[Gooshin]

everyone raves about weather sealing on the K10D

i have a K100D, and i havent really done anything crazy with it yet in terms of weather but i probably will at some point.

who here had their camera burn up when using it during a snow fall or rain?

ive never had electronics fail on me from a little bit of dripping water, including a cellphone that decided to take a swim to the bottom of the lake,... twice!

all this talk is making me paranoid, how paranoid should i be of a little snow on the camera.

[Canada_Rockies]

everyone raves about weather sealing on the K10D

i have a K100D, and i havent really done anything crazy with it yet in terms of weather but i probably will at some point.

who here had their camera burn up when using it during a snow fall or rain?

ive never had electronics fail on me from a little bit of dripping water, including a cellphone that decided to take a swim to the bottom of the lake,... twice!

all this talk is making me paranoid, how paranoid should i be of a little snow on the camera.

Can't talk about the K100d, but I have an MZ-S which is full of all those interesting electronics. It has been dampened several times and still functions as it should. Just keep the raindrops wiped off in light rain. Use a plastic bag (grocery vegetable bags are perfect) and rubber band it around the lens hood (which keeps raindrops off the lens element) and operate the camera with your hands inside the bag. Works, I mean worked, for me. Today it's K10d and DA*. No worries.

[lithos]

If the dude's name is "Canada Rockies" I can only assume he's some sort of expert in this field, Gooshin .

[Nesster]

I would avoid a 'drench' but a misting, why not? The other day I spent the morning out in the fog and mist with two pentaxes, had a filter on one and a deep shade on the other lens, with no problems. If it started to drizzle too much I'd put the camera under my coat (the other would stay in the back pack).

[Gooshin]

If the dude's name is "Canada Rockies" I can only assume he's some sort of expert in this field, Gooshin .

yeah but i dont really feel like putting a bag over my camera

i'm not a pro so i dont find myself in such situations for a prolonged times, so i would be walking around with the camera slung over my shoulder with no bag, sometimes if i decide to take more than 1 lens with me i'll bring a duffel bag with me, but otherwise.

:S

[Tom M]

Well - I've had the K10D and DA 16-45 in heavy rain for a few days - Other than always having to use the lens hood to keep the rain off the glass I had no problems. Now, I'm not saying you should use a non-sealed lens in the rain but, I have and the lens has not suffered.

[lithos]

The K100D is nowhere near as heavily sealed as the K10D, though.

Mine's been fine, through rain and bird crap. Don't get much snow in these parts (but our Golden Hours are awesome...)

The main problem with getting electronics wet isn't so much getting them wet as getting them wet with current running through them.

If there's no current running through them, electronics will be fine, as long as you can completely dry the circuit out - heating to 88 degrees Celsius would do it.

That's why they stick those cellphones found on corpses in CSI in a toaster oven (though gods forbid I actually use something Jerry Bruckheimer was involved in as vaguely truthful.)

[jnorth]

I have 2 Super Programs, an SF1, a Z-1p, a DS and the K10D. All have been used in Wetcoast weather including the wet snow/slush Vancouver gets periodically. My DS sat on a a tripod for about an hour in a moderate Vancouver damp snow dump with only occasional wipings, not dryings. None have had any ill effects show up yet. My SF1 however did not take kindly to the Howe Sound wave that completely washed over it because my wife put it down to rescue our twins after a BC Ferry's waves rolled in. It took about a year to actually kill the SF1 and lens off but it got me the Z-1p, with no deductible on the insurance claim.

My 2 biggest motivations for my K10D was the two dials instead of one, and the weather sealing. Just because I had used all my previous cameras in the wet does not mean I did not have butterflies in my gut before during and after each time. Now to start working on some weather sealed lenses.

[Canada_Rockies]

I have 2 Super Programs, an SF1, a Z-1p, a DS and the K10D. All have been used in Wetcoast weather including the wet snow/slush Vancouver gets periodically. My DS sat on a a tripod for about an hour in a moderate Vancouver damp snow dump with only occasional wipings, not dryings. None have had any ill effects show up yet. My SF1 however did not take kindly to the Howe Sound wave that completely washed over it because my wife put it down to rescue our twins after a BC Ferry's waves rolled in. It took about a year to actually kill the SF1 and lens off but it got me the Z-1p, with no deductible on the insurance claim.

