The tough-ness of your non-weather-sealed DSLR cameras

[Nicholas]

I'm wondering why Canon never put a serious weather sealing on mid-high-end cameras like 5D...


But anyways, I'm thinking to buy an original 5D, which was to be said has better build and more sturdy than 20D and 30D. Now, remember that 20D and 30D was not weather-sealed? I have heard stories from friends using 20D and brought it with them to dusty Egypt, Jerusalem, wet jungle bushwalks to hot beaches. They used EF-S10-22mm and EF 28-135 with that, which was not weather sealed as well. My friends eventually just got the camera dirty on the outside, but no serious malfunctioning.


If Canon's claim for 5D being built tougher than 20D, do you think I will be able to use that 5D on the same dusty and wet environment? Any opinions from 5D- or ex-5D users will be appreciated!





Cheers


Nick

[Colin]

I've dropped both my 30D and 5D without problems, and used them with wet hands, but never actually tried to see if I could get through much more than a little spray at the Legoland water feature.


Real weather sealing is tempting, though it seems the the price increment to a pro body would be excessive for just that. Could get a weather sealed lens, and wrap the rest of it in a transparent shower cap?

[aZhu]

I'm pretty sure weather sealing isn't super important as long as you don't drop it in a puddle or bury it under the sand. Just make sure the environment you're in isn't super extreme. I try to give my camera body and lens a good cleaning after every shoot so that dust and debris don't build up.

[RDKirk]

I'm wondering why Canon never put a serious weather sealing on mid-high-end cameras like 5D...

I'm not sure what "mid-high-end" means. Canon Inc (Japan) considers the 5D series to be a consumer camera, and that is how they designed it. To see what serious weather resistant design looks like, look at the memory card door of a 1-Series camera: A machined metal door dogged down tight to a full gasket. Although they have added a couple of extra strips of thin foam to the latest xxD and xD series, it can't be considered "weatherproof" by any means.


Notice that Canon does not warrant against water damage. If they don't rely on their "weathersealing," neither should anyone else.


If they really were serious about it, they'd use the standard Japan Instrument Standard (JIS) testing and rating system (as does Sekonic--Sekonic rates their meters at JIS Level 4). http://www.opticsplanet.net/water-proof.html


I would not depend on "weathersealing" to any extent whatsoever. At best, it only gets these highly electronic DSLRs to the same level of weather resistance as old mechanical film cameras had. If you really expect to get the camera wet or dusty, take extra precautions. And remember that salt water is even more pernicious than fresh water.

[canoli]

good point RD about the salt water vs rain water. It is much more corrosive and needs to be wiped off as soon as possible or it will cause damage, not only to the finish but very probably to the insides.


that said, I've used my 40D at the beach many times, in wind and (light) rain and pounding surf, and whenever the rain or the salt spray really deluged my equipment, I just wiped it down and kept shooting. No problems so far.

[District_History_Fan]

Canon needs to weatherseal their prosumer cameras. We are talking about a few gaskets and o rings here... Many inexpensive electronic items I have (GPS, Range finder, etc) are sealed and they are low price point items.


Canon has competition that weatherseals their compareable bodies. They need to get off their duff and keep up in this area. I love Canon gear, but am tired of having to baby it instead of concentrating on the task of taking great images...

[Benjamin]

Interesting though Nicholas. The 5D mark II was said officially at its release to have identical weather resistant ability as the film camera 1N back in the 1990s. However, if I remember correct, there isn't a fully weather resistant camera from Canon until the 1V in 2000, with which Canon first declare that a camera that is water proof. The 5D mark II was also said to have improved weather sealing over the original 5D. If we put things in this order, it seems that the 5D should be on par with the 20D or 30D; but if you're talking about extreme dusty or humid conditions, it may not be wise to take your camera anyway. People say they did this or that do not nesessarily mean that the camera is designed to do so, one has to agree that the risk of spoiling a camera is very high if it's being taken out of its design scope, i.e. to shoot a 5D in rain.


I once shoot my 1V with 24-70L in light rain and there is visible raindrops on both the camera and lens, but it does not seem to have any problem. However, as a 50D user, I'll always cover the camera somehow when shooting in harsh conditions, simply a plastic bag will help significantly against rain and dust. In the same way, i think you should do something if you know that you're going to take your camera to that condition, knowing that the 5D is not invincible[]