handy for protecting
the front element, but otherwise you just need to keep exposure
time to a minimum. No matter what you do, the focus will grind
for a couple of years afterwards.
2. Rainstorm. Well, I'm a great fan of those freebie
shower-caps from hotel stays. Go ahead and tripod mount the
camera/lens and pop the cap over it. The elastic band holds it
in place in everything but a typhoon. Lift up the shower-cap
from the lens just long enough to focus and shoot.
3. Umbrellas/raingear. When backpacking/hiking I have a
large-brimmed waterproof field hat. This does a great job of
keeping my head and the camera dry when shooting--only the lens
is getting soaked. If I'm being anal, I'll wipe the water off
before moving on, but that's only if it looks like it'll run
inside the lens. Usually, my hand over the lens is enough to
keep it dry. Besides, thanks to the showercap, it rarely is in
the elements long enough to worry about.
Of the dozen or so times that I've soaked my camera equipment I
let it air out in the sun. Nothing that some natural UV can't
take care of. I've only had two lenses ever develop any kind of
fungus and I sold those.
One time I was doing a commercial shoot on the Lake Michigan
shoreline. The subject was photographing a beach restoration
project for the contractor. I had the OM-1 and my new-to-me
(bought that week) 24/2.8. The OM-1 was mounted on my shiny new
Bogen 3221 tripod. I stepped up on the huge plastic pipe to get
a different vantage point when my feet flew out from under me. I
almost land on my head and the camera/lens/tripod flew a good
distance through the air before impacting the nice soft,
slightly damp beachsand. I did have a filter on the lens (rare
time, but ever so thankful) as the lenscap became forever lost.
The lens' focus ring and aperture ring ground for many years
later. It's pretty silent now, but once in a blue moon a stray
grain of sand will make its presence known. The OM-1 was a
disaster. The film-advance jammed and the rewind crank made an
aweful grinding sound. I eventually freed everything up and got
most of the visible sand cleaned. But occasionally the OM-1
would just not advance. I would <ahem> force my way past it and
it would be good for another 50 rolls, but eventually it jammed
up solid as a rock. Nothing I did would make it budge. Sent it
to John and he had it squeeky clean and purring like a kitten
for about the same price as what I bought the camera for.
Sold it a couple of years later.
Moral of the story: Buy it, use it, sell it.
AG-full disclosure-Schnozz
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