Here is what Sony says about A99 weather sealing

The A99 is obviously not guaranteed to work in rain or take a water splash, according to Sony. So for those of us bringing our A99 cameras out into the rain, we have to take a bit care. This is what Sony says on the US web side (note that in many other countries they name the A99 a camera for professional photographers):

Dust and moisture protection

Outer body and moisture countermeasures include the sealing and treatment of major operational buttons/dials and a convex/concave mating structure that tightly interlocks components. Controls also feature a durable structure that withstands the touch usage of advanced amateurs.

Also note that other cameras like the high end Nikons and Canons also are weather sealed, but they are not specified to take rain or splashing water. Thin might be a surprise, but also Pentax is very restrictive with their technical spesifications, in strong contrast to their advertising.

Yup, all this makes sense from a warranty and support perspective. Always understate but over-engineer. 

The problem in America is that if a wheather/water-proof camera fails due to the conditions, the photographer sues Sony. Resulting in that Sony pays for a new camera, lost of income, penalty for false advertisment, compensation for personal grief and the photographers lawyers who magically inflate their true costs by an exceptional large number. Meanwhile in the normal world, Sony probably would just need to replace the camera.

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http://frenske.zenfolio.com

With restricted claims they don't even have to replace the camera!

an interchangable lens cammera cannot be dust or moisture proof. That would mean taht you can remove the lens in dirty environment. But it is good to know that rain or dust cannoz get inside as long as you use your brain and not an (American) advocate.

Expecting the camera to be dust and moisture protected without a lens! Great! I had a very good laugh!

Hope this sue-everybody-for-everything trend never hits Europe!

But IP standards would require that. And you could not even say that this is 'not intentional usage'. So let's be glad that we know what we know.

Yes, what a terrible country we Americans live in - where we're allowed to take a multi-billion-dollar international conglomerate to task for false claims and deceptive/predatory business tactics.  If you could rely on a company to be honest and place consumers above revenue it wouldn't be an issue, sadly with many companies, that's just not the case.

But I digress.

The A99 doesn't have the weather sealing the EM5 does, its obvious when comparing the two side-by-side, so I'm not sure what constitutes "weather sealing" standards.  I've gotten caught with my wife's EM5 out in the rain and I kept shooting - the camera is fine.  I don't feel comfortable risking my A99 in poor weather, if rain is threatening the A99 goes back in the bag.

When the A900 came out Michael Reichman wrote about a photographic Antarctica expedition. The Nikons and Sony worked well in spray water, but the Canons failed. And all of them used high level gear, of course.

Same here. Used my A900 in Iceland next to sea spray, waterfall spray (so wet that I had to wear rain clothing) and snow etc. As long as it is not exposed to long and in heavy rain, it will be fine.

I could imagine that Sony regards weather sealing mainly as a checklist feature. They won't put much efforts in the implementation, but they want to be able to include it in the feature list. In those rare cases where there is a dispute about water damage due to insufficient sealing, they are probably better off just replacing the camera.

No sealing will work until eternity. And that would mean that you check your camera in proper intervals for tightness and so on. In industry you can make maintenance rules in which intervals gear has to be checked according to check lists by trained personnel together with proper documentation. But that cannot be done with consumer products.

There is no standard, and none of the camera makes will tell us what exactly we should expect, or what is just too much. I think this tells us that we should use our cameras without worrying too much, but be a bit careful when the conditions are too harsh.

Also, most cameras are spesified down to 0 degrees Celcius, the freezing point of water. Still a lot of us are using our cameras in sub-zero temperatures for weeks and months every year without worrying about the spesifications, simply because we live in countries with a cold winter season.

Oi leave dark sarcasm to the British. Undoubtedly now there are quiet a few people like you  in America now who do not dare to take their expensive camera outside because it is drizzling; afraid the water voids their warranties, while it is perfectly okay for the camera to be outside.

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http://frenske.zenfolio.com

The weather sealing is hardly over engineered, it is not extensive where as Pentax's is top notch.  Just as an FYI, I brought in my a77 for warranty and when I mentioned I had shot with it in the rain the first thing their service guy said is "If that caused any damage it is not covered by warranty"

That's because the a99 is not fully weather-sealed.

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All harsh, impolite and/or unreasonable replies will be simply ignored.
Measurebators are out of my world, photography is not about babbling behind a computer... but rather being out of your home, shoot and share photographs with other people. Shoot and Share...Thanks.

The next consumer claim would be a money back/full refund warranty if the camera does not take good pictures!

I have taken the A77 with the Sony 16-50mm f2.8 out in the full rain. (Not on purpose, but I was walking around a lake with no umbrella and there was no short cut back to the car). I had it hanging over my shoulder and when I came to the car the water was dripping from the cameras back screen. It was literally soaked. No problem whatsoever.

I would not recommend to do this on purpose but on the other hand if it happens I am not over-worried either.

Stef.

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http://stefaniekappel.tumblr.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15931938@N05/

The Nikon Nikonos was an interchangeable lens camera, that could be taken underwater. Although you could not change the lens underwter.

Not water proof, because it could not be operated below water.