A skin wrap or armour for your camera

Saturday 27 December 2025, 17:34 by Nando Harmsen | 2,032 views | 10 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

The camera you buy is almost always black. Or you get a partly or fully silver-coloured one. Sometimes you have a few fashionable colours to choose from. You can also choose a skin wrap or armour. What do you think of them?

In the past, a camera consisted of silver-coloured metal, with a felt or rubber jacket for grip. Later, fully black cameras appeared. I can only guess at the reason, but perhaps the unobtrusive aspect played a role.

Now some cameras are not just functional, but fashionable too. You can walk around with the conspicuous red Leica dot, or choose a camera in a fashionable colour. If they are available.

The Nikon Zfc is available in fashionable colours. Which colour would you choose?
Not all cameras come in different colours. Most are simply black, with an occasional partly or fully silver-coloured model. Do you still want a bit of colour, or even a pattern? Then you can choose a skin wrap.

A skin wrap is a jacket for your camera. Usually made from a type of shrink film that is tightened around the camera with a hairdryer. This makes the camera unobtrusive, or very conspicuous indeed. The camera becomes a fashion object.

Proskins.com is one of the suppliers of skin wraps.
Sometimes it looks quite nice. At least, if you like the skin. It changes the camera from a boring black (or half-silver) box into a colourful or stylish little thing. However, it rarely serves any purpose other than cosmetic.

It is sometimes said that a skin wrap helps protect the camera against scratches. I doubt that, but then I have no experience with skins. What does help, or might help, is a camera armour.

An armour for your camera. If you handle your camera roughly, it will probably help.
A camera armour is a thick rubber jacket that goes around the camera. This means that if the camera bumps into something, everything inside is protected within reasonable limits. It does make the camera look rather bulky.

Personally, I think a camera armour is over the top. It is a bit like wrapping your car in bubble wrap so it does not get a single scratch. A skin wrap, on the other hand, can be fun, provided you want your camera to stand out.

I will not be using either, but perhaps you find it interesting. Would you choose a camera armour or a skin wrap, and why? Or is it nonsense? Let us know in a comment.

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About the author

Nando Harmsen has been photographing for more than 40 years. He specialises in wedding photography and landscape photography. Nando also gives talks, workshops, masterclasses and photo trips, and regularly reviews new and interesting equipment.

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10 comments

Peter Heins wrote on Sunday 28 December 2025 at 11:20 | reply
I nowadays have a rubber cover around my camera. That definitely protects it, costs only about 15 euros and certainly provides a better grip. And in the long run you don't get those whitish stains around the grip. And if you want to sell your camera, it still looks like new, no scratches or damage on the corners.
Translated from Dutch.

Nando wrote on Monday 29 December 2025 at 18:18 | reply
How do you get white spots around the handgrip? I've never had that problem in my 45 years of photography, with any camera.
Does anyone else have that problem?
Translated from Dutch.

Judith wrote on Tuesday 30 December 2025 at 12:05 | reply
White spots could be caused by the use of DEET, which can affect certain types of plastic, among other things.
Translated from Dutch.

Gerard Schippers wrote on Tuesday 30 December 2025 at 12:24 | reply
Maybe if you have sweaty hands?
The salt remains and forms a white deposit.
Cleaning it regularly with demineralized water helps prevent it from soaking in too deeply!
Translated from Dutch.

Donald Willemsen wrote on Tuesday 30 December 2025 at 14:07 | reply
Honestly, I think the covers discussed are pointless. What I do find useful are the camouflage covers around a white telephoto lens, for example. Especially for wildlife and bird photography. Those white 'horns' really stand out in nature.
Translated from Dutch.

ifiamminghi wrote on Tuesday 30 December 2025 at 18:41 | reply
(@Donald) Those covers may indeed protect somewhat against scratches and such, yes, that may well be... but those camouflage covers do that too! In the meantime, it has been proven that those camouflage covers are of no use at all to birds (and wildlife in general). Most wildlife sees more or less in black and white, after all, and even then mainly the shorter wavelengths (more UV, that is) rather than the longer ones (IR).
Those white lenses aren't just white to stand out, but to stay cooler! By putting a camouflage cover over them, you actually negate that!
So, if you have such a (generally rather more expensive) white lens, by all means keep it that way! It will stay cooler, after all.
You can easily experience it yourself on very hot days (or if your camera/lens are exposed to the sun), your "black" camera will feel "hot", and your white lens won't.
Translated from Dutch.

Marleen wrote on Tuesday 30 December 2025 at 18:49 | reply
agree with Donald
Translated from Dutch.

Rob wrote on Wednesday 31 December 2025 at 10:14 | reply
A bit exaggerated to include the small red dot on the Leica camera in the lineup.
What about the conspicuous large letters on the Canon and Nikon cameras
Translated from Dutch.

Nando wrote on Tuesday 6 January 2026 at 09:34 | reply
That's why I also taped over the conspicuous huge letters on my Canon.
Translated from Dutch.

Donald wrote on Wednesday 31 December 2025 at 10:29 | reply
@Rob, with a small piece of black tape your problem with those conspicuous capital letters is solved.
Translated from Dutch.

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