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 p.1 #1 · Z8 vs Z9 Weather Resistance – A Cautionary Tale | |
I wanted to share my experiences with weather resistance of the Nikon Z8 and Z9, as well as a couple of the lenses I use regularly, in hope that this benefits someone else in future situations. Apologies in advance for the long post.
I am an avid birder, and photograph birds as much for ID as for quality pics. My walk around setup for birding is a Z8 with 600TC and a Z9 with 100-400Z on a Black Rapid double sling setup, using QD sockets on the lens arca plates to connect everything.
I have been on numerous hikes with this setup in rainforest areas, with moderate to heavy, though usually intermittent rain, with no issues with the equipment getting wet. I have not used rain covers of any kind on the equipment mentioned, and have had no issues previously, even with the cameras and lenses getting doused pretty good with periods of heavy rain.
I finally hit the limit on a recent trip to Hawaii, however. I had one hike in the early part of the trip in a rainforest area, with no issues. Got wet, but not soaked through at any point, equipment was all working fine afterward. On a second hike later in the trip though, we got drenched with an hour of solid rain (storm came unexpectedly early). Clothing, shoes and everything were soaked through. On this second hike, I had the Z9 on the 600, and this was used for 98 percent of the pics taken. I took maybe 10 pics with the Z8, all before the rain storm. Z8 did not survive this storm however ☹.
The main mistake I made (aside from being out in a heavy storm unprotected) was not removing the battery and cards promptly from both cameras. When we got back to the vehicle, it was still heavily raining, so the concern was to get out of the weather and back to dry clothing. Further, when we got back to our hotel, I still did not remove the battery, but did wipe everything down with towels. I was not until I noticed the camera was warm and the top LCD was fogged and not working that I removed the battery, but that turned out to be too late.
Z9 and both lenses survived unscathed, with no issues.
As soon as I was able to (30 hours later), I put the Z8 body in a container with a large amount of fresh dessicant for a week, checking it periodically, but had no luck in bringing it back to life. It was completely dead, no effect from putting in a known good battery (LCD blamk, no startup noises).
This story does have a somewhat happy ending though. I sent the camera in to Nikon USA for repair, noting that the camera ‘would not power on’. I had it back fully repaired in under 3 weeks (including shipping times). In addition to the repair of the battery issue, they also performed the recall repairs for the lens mount and strap lugs for free. Total cost of the battery repair was around $420. They noted replacing the ‘top cover’ on the repair paperwork.
I am not decided yet on how I will work in the rain in the future with the Z8. I've had many trouble free days in the past with no issues. I am unsure if prompt removal of the Z8 battery would have helped or not, but I will definitely pay more attention to this in the future. I am also impressed with how well the Z9 and the lenses have held up in these tough conditions.
Hope this sharing of my experience helps in some way.
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