Camera Labs

Finally had a chance to use the 70-300L in some extended rain yesterday, coincidently where the 100-400L ingested too much water the last time prompting me to look into this in the first place.

Rain was varying in strength, ranging from almost stopped to heavy showers for many hours. As an average I'd say it was light-medium. Had no moisture problems with the lens at all. I noticed any water landing on the barrel got "pushed" out by the zoom action. I think there might have been a side effect here too, as I tended to set the 70-300L to shortest zoom while moving around, whereas with the 100-400L I just let it flop which exposes more of the lens to rain.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

I got caught in a heavy downpour yesterday. While showers were on the forecast, they were expected to be much later in the day so I didn't bring any waterproofing with me. So on this occasion my water resistance broke down before the camera! A summer shirt doesn't cut it...



This is what it looked like when I decided to join everyone else in cover under trees. Because the downpour was so sudden and hard, it didn't get a prolonged soaking but the heavy shower was shrugged off without any impact.

Side note: the camera and lens are not bent like it looks in the photo. I don't know if it is just a perspective effect or maybe the HX9V I used to take the shot has some distortion I haven't noticed before.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Looks extreme. I know I'd never chance my non-L lenses to those conditions.

I spent New Year`s Eve in Salzburg mainly walking through the city always carrying the camera unprotected on my shoulder (with a nonsealed lens mounted...).
It was constantly snowing at +2°C.
Thanks to my Goretex jacket i remained dry, but my camera was quite wet.
At that point i didn´t care about that because i thought that the weather sealing would do it´s job.
I stopped for a hot drink in a cafe before dusk. The warmth of the restaurant led to condensation
inside the camera and soon afterwards i got an "Error 40" in the top display.
According to Canon this indicates a problem with the batteries/power supply.
Quite nervous i went home, opened every port and let it dry for over a day.
The "Error 40" vanished and only the Sensor Cleaning ("Error 6") refused to work the next couple of hours.
Thank god two days into the new year everything was back to normal and i got off with a slap on the wrist.

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My photostream

I think I posted these already in a different thread, but above is the condensation I get in the 100-400L if I use it in the rain a lot. It dries out if I leave the end caps off for a while. That's also why I got the 70-300L in addition...

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

That looks awful to me...I can't even imagine having that in my 70-400 ...

It kind makes me want to jump ship to Canon and get the 70-200/2.8L IS II just for the weather sealing ...

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Sony α77V/VG-C77AM/α350/18-70/70-400 G SSM/NEX-5/18-55 OSS/Lowepro Pro Trekker 600 AW/CompuTrekker AW/Nova 140 AW/Street & Field gear/Toploader Pro 75 AW. And a huge wishlist...

My photos on Flickr...

It dries out in a few hours at room temperature so it's no problem other than if you have to stop shooting in the field because of it.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

Similar to Popo, I have a 7D with a 70-200 f/4 IS and has Sealing, and I was lucky to have gotten this lens because I was about to use my 15-85mm and Im glad I didnt.

I got shot at with a super soaker, attacked with a bucket of water, stood too close to the pool to get hit by splash when people dived into the water and it rained. And I kept shooting, but I did tell off the people who threw water at me.

This is an example of just how sharp these L lenses can get. To be honest, I would never had gotten this shot if it wasnt weather sealed because it was about to rain and some kids just shot at me with a super soaker as I took this shot.

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1) Olympus OM1 [Zuiko Auto-S 50mm f/1.8]
2) Pentax MZ-60 [Sigma 28-90 & 100-300]
3) Canon 7D [EF-S 15-85 & 70-200mm f/4 IS]

Leo's Flickr Page

I've already mentioned it elsewhere, but I ordered the A77 with its vertical grip, two SD cards and yet another spare battery...

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Sony α77V/VG-C77AM/α350/18-70/70-400 G SSM/NEX-5/18-55 OSS/Lowepro Pro Trekker 600 AW/CompuTrekker AW/Nova 140 AW/Street & Field gear/Toploader Pro 75 AW. And a huge wishlist...

My photos on Flickr...

DRTV just put the 7D through some extreme tests... http://youtu.be/RCT-YMgjm9k
They kinda took it a bit beyond rain...

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

I'd love to see more shots taken with it afterwards compared to a not-so-damaged camera with the same lens...

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Canon EOS 500D + Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 24-105mm 4L IS USM + EF 100-400mm 4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 100mm 2.8L Macro IS USM + Sigma 12-24mm 4.5-5.6 EX DG HSM + Canon Speedlite 580 EX II + Nissin Speedlite Di 466

Wow this thread really blows my mind!!!! Just so I won't be caught with my pants down: can I say it is safe to assume that I can keep using my 40D (and future 7D) with my EF 17-40/4 L USM (yes it has a filter on it), EF 24-105 L, and EF 70-200 L without having to worry too much about it breaking down on me in or after heavy rain?

I have heard that using a grip on these models changes everything by the way: is that true or is this of no real influence? I could imagine it does have influence, because there can't be any watersealing in between the grip and the battery compartment it fits into (at least that's what I think).

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Cameras: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EOS 40D
Lenses: Canon EF 17-40/4 L USM, Canon EF-S 60/2.8 Macro USM, Canon EF 70-200/2.8 L USM, Canon EF 100-400/4.5-5.6 L IS USM
Want list: Canon EF 24-105/4 L IS USM, Canon EF 100/2.8 Macro L IS USM

I am lost for words... I gotta get one of those .

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Cameras: Canon EOS 7D, Canon EOS 40D
Lenses: Canon EF 17-40/4 L USM, Canon EF-S 60/2.8 Macro USM, Canon EF 70-200/2.8 L USM, Canon EF 100-400/4.5-5.6 L IS USM
Want list: Canon EF 24-105/4 L IS USM, Canon EF 100/2.8 Macro L IS USM

Sooo glad to see this thread, even after months since there was a post! I was outside today. It was snowing all day, and we had blizzard warnings. The temp was right around the freezing point for much of the day, and it was a heavy, wet snow with frequent heavy gusts of wind. I didn't look for animals today as I didn't want to chase any from their warm holes in this kind of weather, but I couldn't resist going out several times today to take pictures. I have a Canon SX Powershot 150 IS, so no additional lenses, but I kept thinking I'd have to come here and ask about weather-proofing my camera for this kind of weather. Several times I had to find a dry spot on my shirt to wipe the lens and screen so I could see, but except for a few water spots on some pictures, I had no problems taking pictures or with condensation despite multiple trips in and out (for at least an hour at a time). Many many thanks to everyone who posted on this subject and to those who added links. I found it very useful today, and I am sure it will come in very handy as winter starts here again.
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