rsolti13 wrote: That guy must have bought a new lens
Holy cow! Look at all those ducks in the background! Send some to GA!
I think he would have a nicer perspective not shooting directly from the front?
Shaun, welcome back. How's life without the M8.2. And I see you have a new lens? Nice shots, like the first and second one a lot. Love the organic feel of film.
Life without the M8.2 is sometimes a little rough. I have to admit, I was spoiled by the instant results it would deliver. However, with that said, I still long for my M6 when the M8.2 was in my hand. I still can't put my finger on what it is.
I had a 5D with me but it never saw any action whatsoever. Go figure.
denoir wrote:
Right now the primary worry is the weather - the forecast is rain for the entire period we'll be there
Wow, that sucks. I hope you get luckier than that. Still, you might want to plan for it, just in case. Neither M9 or 5DII are great rain cameras, although if you are a bit careful, both will probably work fine. Is the 7D weatherproof?
Duck photography seems to be on the march on all fronts:
That guy won't be posting on this forum, at least. Nikon-on-Nikon.
carstenw wrote:
Wow, that sucks. I hope you get luckier than that. Still, you might want to plan for it, just in case. Neither M9 or 5DII are great rain cameras, although if you are a bit careful, both will probably work fine. Is the 7D weatherproof?
The 5DII is weather sealed identically as the 7D. I've seen a guy drop a 7D + 70-200 into a lake through the ice, fish it out five minutes later and continue shooting as if nothing happened. I've used the 5DII and 7D in both heavy rain, snow, mud and desert storms without any problems. The weak point will be the Zeiss lenses that are not weather sealed.
The M9 on the other hand will have to stay in the camera bag while it rains. Although I have used it in rain before, I'm not very comfortable about it as neither the camera nor the lenses are weather sealed.
There are also accounts of the 5DII going belly up with just a bit of rain, so do take care of it a bit. A full third of the ones brought to the south pole on one trip died (8 of 25, IIRC). It really isn't a pro body. On the other hand, I know of people who use their M8 in driving rain without ill effect.
I think the take-home lesson from all of this is that if the manufacturer doesn't guarantee anything, you have to be careful. You might get lucky and you might not.
As I said, I've pushed both the 5DII and 7D quite a bit already. Actually Canon Europe does guarantee - the 7D has some sort of weather proof rating (that means something like that it should withstand 10 minutes of a direct shower or similar). Yes, yes, I know about that legendary south pole trip. Nobody has been able to replicate it since. It was most likely related to the dodgy first version of the external battery grip.
Here's a review of the 7D weather sealing (south pole as well) with some illustrative pictures:
There are mine, in South Africa - incredibly nasty desert with sand blowing all over the place and really intense rain showers.
No issues. I cleaned the dust by washing off the cameras in the shower.
The M9 is however not weather sealed in any way. Of course it will stand a bit of casual rain, but it's a risk as it has not been designed to withstand that.
I hope one day Leica considers weather sealing their next digital M. No weather sealing whatsoever on such an expensive camera really detracts from the legendary status of their film M cameras.
The M8/M9 have quite tight tolerances almost everywhere, too tight for water to get in, as long as the body is horizontal. There is one exception though: the cable release hole in the shutter release. Plug that and the body will withstand a fair amount.
I know that the 7D is quite weatherproof, I have heard reports of this. It seems that after the success of the D200/D300, Canon reconsidered their strategy of only waterproofing pro bodies. However the 5DII isn't quite there, as I understand. It generally does well, but deaths are not unknown.
The 5DII and 7D have identical weather sealing. They made a lot of noise about it with the 7D as a great feature but the fact is that down to the smallest battery hatch detail the sealing is identical. I was also convinced that the 7D had better sealing at first but I was very eloquently proven wrong over in the Canon forum when somebody posted the sealing diagrams for both cameras.
Anyway, if you looked at the link I posted you'll see that the guy used 5DIIs as well as 7Ds both on the south pole and Svalbard without issues. Lofoten is a tropical paradise compared to those places (The weather is much milder than in for instance Stockholm)
I forgot to add that I'm also bringing a rain protection cover for the DSLR. Or better to say for the non-sealed Zeiss glass.
carstenw wrote:
Well, I don't know what to believe then. I have seen several reports of premature 5DII deaths, yet none of the 7D. It could be coincidence, I suppose.
The first version of the battery grip for the 5DII was faulty by design and let through water.
Ryan and Joe... thank you
Ryan, excellent shots! Beautiful shots with the ZM 18.
Joe, nice shot with the 50 Nokton
Shaun, very nice shots! I really like #1.
Luka, wow how many ducks per square inch ( DPI)? Great news about the M9! How does it compare to before the cal ?
I have used the M9 in rain before, with no problems. I will not tempt it too far, but this was the shots in the Springbrook rain forest when rain set in. Only problem was fogging up of the lens!
Ron, great shots! Excellent PP and colour
If I'm lucky there will be a lens waiting for me when I come back. 
That guy must have bought a new lens 
(The weather is much milder than in for instance Stockholm)
