How weather proof are entry level dSLR's/how to combat their inadequacies?

[dan88]

Hi Guys,

Just another quick question... I'm just wondering if someone could tell me how to protect my EOS 450d... Here's the situation - I'm a service engineer working in IT. I'm quite often on the road (for work) and often see things I'd like to snap, however I'm scared to take my camera with me in the car as I've heard moisture and heat can damage lenses.

Can someone tell me if either it is true or if it is - is there is a way to combat this (eg. by the way of using a weatherproof case)?

Also, how would I take shots in the rain? I've seen some weatherproof covers on eBay for cameras (which also cover the lens), but what works best? Is it safe or is it best to wait until I purchase something a bit more weatherproof? I've heard the 5D's can be pretty much used in the rain without any problem (although my funds don't permit purchasing one of these at the moment).

Your input would be greatly appreciated.

Dan

[Raycer]

no idea about canon but I have took my Nikon D50 w 17-55mm out in light rain before. No problems.

as an emergency rain cover, I have poked a hole (for the lens) in a plastic bag and use that to cover the camera before.

You can also get rain cover made by Kata.

for field reports, see
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/es...7-worked.shtml

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/es...9-worked.shtml

[Colin Southern]

I'm quite often on the road (for work) and often see things I'd like to snap, however I'm scared to take my camera with me in the car as I've heard moisture and heat can damage lenses.

Can someone tell me if it is true?

Taking a camera / lens between sudden temperature extremes can cause condensation issues. We had a good discussion of this not too long ago ... Can cold temperature & condensation damage my camera or lenses?

I've heard the 5D's can be pretty much used in the rain without any problem (although my funds don't permit purchasing one of these at the moment).

No - the 5D isn't particularly weather sealed. The 5D Mk. II has vastly improved weather sealing, but I would put this into the "Nice to have as added insurance" category rather than the "Cool - lets so shooting in the rain" category.

Canon 1D series cameras are the only ones that are fully weather sealed (I've had mine pretty wet at times - didn't bother it in the slightest) - however you need to make sure that the lens is also weather sealed, which means using one of the weather-sealed L-Series (contrary to popular opinion, not all L-Series are weather-sealed).

Does this help?

[dan88]

no idea about canon but I have took my Nikon D50 w 17-55mm out in light rain before. No problems.

as an emergency rain cover, I have poked a hole (for the lens) in a plastic bag and use that to cover the camera before.

You can also get rain cover made by Kata.

for field reports, see
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/es...7-worked.shtml

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/es...9-worked.shtml

Thanks for your input Raycer... Will possibly have to check out those covers as I'd be a bit scared to take it out with no protection... Maybe the Nikon had some sort of weatherproofing? The plastic bag would make me feel more at ease if I was to take it out in the rain as opposed to not having anything...

[dan88]

Taking a camera / lens between sudden temperature extremes can cause condensation issues. We had a good discussion of this not too long ago ... Can cold temperature & condensation damage my camera or lenses?



No - the 5D isn't particularly weather sealed. The 5D Mk. II has vastly improved weather sealing, but I would put this into the "Nice to have as added insurance" category rather than the "Cool - lets so shooting in the rain" category.

Canon 1D series cameras are the only ones that are fully weather sealed (I've had mine pretty wet at times - didn't bother it in the slightest) - however you need to make sure that the lens is also weather sealed, which means using one of the weather-sealed L-Series (contrary to popular opinion, not all L-Series are weather-sealed).

Does this help?

Thanks Colin,

So in otherwards, keeping a camera in a car isn't recommended? I might keep my P&S in the car to snap these moments, although they're not half as much fun as a dSLR... I was scared about temperature extremes/condensation as I've heard of mould growing in lenses.

Sorry, I meant the 5D series in general, not the MkI, however it's good to know that they can handle a little bit of water.

I may look at purchasing one of those weather covers Raycer mentioned as it looks like it may be useful in some situations.

[dendrophile]

The 5D Mk. II has vastly improved weather sealing, but I would put this into the "Nice to have as added insurance" category rather than the "Cool - lets so shooting in the rain" category.

I disagree - based on what I have heard from a good friend. Mike (my friend) was part of the group that Luminous Landscape took to Antarctica in January. He told me lots of 5d mk2 cameras failed on this trip - more so than other makes and models. See Michael Reichman's comments here. Although Antarctica sounds a harsh environment, the 5d mk2 suffered worse than others. (I am a Canon 5d mk2 user, so I don't have an axe to grind.)

Regards,
Graham

[Raycer]

Hi Graham,
Can you ask your friend if any of the D700s were protected by rain covers?

Cheers

[Raycer]

Also check out this report by Thom H.
http://bythom.com/2009%20Nikon%20News.htm

[crisscross]

For normal purposes, ie taking pics when the weather is going downhill, tucking the camera (D80 in my case, roughly equivalent standard to 450D) inside one's anorak between shots and shielding it commonsensically works quite well. But the time comes to put it away. Also having poor man's equipment, I know an hour or two's English Lake District rain can get through outer LoweAlpine daybag and could also get thtrough inner LowePro TLZ2 eventually...so I always have a strong poly bag to put around the Lowepro; from a book or camera shop, not the ones with small holes in ().



and the next 3 in that pbase gallery actually taken before this one were all in modest rain

A flare hood also makes a good rain-hood for the lens outer glass, at least a big ugly one as on my 80-400. On days that are obviously going to get wet, I in fact do not take the big lens and rely on the 18-135 kit lens purely as it is compact and easily shielded and am unlikely to be potting at birds in a blue sky.

Looked at in reverse, if one is going to be outdoors a lot and photography is secondary to the reason for being out in the elements, a physically small camera and cheap but good lens are quite an asset.

[Colin Southern]

I disagree - based on what I have heard from a good friend. Mike (my friend) was part of the group that Luminous Landscape took to Antarctica in January. He told me lots of 5d mk2 cameras failed on this trip - more so than other makes and models. See Michael Reichman's comments here. Although Antarctica sounds a harsh environment, the 5d mk2 suffered worse than others. (I am a Canon 5d mk2 user, so I don't have an axe to grind.)

Hi Graham,

According to Canon, the 5D2 has vastly improved weather sealing (over the original 5D) - but people still need to remember that both the original 5D and the 5D2 are not professional-grade cameras - they're "advanced amateur / pro-sumer grade" cameras.

Now I know that many people don't like to hear that, but unfortunately, that's just the way it is - and I don't mean to offend anybody by saying it. Note that I'm not saying that one can't get professional quality results with one, but the bottom line is there are reasons the 1D series costs 2 to 3 times as much as the 5D2 series - and superiour ruggedising and full weather sealing are two of them; the 5D / 5D2 just aren't designed for those kinds of environments - as I guess many ex-owners have now found out

[Colin Southern]

Thanks Colin,

So in otherwards, keeping a camera in a car isn't recommended?

I really can't advise for your conditions because I don't know what they are; the thing you want to avoid is taking a cold camera into a warm / moist environment without putting it in a plastic bag and letting the temperatures equalise first.

In winter all my gear goes into the (cold) boot of the car from the warm house in the morning, and the reverse at night (although it's not usually as cold outside then). I don't usually worry about warming it up in a plastic bag - but the camera and lenses are in Lowepro "all weather" carry bags anyway. Haven't had any problems.

Personally I wouldn't want to store gear in any high relative humidity environment (keeping in mind that relative humidity goes up as the temperature drops).