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05-04-2017, 05:37 PM - 1 Like   #31
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I do not purposely try to drown my equipment, but I have been caught out in serious downpours more than once with my K5iiS, usually with the 100 Macro WR, but once with the DA 18-135. I have not stayed out with the camera or tried to use it during the downpour, but neither did I take steps to protect it. I have always toweled them off as soon as I could. You may consider their weather resistance to be marketing, and I have probably also been somewhat luck, buy now going on 4 years I have never experienced a failure from moisture inside the camera or lens.

My first Canon EOS 5D was not so "lucky" under identical circumstances.

I probably should not be but I am pretty sold on Pentax's commitment to building equipment that will survive field conditions.

05-05-2017, 02:08 AM   #32
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A few years ago, I held my K-3 and 16-50 while in a narrow open boat on a jungle river in Malaysia. The water was pretty wild, and at one time came thrusting into the boat, soaking me and my camera. After that, I decided to put it in my watertight bag, just in case the boat would tip over.

Still, anecdotal evidence doesn't prove a thing. I don't know if my Nikon gear would have survived the ordeal. Or maybe I got lucky.

---------- Post added 05-05-2017 at 11:28 AM ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by beholder3 Quote
We once had a forum user who killed three of Nikons advertised as "weather resistant" camera bodies in a row with nothing more than the sweat of his hand.
He did provide images of the fourway controller and button area which was completely corroded. Obviously the "sealing" was a joke there - and there was a person with quite sweaty hands.
I find this very hard to believe. I mean, I want to believe you, but are you implying that the thousands of professional Nikon photographers out there have to contend with this?

Sorry, but this is too far a stretch for me. Being a third-hand story, I have to wonder how close it is to the truth.
05-05-2017, 03:43 AM   #33
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QuoteOriginally posted by starbase218 Quote
Sorry, but this is too far a stretch for me. Being a third-hand story, I have to wonder how close it is to the truth.
QuoteOriginally posted by starbase218 Quote
nothing more than the sweat of his hand.
There's your answer. Surprise surprise, sweat can be corrosive. My flute looks like it's been dipped in acid, thankfully the camera is holding up better

QuoteOriginally posted by beholder3 Quote
Obviously the "sealing" was a joke there - and there was a person with quite sweaty hands.
Sweat =/= water, far from it.
05-05-2017, 05:39 AM   #34
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QuoteOriginally posted by Giklab Quote
There's your answer. Surprise surprise, sweat can be corrosive. My flute looks like it's been dipped in acid, thankfully the camera is holding up better

Sweat =/= water, far from it.
So you're saying it might just as well have been incredibly well sealed against water, while still being vulnerable to sweat?

05-05-2017, 06:14 AM   #35
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QuoteOriginally posted by starbase218 Quote
So you're saying it might just as well have been incredibly well sealed against water, while still being vulnerable to sweat?
Last time I checked water doesn't eat through things the way acid does, so yes
The guy's sweat might just be slightly more acidic, but if he uses his camera all the time it stacks up...
I mean, I assume the material is designed in such a way that sweat shouldn't affect it, but not everyone is the same.
05-05-2017, 07:47 AM   #36
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I try to use my cross-brand equipment for the most and better it can deliver. So it doesn't matter to prove what is better overall. I love every single piece of glass and metal for what I could create with it. Limiteds are unique lenses we are proud of , of course. But it's fair to say that other brands could say something too in optics. In Nikon case I suspect that their primes linup is quite interesting, as well as thieir superzooms for heavy professional purposes.
05-05-2017, 10:00 AM   #37
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QuoteOriginally posted by dcshooter Quote
This is absolutely true, and it applies to all of the other manufacturers as well, as the philosophy behind the Limiteds is unique not just to Pentax, but to the line itself, and that is to build a set of small AF prime lenses that is as close in build approach and use experience to old fashioned manual lenses as possible. Now there are of course certain limitations imposed by AF and that can't be engineered around (e.g. focus can't be grease damped, superfast apertures become impossible). From what I gather (I don't use the system), the only lenses even close to comparable right now are some of the Fuji X primes. Zeiss, Cosina/Voigtlander/etc. make their reputation for build quality on MF lenses, which are a whole different engineering proposition.
Canon has 24 and 40mm STM pancakes that comes close to the 40mm Limited in terms of size (not sure about build quality), but Pentax has an entire line of DA Limiteds from 15 to 70mm (personally I think the FA limiteds are a different breed - faster, more expensive and a bit bigger/heavier).

My Nikon 85/1.8 is not too shabby either in terms of build quality. In fact I'd say there's nothing wrong with other manufacturers' build quality. It's just that the Limiteds are so nicely made.

QuoteOriginally posted by dcshooter Quote
Once you throw zoom or complex fast-aperture hyper-corrected designs with tons of glass elements into the equation, this approach unfortunately becomes less and less feasible, since the weight of the lens increases dramatically and becomes a strain on both the photographer carrying it and the teeny tiny motor trying to keep it in focus. This is the direction the market is going, however. Look at the success Sigma has had with their Art SLR lenses, which are pretty enormous for their for their focal lengths and apertures. And Pentax seems to be following right along with the announced D-FA* 50mm f/1.4, which looks to be just as beefy (and plasticky) as its Sigma equivalent.
Well, I do think Pentax probably needs lenses like that too. And actually, I have been advocating they drop the FA 31 Limited (I know - heresy) because it stops them from making a really fast 35mm. Having said that, at the time I advocated that they did not have a fullframe camera yet, and on APS-C there are just too many competing 35-ish lenses: 31/1.8, 35/2.4, 35/2, 35/2.8 Macro and 40/2.8.

But that is another story.


Last edited by starbase218; 05-05-2017 at 10:42 AM.
05-05-2017, 11:01 AM   #38
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^^ I don't think they'll stop running batches of the SMC Pentax-FA 31mm F/1.8 AL Limited until people stop buying it. The FA35/2 wouldn't even compete with a (QS) HD Pentax-D FA 35mm F/x AW DC ED AL.

Last edited by monochrome; 05-05-2017 at 11:06 AM.
05-05-2017, 11:45 AM   #39
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QuoteOriginally posted by Michaelina2 Quote
Yep... I understand he was a Playboy centerfold photog. Hazard of the trade...

Just guessin'... M
Nope. He was doing some sort of climbing sports in the mountains so that was the reason why he was not cooled down.
But, when others chimed in to say how their weatherproofed Nikons had died from just minor splashes of water, it was not so unusual really.
Only three in a row in a short period was exceptional.
05-10-2017, 10:32 PM   #40
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I've learned a long time ago that it's better to look at individual products rather than manufacturers. Like Pentax for example, the K50 has more reported problems than the K3ii it seems. That doesn't mean I would stop buying Pentax. Simiarly certain Samyang wide-angle lenses have a well-known decentering problem but that doesn't mean that all of them should be avoided. Or Nikon: just because the D600 had an oil-spot problem doesn't mean the D500 will be substandard. I think the bottom line is one should be careful with each individual product, rather than write off a whole company unless their products are consistently bad.
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