First post here, I've been lurking for a while (and hello to everybody). That seemed like the right sub-forum to ask (given the bias towards Canon, see below), if not apologies.

My background, quickly: (very) amateur photographer, used an entry-level Canon body 10+ years ago (film days) with relatively bad kit lenses (28-80 and 80-200), bought a 50mm 1.4 lens and fell in love with it (literally). Moved to digital for practical reasons with basic point-and-shoot cameras - currently using a Canon Ixus 50 while travelling around the world and I want to slam it with a hammer every other day for being so limiting. I shoot mostly landscapes (not necessarily wide angle) and "street scenes" / "from the hip". I like to shoot in low light. Very rarely portraits or nature/details shots.

On to the core (or rather, dual core) of the problem. The first is linked to the possibility of using my good old 50mm 1.4 lens (should be compatible with about any digital Canon body) but with the intent it's been designed for, i.e. I don't want a great 80mm lens due to cropping, therefore I'd like a full frame body.

The second is linked to surviving a long world trip that would bring the camera to high levels of humidity (e.g. South-East Asia), heat (say from Africa to Australia to Utah) and cold (Antartica and scaling mountains up to 20-25k ft).

Combining the two with a potential budget of roughly $2k-2.5k, and ignoring the current rumors (I need a new camera before the end of the year) I have come to the following conclusion:
- buy a used (or cheap, since the price is going down fast) 5D, use the 50mm lens and buy a new zoom lens better than my kit ones (or a really good wide angle fixed lens). And cross fingers that the 5D will survive the trip.
- get rid of all the stuff I have, buy a cheap, non-full frame but weather sealed body and new lenses (that probably means going Nikon). Seems hard within budgetary constraints.

Questions:
- would the 5D likely survive the trip and is this the way to go?
- if not what current camera would fit the conditions outlined above? (also considering options that are above budget, I'd rather spend a bit more than take no pics)

will_fm wrote:
bought a 50mm 1.4 lens and fell in love with it (literally).

Now that conjures up some disturbing images

Give basic protection from the harshest elements (rain, dust storms etc) and be sensible about humidity (avoid rapid changes in temperature) and any camera will probably serve you well. I've no personal experience with the 5D but there are plenty of anecdotes of people using it in every place you mention and my 20D survived rain, cold and all sorts of other inclement weather. Humidity is more of a killer of lenses than camera bodies AFAIK... the dreaded mold can infest even L lenses if they're not treated correctly after being in a humid country.

Another option if you don't mind going used is a nice 1D2 (or 1D2n) for $1800-$2200. It's a larger, professional body that is fully weather sealed and will certainly survive everything you throw at it. Downsides are the 1.3x sensor (still better than 1.5 or 1.6x though), the size/weight, and the modest 8MP resolution.

5D should handle it.

It will depend on how careful you are with your equipment. A friend of mine had her 5D ruined from the humidity. Now she shoots with a 1DIIN

But with a weather resistant camera you also need weather resistant lenses to complete the seal. For your budget I would recommend a used 1DmkiiN or the original 1Ds and a 24-70 2.8 to complete the seal.

If you do get a 5D or a camera that's not fully weather sealed here are some tips:
-Don't go from a cold environment directly to a hot one.
-If it rains, use a cover
-If the sun is blazing, use unbrellas
-If in a tropical storm, find shelter

will_fm wrote:
The second is linked to surviving a long world trip that would bring the camera to high levels of humidity (e.g. South-East Asia), heat (say from Africa to Australia to Utah) and cold (Antartica and scaling mountains up to 20-25k ft).
Questions:
- would the 5D likely survive the trip and is this the way to go?
- if not what current camera would fit the conditions outlined above? (also considering options that are above budget, I'd rather spend a bit more than take no pics)

The 5D will survive your trip unless you plan to camp out in the sand storm or maybe scaling the Himalaya then probably you should consider the 1-series cameras. There are a lot of people living in SE Asia, Africa, Alaska, etc. that use 5D, and their cameras are doing just fine despite the humidity, heat, or cold in their places of residence

Always carry a backup camera if you are [fill in the blank] since you never know when the camera is going to go kaput on you even if you are just shooting a birthday party in your own kitchen.

Enjoy your trip and don't forget to share some pics here

Weather sealing would not help much with a non-weather-sealed lens like your 50mm f/1.4. Nor would it keep out humidity when you change lenses. It's best for keeping out rain and dust.

If you've got until the end of the year then there is plenty of time to wait and see if the 5D replacement comes along, and even wait longer to see if early adopters find problems with it, before you have to buy.

