Hey guys, I’m going to Vietnam later this month is the peak of monsoon season lol.
I am bringing a S5ii x with me which is weather sealed. Never done this before or dealt with heavy elements. Should I bring anything with me to be extra cautious. I just want to record food off the river markets and street markets.
What is meant by waeather sealed? I'm not seeing any IPX rating so assume it is not waterproof and just marketing.
Get a rain cover like a Lenscoat Raincoat or one of the ripoffs of it to cover the camera+lens when needed.
For more serious conditions consider the Think Tank Photo Hydrophobia series. They are not something to put on and remove quickly when the rain starts but are more protective.
The main part is to decide when and what to photograph. IOW, don't drown your gear just to get a crappy photo.
I second EBH, get yourself A Lenscoat raincoat to protect your gear. Measure your camera with the longest lens you will use and pick the the rain coat that covers both. They take up no room at all folded in your luggage. You can find them at B& H.
Take Zip Lock bags with you and keep your gear in them when not actually using it. The humidity during rain in warm climates can soak into cameras and clothing even if it isn't directly out in the rain. You should also look into rain protection for the camera and lens in use. I have a couple of Altura camera rain hoods from Amazon that are roomy enough for larger cameras, the top and back is clear heavy plastic, the hand access holes tilt down to keep all but high wind rain from getting in and they have draw strings to close around your wrists if you will be holding the camera with either hand or both for extended times. The lens hood part is also draw string, but has a silicone strip near it's end to keep the body of the lens awy from the rain, but the face of the lens must stick out. This works well for all lenses except the very large sizes. The bottom of this rain hood has a zipper across it with two zipper handles, so you can zip each side up yet still have a tripod connected to the camera, and this opening makes it easy to pass this hood over the camera if you are out shooting and it starts raining. Only 1 of my 4 cameras is Weatherproof, so these have been a "Must Have" for me. I keep one in each camera bag. They work well for snow and dust too, but not as perfectly. There are other rain hoods available, but I only trust these. Keeping small towels or wash cloths packed in zip lock bags will let you dry off any gear (or you) when you finally seek cover out of the rain.
Don't let the weather dissuade you, but be prepared. Out on location you will want to avoid direct rain on the equipment, so as suggested, a rain cover of some sort would be useful. Also bring along some small towels to wipe water accumulation. The challenge will be keeping those dry. What will be your rain gear and can you tuck equipment under something between uses (carrying gear under your rain coat presents challenges because high humidity and water vapor from your body gets trapped under the coat and can fog up the gear). At least where I have been in Asia, it's fairly common in urban centers for shops and malls to have air conditioning cranked way up, which can cause fogging/condensation issues when moving between cold indoors and hot and humid outdoors.
As alluded to, consider how you will dry out your gear between shoots. It's not great to get it wet while on location, but it's equally bad to pack away gear that has been in high humidity. It needs to dry out. If anything the lenses so as not to give fungus the chance to establish a foothold. At minimum probably something that is airtight to hold the gear and silica gel desiccant packets, but you have to keep those packets dry and out of humidity as much as possible so that they will do their job. Or have a way to recharge/refresh them. Better would be if where you're staying has a dry cabinet, as that's not something you would bring along. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lens_fungus
You can pick up relatively cheap hygrometers on Amazon to throw in ziplocks with desiccant, for example, to actually know and monitor if it's keeping humidity in an ideal range. Or if you want to get more fancy, you can get wireless sensors you can monitor from an app on your phone over bluetooth, etc. In the past I have used sensors from SensorPush for various applications but there are probably other, cheaper options available now. The benefit of such a sensor is you can keep gear in an opaque airtight case and monitor humidity level without having to open the case until you actually need the gear, thus holding the dehumidified air for as long as possible, extending the effectiveness of the desiccant.
