I'm just coming back from a trip to South Georgia and Antarctica and before the trip I was really concerned about weather sealing because the 2 cameras I was bringing (namely a 5Dmk1 and a 40D) are not weather-sealed. The lenses I used were the 17-40L and the 70-200L f4 IS, which should be weather-sealed... if used with a filter and weather-sealed body. I knew the lenses could take a lot of abuse, though, and was worried mostly about the bodies.
All my gear was in a dry bag during zodiac transfers (I never really tested it but the idea is that it should be 100% waterproof even if immersed, and should float). In case of really dire situations I have a few large ziploc bags that I would put the camera in, letting only a minor part of the lens, and the lens hood, out of the bag.
We had relatively bad weather most of the time, but I knew my cameras could handle a few drops of rain without problem (from past experience). One day we had a zodiac cruise under the rain and I shot for 2+ hours under soft put persisting rain, I used the ziploc bag technique on the 40D and it worked fine. The camera was still quite wet but continued to work.
On another zodiac cruise we spend 3 hours under the rain and then snow, with temperatures around 0 celsius. Again, I tried to use the ziploc bag technique, but condensation made it quite useless (both in the form of water forming inside the bag but also making the VF basically useless since I couldn't look through it). That's the picture of the lens of another photographer on the same zodiac, mid-way through the excursion (he had 1D series bodies and didn't seem to be concerned at all about the snow).
Later on we had 2 of the most wonderful sights: 13 antarctic terns all lined up on an iceberg, and a leopard seal giving us a private show on an ice flow. Needless to say I didn't even think twice about throwing caution to the wind (also because shooting in manual mode with ski gloves through an obscure, wet plastic bag isn't too easy). But the 40D kept going, the battery kept going, I changed CF cards in the middle (they got wet too). I came back to the ship, dried the 40D with a towel and let it sit on my bed for a few hours. I could have been shooting on a sunny day for all I knew, it didn't seem to make a difference. Everything worked fine during the excursion and afterwards.
Needless to say I was really really impressed by the performances of these prosumer bodies in such tough conditions.
I was in the Falklands recently and used an Optech rain cover - which kept my 5D dry in horizontal rain. Good cheap low tech solution for occasional use.
I seldom worry about fresh water but salt water is another matter after some time it works like acid. But if your camera is water resistant you can displace the salt water with fresh water then wipe it down and let it dry.
I am glad things worked out for you and your 5D and 40D. I think most of the time Canon bodies and lenses are built to fairly high tolerences and therefore the openings into the body are small. This means you are pretty safe. The problem is that 1 failure in 100 due to rain is way too many when the consequences are so severe. Fine electronic devices don't get just a little water damage. Quite often the results are disasterous and that is something worth preventing.
I also just returned from the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctica. My wife and I were using a 1DIII and 40D, and we got rained and snowed on several times during the trip. We usually tried to limit shooting in those conditions to no more than 15-20 minutes, and I also tried to shield the cameras and lenses from salt spray as well, but they both got some on them from time to time. Neither of our camera bodies nor any of the lenses we used (300/2.8, 100-400, 70-200/2.8, 24-105) gave us any problems. However, we were wiping ours off constantly to prevent water from accumulating on them, and never let them get as wet as the person's gear you showed in the picture above. After reading a trip report on Luminous Landscape about failures in light rain, we didn't want to take any chances! But we were impressed, like you, with the performance of the cameras and lenses.
Our shots from the trip are at www.pbase.com/cwillis/antarctica.
I was very careful with seawater and protected the cameras when there was any risk of them being exposed (fortunately quite rarely since the seas were not too rough).
I would normally never take a risk with my cameras and rain since a) it can easily be avoided and b) I know the outcome is usually binary, either everything is fine or you can throw the camera away. But in a "do or die" situation I was quite pleased to have no issues, including no apparent decrease in the level at which the cameras operated (the AF on the 70-200 seemed a bit slower than usual, it's probably more the heavy snow than the rain).
It was not a blizzard but there definitely was more slow than I would normally feel comfortable with (see below).
Yes, Salisbury Plain was an awesome place, really knocked us over and it was our first landing on South Georgia. When were you there and on what ship? We were on the Orlova, we departed from Ushuaia on January 15 and got to South Georgia on January 21. How about you?
My 350D gets wet regularly, dropped in the snow, and goes camping with me in the worst weather norway has to offer. It continues to function flawlessly, despite the absence of any sort of "weather proofing". I have to commend its build quality. I only hope that whatever i replace it with will be so good.
I agree that these cameras can take a decent amount of "beating"...though you always run the risk on non-1 series bodies. A little bit of snow/rain didn't stop me from using the 5D. However with the 1DMKIII, I just don't worry about it...
I went to my local park when it was snowing pretty heavily. By the time I was ready to go home, I had about 1-2 inches of accumulation on top of my 200L. .
Another situation was when I was at Niagara Falls. Too my in-laws on the maid of the mist. Had my 1DMKIII + 24-105L out the entire ride. It was absolutely drenched. I had to wring out the water from my strap. Not a problem.
I like to see that others like to take undue risks with their gear Not sure I would bring even a 1D series near the falls without some kind of protection!
Chris, I was there just recently on the Multanovitch, landed on Sailsbury Plain on March 3rd if I remember correctly. The great thing was that there were only a few chicks left, the others had molted so we really got the full "orange patch" experience.
will_fm wrote:
That's the picture of the lens of another photographer on the same zodiac, mid-way through the excursion (he had 1D series bodies and didn't seem to be concerned at all about the snow).
I took my 450D to Stockton Bight about 2 weeks ago, 32km worth of fine white sand dunes. I only gaffer taped the area between the camera and batt. grip and so far have had no trouble at all, I even took it sandboarding.
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