My 2 biggest motivations for my K10D was the two dials instead of one, and the weather sealing. Just because I had used all my previous cameras in the wet does not mean I did not have butterflies in my gut before during and after each time. Now to start working on some weather sealed lenses.

Salt water is a completely different question from rain and snow. My family can tell you of their laughter at me after an Orca tail splashed my KX. I missed the rest of the show drying the thing off, inside and out. It survived. I have not yet survived the humour ...

[pentkon52]

I shot my K10D at a Nature Photo Weekend at Grandfather Mtn in NC this past June. It is always raining at some point of the day, and usually some fog and mist.
No problems with the K10D.

My SP500 took a quick spill in the Pacific back in 1975 when i was working in the Queen Charlotte Islands.
Spent a number of hours cleaning and drying.

Its first "official" CLA was in 1993. Good camera that.

Dave

[axl]

everyone raves about weather sealing on the K10D

i have a K100D, and i havent really done anything crazy with it yet in terms of weather but i probably will at some point.

who here had their camera burn up when using it during a snow fall or rain?

ive never had electronics fail on me from a little bit of dripping water, including a cellphone that decided to take a swim to the bottom of the lake,... twice!

all this talk is making me paranoid, how paranoid should i be of a little snow on the camera.

You don't have to be, I live in London and every now and then I get caught in rain, when out and shooting. Last time I took couple of 10-15 sec exposures in rain. No bags or anything above camera. After taking shot I just wiped id and it still works. It's not weather proof camera body, but little drizzle certainly won't hurt it...
at least my experience...

[Jester_rm]

I had my K100D out in a light rain/mist in the Quinault Rainforest in Washington this summer for a couple of hours, no harm done. I had it on a neck strap and put the flap of my coat over it when I wasn't using it, that seemed to work fine.

[zntgrg]

two weeks ago i used mi K110d near a river, in the fog, at night with near zero [celsius] temperature.

My precious is still alive and kickin'

The lesson i learnt is this: it's not extreme cold or wet the problem, it's the sudden change of ambiental condition the real problem! Finished shotting i went in a bar. In this case i turned the camera off and leave alone until slowly adapted to the temperature of the place: turning the camera on in these cases could be more dangerous than dropping it in a lake.

In a similar case you'll understand why looking the steam on the front lens element.

Then, AA batteries are heavily hit by cold and they won't last much: take spare batteries and keep them near your body to keep them a bit warm [but not too much].

[Grimlock]

A couple of months ago I took my K100d & Sigma 17-70mm into the orchid house at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens without realizing they mist everything every 10 minutes or so. Admittedly, I freaked a bit a first since I didn't have my Rainsleeve with me, but I kept shooting for almost an hour afterwards. No negative effects so far.

[Lowell Goudge]

While I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, my *istD got soaked when it was 6 months old.

By soaked, I mean it was in a kayak that got swamped, and although in a wet bag, the bag was open and water came in the top.

The camera went nuts, and had to have the battery pulled to stop triggering the shutter on continous shoot even with the main switch off (I think water got in through the switch). Top LCD also fogged up.

Took it back to base camp, turned it upside down (since water came in the top, I assumed it would go out the same way) and left it in the sun for 4 hours.

It has worked flawlessly ever since, never been in for service, and never misbehaved, in hot, cold, humid etc...

with the exception of my K10D, all of my cameras have been out in light rain, mists, (including the maid of the mist under niagara falls) and been wet to the point of dripping on the outside. They wouyld get whiped off periodically, but they have all been exposed to the elements (i mean really exposed), and none have ever failed me. This includes Pentax KX, which has no electronics to speak of, Ricoh XR-2s, and Pentax PZ-1, as well as the above mentioned *istD.

I still own them all and they all work just fine.

As long as you don't open any doors, or remove the lens and let water in the mirror box cameras are actually pretty tough (although I am not sure the manufacturers would tell you you can mistreat them this badly).