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This camera is to be mounted on the front of the car fairly close to the road, potentially at quite high speeds and imperfect roads, at this point it is likely to get flies and stones bouncing off it so I'd like to give it a bit of protection. I thought of using a rubber cover for the camera and a lens hood but thought a plastic screw on filter might just save the lens. Other alternatives are interesting but I don't really want to add too much bulk or weight.
I have no direct experience with this, so I'm just tossing out ideas... a brainstorming session. Sounds like an intriguing experiment.
My thoughts are that a screw on filter is not nearly good enough. I rock that hits the edge is going to transmit that force straight back to the lense body, and could potentially damage the threads badly enough to make removal difficult. In this case I do have experience... I had my camera on a tripod sit at the lowest level - about 2ft off the ground - when it tipped forward onto a rocky beach. The filter itself was undamaged, but the edge rim took the impact and deformed. It took me 1/2 hour to get it off ... I needed to borrow some tools to get enough torque on the filter to undo it, and at the same time to hold the lense body immediately behind it still so that the torque didn't damage the lense moving parts. Yikes. I was in the middle of nowhere, really needed to get the filter off, and it was going to be months before I was near a city big enough to have a camera repair shop.
Filters, whether screw on or square don't protect against dust.
Back to your topic, though. I like the idea of aquarium. Not only does protect against stones, but also dust. Also... you can put any remote control gizmos in there (if needed). However, make sure it is well well secured. With the bouncing of the car the whole thing is going to experience load levels that far exceed its apparent weight. And after it's all attached to your satisfaction make sure there is a safety chain to keep the whole thing from falling off entirely. It may fall of the rig holding it, but at least it won't fall under the wheels.
Or... a plywood box with one end made of plexiglass. The advantage of the plywood is that you can mount bolts and things to it with ease, and can made as small as possible instead of needing to work with whatever sized aquarium you can source. The plexi can slide in and out, so that it's easy to change as it gets scratched.
Luck
