Originally posted by SteveinSLC Yeah, that's not great on the weather-sealing front. Obviously no lens is perfectly waterproof, particularly an external zoom one. But that weatherproofing is certainly one of the reasons I paid a premium for the 150-450 over the Bigma.
And I'm heading to the Costa Rican jungles myself in a little more than a week. Though I'm planning on doing a lot of hiking, and was thinking I'd mostly use my 55-300PLM and not the 150-450, which isn't really a hikeable lens. I will plan on bringing a towel to wipe as much moisture as possible off the extended barrel.
+1 on why I bought mine with similar expectations. Though, I do understand that condensation is a different matter than a splash, it is still a little unnerving to hear.
Even when I go out on a local shoot, and I bring my camera bag with lenses to my truck from my Air Conditioned home, I try to acclimate them slowly to the outdoors. I'll run the AC but at a warmer setting in my truck and I'll crack the windows and gradually turn the AC off before I get where I am going to hike and have the windows down. Since my bag is insulated, I'll pop it open so the lenses don't stay cold in the bag for the ride.
If I ever do see condensation on a lens element (exterior) when I pull a lens cap outdoors, I turn it up toward the sun until it flashes off and try to avoid wiping elements if possible, and wait until at home where I can do a proper job of cleaning without danger of scuffing an element. The price of living in the tropic's I guess.
Eric