Gives Me a Sense of Security and a Better Grip

Author's Rating:

Pros: Offers LIGHT rain protection, makes camera grippier feeling, easy to use controls through rubber

Cons: Lens cap is too fiddly, rubber attracts dust, changing lens and using controls takes practice

The Bottom Line: 
Great for people who are a bit hard on their cameras, probably overkill for people who baby their equipment

Author's Review
I tend to be hard on photography equipment.

I do have a camera bag, but I hate carrying a camera bag and a purse or backpack, so I tend to just throw the camera in my bag. Also, I use my Nikon D80 every single day and would feel self-conscious carrying it in a camera bag everywhere.

I do keep filters over my lenses to help protect them, and I have an LCD cover on my screen. I keep lens caps on...but often I find them in the bottom of my backpack.

After the zipper on my backpack opened on two separate occasions--causing my camera to fall onto concrete and to tumble down stairs--I decided to get CAMERA ARMOUR to help protect the body a bit more.

I have been using CAMERA ARMOUR about 9 months now. I generally just throw my camera in my bag, which often has pointing things in it (knitting needles) and which gets thrown around quite a bit. (I should make it clear that CAMERA ARMOUR's website makes it clear that this is NOT to be used as a replacement for a regular camera bag.)

INCLUDED IN THE BOX
CAMERA ARMOUR includes:

Body Armor, the skin that stretches over your camera. I use this.

An LCD Shield to go over the LCD screen to prevent cracking. Since my camera purchase included one already attached to my camera, I haven't used this yet. It looks like the one I got with my camera though. I don't expect it's anything too special.

Lens Armor, a stretchy rubber lens hood. I don't use this.

Lens Cap Leash, an elastic leash that attaches to your Lens Armor hood and lens cap. I don't use this.

CAMERA ARMOUR

I really like the main CAMERA ARMOUR piece. It took a little bit of fiddling to fit over my camera, but once it was on, it was on.

Good: The rubber piece makes the camera feel a bit larger, but also grippier. I feel like I can easily carry the camera with wet hands and not worry about it slipping or dropping. After some practice, pushing the buttons through the rubber is no problem. Rubber stays in place and I don't need to readjust it. Tripod mount still easily fits on camera. Reaching panels for USB cords/remotes/etc is easy. This is NOT waterproofing, but I do feel better when a bit of rain falls onto the camera. Brand of camera shows but model is hidden (I like this, others may not).

Bad: The rubber tends to attract dust and pet hair. (To be fair, I was worried about this dust getting into the camera when I changed lenses, but it tends to stick TO the rubber. After about a month of use, the rubber seemed to be at it's natural level of dirtiness and I don't notice the dust any longer.) Changing a lens can be a bit of a pain; I notice that the lens doesn't always click into place well because the rubber is in the way. The top of the rubber doesn't stay into the flash hotshoe mount very well. It tends to flap around.

LENS ARMOR AND LENS CAP LEASH

I do not use these. I don't use a lens hood normally, but when I wanted one to prevent some flare, I tried using this.

I tried using the LENS ARMOUR (a lens hood) but found it very, very difficult to get onto my lens (67mm filter size) even though it's supposed to fit. I couldn't zoom correctly, no matter how I adjusted the lens hood. I also tried putting it on another lens (filter 52 mm) but found the lens hood to be too loose and floppy. Someone else might find this useful, but I don't.

As for the LEASH, I find a lens cap flapping around to be rather annoying. I don't lose lenses, so I wouldn't normally use a leash. Further, the lens cap leash uses an adhesive to stick to the lens cap and the lens hood. I have three lenses, so I wouldn't know which one to use the leash on. Again, someone else might find this useful.

I don't like that I paid for the extra accessories, but if/when I need them, at least they'll be around.