- Alan

Thanks for all the answers. In a way I guess I was asking how important weather sealing can turn out to be. Of course if I went for a weather-sealed camera I would get the appropriate lenses, but for the kind of stuff I want to do it looks like it would be overkill.

Re: the new products that Canon might release this year, they will probably be a bit too costly for me - since I'm not going to push a pro body like the 5D to its limits anytime soon, I think I'd be happier with a "cheap, old" 5D than with the brand new body out there (unless it has something critical for me). I gave the end of year timeframe as a basic reference but I'd rather have the camera sooner than later to get used to it and be able to experiment with it in various conditions before I really have to use it for something I don't want to miss.

And finally I think it's going to be a while before I can dare to share any pics here!

Short answer: people have had worse sealed cameras survive such hikes and better sealed cameras fail. Yes, a higher quality/more weatherproof camera will be more likely too survive such extremes, but how you treat your equipment is often just as important.

Note: some things are more likely to kill cameras/electronics than others, e.g. salt water spray vs. fresh water rain or going from extreme cold to hot/humid without allowing the gear to change temperature in a moderately sealed container (I use my shoulder holster for this when i go snowshoeing in the winter and it works fine, just zip up before going inside).

Next, something to consider: if you are doing this all in one trip, you really want to think about a backup body or a plan to replace your camera/lenses should something unfortunate happen -- and it can even with the best of gear (not theft and fire here : http://blogs.reuters.com/blog/2007/07/23/allo-paris-we-have-a-problem/ is a rather telling story). Think about your plan, even if it is as simple as "credit card and you go to nearest store and you get ripped off for the local price of a replacement camera"

I live in South East Asia and travel around Asia & Europe with my El Cheapo XT/350D (not seal) since 2005 temperature ranging from -19 to +38 C. It survives with some normal commonsense! So don’t worry too much and enjoy shooting!

As nobody has suggested it yet, I will. Have you thought about a used 1Ds (that is the Mark I version)? As far as I know that is the only full frame, weather resistant body in your price range. It is not the best at high ISO, but very nice at lower ISOs and very durable with great autofocus and all the other 1 series benefits. It might be just what you are looking for. I hope this helps.

I struggled a bit with this issue recently and ended up a 1dsII, but one of the big plusses for me was that I already owned some of Canon's weathersealed lenses. If I was starting to assemble a weathersealed kit from scratch I'd really look carefully at the other manufacturers. The Olympus E-3 with a 12-60, or a Pentax K10d/K20d with a 16-50 have a lot to offer at a much lower cost than the Canon weathersealed offerings. Nikon and Sony have good options as well.

I hear what the others are saying about not having issues with the non-weathersealed bodies but if I'm xxxx miles from home having spent megabucks to get there I'd rather have the added insurance of a weathersealed system (and a backup body ).

Re: backup I will be backpacking and trekking most of the way, therefore I'm looking at a 12-15 kilos backpack including tent and sleeping bag. I will bring a body, 2 lenses, the charger, and some kind of portable hard disk/mp3/wifi device (looking at Archos 605 wifi right now). Add a mobilephone and my Ixus for backup and that's probably too much electronics already.

Re: other options I have looked at the 1Ds but it's kind of big. And here I'm not talking only about weight/bulkiness (although it's almost double the weight) but also the stealth factor which means it's just more dangerous to carry this around in some places - whereas the 5D looks like yet another reflex camera to ppl who aren't deep into photography. That's something I definitely need to factor in as well to improve the chances I will not need a backup camera But thanks for the suggestion and that's something definitely worth considering.

Also if I were to go the 1D way for weather sealing I'd need to upgrade my lenses anyway, and then checking other brands would make sense. I had a Pentax K10D in Buenos Aires yesterday (the only reflex camera I could find in a shop after hours of trying), and it looked like a cheap camera. My first impression with that one after taking a few quick shots was definitely not very good. From what I've seen Nikon would be the way to go for cheap weather sealed bodies. I'm not buying Sony any more - they make great products but the proprietary slant tends to grow on me pretty fast. I discovered that the hard way with my first point-and-shoot camera, was making great pics (much better than the Ixus) but for the same price I could have had a storage card 4 times as big with regular SD/CF cards.

Thanks again for the answers - food for thought and great advice - for the moment the 5D still seems like the best solution, I normally take good care of my stuff but I will definitely have to research a few tricks to extend the lifetime of my gear. I've already "burned" my Sony camera battery (which is why I switched to my Ixus), and I've then burned 2 batteries on the Ixus already (obviously I'm not being kind to the battery in low temp while skiing).