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MFD Weather Sealing

cerett

Member
While in Iceland recently, I spoke with one of the experienced guides about MFD. He said that both the Phase and Hasselblad cameras cannot handle the weather very well. In his experience, the ocean and waterfall mist/spray (and rain) take a terrific toll on these cameras, especially compared to the Nikon and Canon high end cameras. Based on the experience of those who have actually used these cameras under such conditions, is this anywhere close to being true?
 
M

mjr

Guest
Hi

I took 2 Leica S bodies to Iceland end of last year and they were perfect in really crap weather, a couple of weeks ago I went to Lofoten Islands with the XF and the Cambo tech cam, all my kit is insured for any eventuality so I just use it regardless of the weather. I got the XF pretty wet and used it in blizzard conditions too with no issues, I don't feel it's anywhere near as well sealed as the leica S but I haven't had any problems, the coldest I have used the XF in is -20c.

Hope this helps in some way, I am running workshops in Iceland in September and will be using the XF without worrying about it for a second.

Mat
 

cerett

Member
Hi

I took 2 Leica S bodies to Iceland end of last year and they were perfect in really crap weather, a couple of weeks ago I went to Lofoten Islands with the XF and the Cambo tech cam, all my kit is insured for any eventuality so I just use it regardless of the weather. I got the XF pretty wet and used it in blizzard conditions too with no issues, I don't feel it's anywhere near as well sealed as the leica S but I haven't had any problems, the coldest I have used the XF in is -20c.

Hope this helps in some way, I am running workshops in Iceland in September and will be using the XF without worrying about it for a second.

Mat
That's good news. I know the weather sealing on the Leica is excellent. I wonder about the H5D and new H6D.
 

tcdeveau

Well-known member
I don't worry about the weather too much with my H4D-40 either. One of the first trips I took it on after buying it was to Iceland. It got very wet, the only issue I had was a lens connection error with the 35-90 in the cold (about 30 degrees F). My gear is also insured with small business insurance so I don't worry about it too much. That being said, I keep quick dry towels in my bag (and a couple silica gel packs just in case) and will cover the setup when it's exposed while shooting if it's raining to minimize moisture buildup, and dry it off before putting it back in the bag. I also take the camera and lens out of the bag and loosen the caps to let everything dry out in between days of shooting if I'm using in really wet conditions. I've shot in the middle of fog banks in SF without issue and I shot on Friday in NYC in a little sleet without issue. Although it may not have the extensive weather sealing as other small systems, I think MFD is hardier than ppl give it credit for as long as you use some common sense.
 

Bill Caulfeild-Browne

Well-known member
I'm careful with my XF but I don't coddle it. It has seen a few snow storms and some extremely cold (-28C) weather without any adverse effects. Still, I do protect it from sheeting rain - showers are not an issue.

But then if the weather is THAT bad, I ought to be inside somewhere with a good single malt.
 

dougpeterson

Workshop Member
See previous threads
http://www.getdpi.com/forum/medium-.../35490-apparently-leaf-backs-submersible.html
http://www.getdpi.com/forum/medium-...1-phase-one-other-db-weather-performance.html

When I'm shooting a wedding I'm happy to continue using a Phase One kit in any weather that I'm otherwise interested in shooting in. I wouldn't use it in a heavy downpour but I also wouldn't be otherwise shooting in such weather regardless of the camera I was using.

Here are a few relevant links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtzUP3cVOxg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0SljqdzCNQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WApCNfpY0Y8
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
Btw, when the going gets tough, the gaffer tape comes out and I'll shamelessly wrap tape around the XF/body connection. The back itself has lived in the pacific northwet without any issues, ditto the lenses. The only area of concern I have with the XF, and I manage it using a towel, is the VF/body interface. There's a gap by the side of the VF that likes to take on water but I just keep it dry or covered or disassemble and dry later. In future I may just gaffer tape it.

In may ways the tech cam is actually better. I will just put my Tilley hat on top and keep it covered.
 

MILESF

Member
I've also had the DF and XF in some pretty hostile environments without any problems. Like Graham my roll of gaffer tape is never far away

In Hokkaido in January I shot a lot in driving snow and then put the camera in the bag and left it there to warm up slowly in the bus or hotel to minimize (successfully the problem of condensation on lenses. So it wasn't just the problem of snow melting outdoors but any snow melting in the bag and water finding its way into the camera.

Three things helped:

1. I was able to buy a small white umbrella for about $2 and pretty soon most of the group had done the same thing. Good for general protection and very useful if needing to change lenses.
2. I have a couple of Osprey Ultralite Dry Sacks which take up no space in the bag and can slip over the camera and lens on the tripod.
3. A chamois leather cloth (Calumet) that I can use to cover and should the camera from the top though any wind can be a problem with this. A couple of elastic bands in the bags also take up no room and can help secure things.

