Bad weather shooting

[PJRiley]

This is an aside to my 'Leica Snow day' thread...on another rf site I noticed a similar post from a shooter who showed pics of his Leica covered in snow. That got everyone going on how he could have ruined his camera and how they would never take their cameras out in such weather.
Is it true?? One of the reasons I bought my M6 is to use it just as I do my D2h on the job - in all weather conditions, with care, of course. I can't see the point of spending that much money on a camera that can't go out in the rain or snow.
What do you say?
Mary

[glenerrolrd]

Unfortunately we will not know until the camera fails. M8s are not weather sealed like the Pro Nikon and Canon models. With that said I have used my M8s heavily in the surf , sand and snow. The only extra care is that I never change a lens (opening the body) unless I can control the environment (maybe back to the car or into a building). I frequently wipe down the body and lens with damp paper towels while shooting and do my best to clean everything once back home. Maybe not the best way to treat my M8s but I am not a blue sky only photographer. No problems thru 12K images .

[Speenth]

I use my M8 in all weathers all the time. I do my best to protect it, but if it gets wet or muddy while shooting that's just hard luck - its a tool, otherwise its just bling. Its been thoroughly snowed on in Montana and accompanied me on horseback on dusty mountain trails. It goes everywhere with me on my mountain bike (and just yesterday, in pitch darkness I crashed when the trail ran out unexpectedly - me, bike and camera round my neck, all filthy). The M8 still works just fine despite my maltreating it and I love it for that.

I use the Leica neoprene cover some of the time and recently I invested in a full Luigi case (aka suit of armour) which protects the camera superbly and does not constrain opportunities for a quick shot (unlike the neoprene cover, which takes ages to remove).

My M8 is already dented and scratched (the reason I went for the Luigi case). I'm not fussed - they're honourable battle scars.

When I was young, a million years ago, Pentax ran a UK magazine advertising campaign. One picture in that series influenced my approach to cameras thereafter - it was mad comic Spike Milligan's Spotmatic. It was beat up and battered and he'd painted his name all over it in the zany manner that characterised his comedy. Wonderfully irreverent, I fell in love with his camera (I've had a Spotmatic since 1968 and I still love it). I've never had the nerve to deface a camera like Spike did. But the message was clear - have fun with your camera. It isn't there to be mollycoddled.

[jaapv]

Weather sealed is a relative thing. Even the weather-sealed DSLR's are not Nikonos cameras. There is relatively little leakage possible on the M8 and tolerances are pretty tight. I would close the shutter release by a soft-release button though.

[Jamie Roberts]

Shooting a wedding you take what you get. I was out in the snow a week ago and in a couple of cases last year in the pouring rain. Didn't stop shooting

[johnalex141r]

Originally Posted by PJRiley

I can't see the point of spending that much money on a camera that can't go out in the rain or snow.
What do you say?
Mary

I had my M8 out at 1:00 am, in the middle of a 50cm dump of snow, with winds gusting to 70kph. The main problems that I had were battery related; eventually the camera died.

I'll admit that I was a bit apprehensive, seeing as snow/ice got everywhere, that the camera would not come back to life. Anyway, I wrapped it up in a plastic shopping bag, left it in my backpack in a corner inside, let it warm up slowly, and I went to bed. The next morning, I took it out of the bag, and put a new battery into it.

The camera was just fine. I shoulda taken more batteries with me, as I was starting a panorama for later stitching when it died...

JohnS
Ottawa, Canada.

[KM-25]

Originally Posted by johnalex141r

I had my M8 out at 1:00 am, in the middle of a 50cm dump of snow, with winds gusting to 70kph. The main problems that I had were battery related; eventually the camera died.

I'll admit that I was a bit apprehensive, seeing as snow/ice got everywhere, that the camera would not come back to life. Anyway, I wrapped it up in a plastic shopping bag, left it in my backpack in a corner inside, let it warm up slowly, and I went to bed. The next morning, I took it out of the bag, and put a new battery into it.

The camera was just fine. I shoulda taken more batteries with me, as I was starting a panorama for later stitching when it died...

JohnS
Ottawa, Canada.

Three times now, I have been out in medium to heavy snow and some not at 15F or lower and the M8 has quit when the battery apparently got too low. It just not do well below 10F.

In contrast, I was in a helicopter at sunrise at 16,000 feet hanging out the door with a -35 windchill with the D3 earlier this year. I started the shoot with the battery at minus two bars. I was using VR quite a bit. We flew for 90 minutes. By the end of the shoot, I had made 900 raw shots and the battery was now down to minus three bars!! So the D3 used one whole bar to shoot 900 shots in sub-zero weather....Flawless!

There are a lot of great scenarios to shoot the M8 in, fairly cold and nasty weather is not one of them in my experience.

[Angora]

No problems with my 6.2 under slight rain, so far.

[garyp]

I had my SL and an R8 out in snow for a few hours recently.
They got quite a bit of snow on them, but they were already cold so the melting factor on the bodies wasn't too bad. I wiped them down with a rag a couple of times.
So far, and a few rolls of film later, I see no problems from it.