[unkipunki]

Hi,

I'm brand new to this forum, and relatively new to quality photographic equipment as well. I thought I'd post to introduce myself an recount a recent incident involving my K5 ,15mm Ltd, and a 1 metre deep pool in a river. My work involves working around, and in, rivers on a regular basis. It also involves taking many photographs to capure details of river morphologies and sediment distributions. Late last week I was crossing a small river to take a required upstream view of a particular location when the unstable bed on a run into a pool gave way beneath me. I was carrying the K5 with 15mm LTD on a sling, and had the camera on and lens cap off. As I fell the camera swung below me and descended to the bottom of the pool to a depth of approximately 1 metre. It was in sub zero temperatures and the water entered my waders . In such circumstances my reactions are lightning fast and I exited the water before I knew it. Only once on the bank did I realise that the camera and lens had taken a bath . I was cursing the lack of weather sealing on the 15mm Ltd but rapidly dried the exterior of the camera with a trek towel whilst descending into despondend mire anticipating the ruination of my recently aquired equipment.

To my amazement there appeared to be no water within the 15mm Ltd lens . Once the outside was dry I removed the lens expecting water ingress into the body; but no sign of water having entred the body through the lens mount was evident. I wiped the contacts down with the trek towel and remounted the lens. Work dictated that I carried on, and I took a further 60 photogrpahs that day. All turned out fine and no subsequent fogging of the lens or internals of the body have occured, despite regular changes in temperature whilst exiting a warm car to photograph a new site in sub zero temperatures

The above is not a recommended way to treat a lovely K5, and even less so a even lovelier 15mm Ltd. But it all does seem to bear testament to the efficacy of the weather sealing of the K5 and the extremely tight construction tolerances of the 15mm Ltd. It may be that there are negative consequences yet to come, but just working for 5 days immediately after submersion is a remarkeable achievement in my book.

[Jean Poitiers]

Welcome to the Forums and thanks for your story ... keep us posted and post some images soon - J

[geedee]

Wow, nice story. It's good to hear that you and your equipment made it safe out of that river. Surely won't try this on my mountaineering trips with my DA 15 & K-5 though...

[Clavius]

Fantastic that your kit took a dip and survived! And the DA 15 ltd isn't even weather resistant at all. I'm just going to remain super careful of my beloved kit though.

[ruggiex]

Wow, I would think the water can get into the 15mm very easily from the sliding mechanism of the built in hood. Glad to hear yours survived!

[unkipunki]

Wow, I would think the water can get into the 15mm very easily from the sliding mechanism of the built in hood. Glad to hear yours survived!

Yes, I felt sure that the water would have got in through the sliding lens hood. On reflection I think it is the felted lining trapping air that pevented water ingress as the immersion time was not long enough for the water pressure to expel the air. I'm not going to run any further experiments to verify this theory one way or the other.