In future the Phase cable release will also help me keep my gloves on so reducing exposure of camera lens and back to the elements though it wasn't available in time for Japan in January.

Apart form when there are gales or torrential downpours these seem to be simple and effective extras to reduce the risks of water damage.
 

Paul2660

Well-known member
Btw, when the going gets tough, the gaffer tape comes out and I'll shamelessly wrap tape around the XF/body connection. The back itself has lived in the pacific northwet without any issues, ditto the lenses. The only area of concern I have with the XF, and I manage it using a towel, is the VF/body interface. There's a gap by the side of the VF that likes to take on water but I just keep it dry or covered or disassemble and dry later. In future I may just gaffer tape it.

In may ways the tech cam is actually better. I will just put my Tilley hat on top and keep it covered.

Same VF gap also appears to allow alot of dust into my XF. I have closed it with the gaffers tape.

Paul C
 

Dan Santoso

New member
3 meters sea wave jump on us once, in the end i need to buy new df+ and replace my iq 180 sensor.

So obviosly i have more experience in this regard :):banghead:
 

vonalpen

Active member
After all the debating going on in other threads here lately I thought I might as well contribute differently and post some suitable images for this one here:
I bought the Pentax 645Z in autumn 2014 and used it a lot since in challenging weather.
My confidence in its weather sealing (with the new lenses) grew when I was able to use it in extremely wet conditions the following winter.
It got dripping wet with snow but always kept working flawlessly.

JvA_Lombach_Winter.jpg

In the summer of 2015 I visited the Olympic NP, in particular also to photograph the rain forest.
I had decided to work with minimal gear and only took my ALPA TC with two lenses on that trip, and the IQ180.
It was extremely humid but ideal light for my purposes. The very wet conditions (including constant drizzle) certainly made me worry about the copal shutters, not so much about the rest of my equipment as it had never failed so far.
I tried to keep the equipment covered with a plastic bag as much as possible and kept cleaning the lens and shutter from all the water drops with a cloth. During the three days of shooting there I got away with plenty of images to my taste. Every evening I also made sure all the equipment dried completely and it worked just fine throughout the whole trip.

JvA_Hoh_Rainforest.jpg

Last February, on a photographic trip to the Lofoten islands (Norway) I had envisioned images of braking waves and the snow covered surrounding mountains.
As I had built up so much confidence in my Pentax 645Z, I went right into the waves with it and the weather sealed 28-45mm (wearing waterproof boots and clothing myself): Salt water usually is considered the ultimate death for our gear.
But all the many waves and spraying salt water, completely (!) covering the camera and lens, didn't do any harm to it. Back at the car I would just rinse everything with drinking water....
Obviously I never removed the lens until later in the evening, when everything had completely dried.
The optically stabilized lens certainly helped to obtain sharp images hand held.

JvA_Norge_2016.jpg

Conclusion: Using my equipment with some care and precaution, I'm able to work in pretty extreme conditions and still absolutely rely on it.
The limiting factor might rather be my own resistance to certain conditions....
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
Jost you are a man after my own heart. Even the Alpa is pretty decent in the rain. Here's my STC with the patented Marriott hotel small towel Rain Cover fitted :D

image.jpeg
 

ErikKaffehr

Well-known member
Hi,

Just two observations:

1) Modern camera equipment can take a lot of beating, unless you have bad luck.

2) Pentax equipment is known and tested to be weather resistant. Leica S is said to be, too.

I had some Minolta equipment many years ago that got soaking wet in heavy rain. Water was dripping out of the lenses. But all stuff survived. Salt water is the real camera killer. Warranty will not apply to water damage.

The failure rate on LuLa's Artic expeditions were quite low, one exception was with Canon 5DII (I think) where they had 5-6 failures.

Best regards
Erik
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
And I'd love to see the Alpa shot from Graham's BTS shot with the hotel towel! Especially how he dealt with that flat grey sky.

Ray
It was flat and grey and WET ... but here you go.. However, you've got to shoot 'em to see if there's anything of merit later. I'm sure that if I revisited this image I could pull back more texture today from it.



And the bridge crossing had a reasonable pucker factor too that day. It didn't feel comfortable leaving the camera bag out on that bridge to shoot this,

 

vonalpen

Active member
Graham, thanks for your BTS shots...
Don't have one from my other post but here's another image from that trip to the Lofoten, taken with the Pentax 645Z and the 28-45mm, the exact location is "Skagsanden".
This image certainly won't make it into any portfolio, but on another day there we had much better light.

JvA_Skagsanden_2016.jpg

And here's how the camera (and me..) looked, no worries at all for the gear!

TG_10_16_Skagsanden-27.jpg

Image taken by Tory Grimaldi.


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