Weather Sealing is a Hugely Overrated Feature

Weather sealing and dust issues are completely separate issues altogether.

Weather sealing helps out with water and dust issues while the lens is on the body . Dust on the sensor happens when the lens if off of the body .

I value the environmental sealin on my MKII, as I find myself in pretty dusty and wet conditions. I didn't feel comfortable with my old 10D (now sold) in the same conditions.

--
Andy Biggs Digital African Safaris
http://www.andybiggs.com
African Digital Photo Safaris ~ Photo Workshops ~ Fine Art Prints

Dust on the sensor happens when the lens if off of the body .

If your careful, it doesn't.

It happens with the lens on, in the field, during shooting, and no more on the 10D than the 1's.

Kahame, you are just flat out wrong. My 1D has well over 80,000 images and is still going strong. I don't baby it at all. Rain, sleet, snow, whatever. I have never had a problem with a cruncy lens, although all my lens are weater sealed as well so maybe that is the difference. No sticky shutter, and no sticky buttons. Evidently, this feature is very important in that I have never experienced the sort of problems you have with the D10.

Kahame said:

The weather sealing is an incredible feature so that you don't have
to risk your gear

You are risking your gear by shooting in heavy rain. Risking
crunchy lenses, sticky shutter (and other) buttons etc.

Planning on shooting in the rain without cover is a bad practice.

Getting caught in a storm is different, but it will not kill a 10D
either.

Click to expand...

--
Dan Brown
http://www.pbase.com/wheatenman

'If nothing changes, nothing changes'

Dust hits the sensor when you change lenses;
has nothing to do with weather sealing.

maljo

As noted above:

If your careful, it doesn't.

It happens with the lens on, in the field, during shooting, and no more on the 10D than the 1's.

I assume you want to get to 3 to 5 times that # of shutter cycles. Your camera is essentially new. I am talking about proper care for longevity (maybe even resale). All it takes is one muddy splashup, or one dirty rain. I am glad you have been lucky so far, but can you really suggest your methods to others? I would never PLAN on shooting my 1DS, 1D2 or 10D exposed.

I don't think I have been lucky at all, the camera is made to take it. In terms of the dirty rain thing, it rains so frequently here in Seattle that the rain is pretty darn clean. I have never seen any crusties on my car after a good rain, let alone my camera. A couple of weekends ago we were shooting an outdoor basketball tournament. Huge rainstorm came in, then left abruptly. There were still quite a few puddles around. During one game a kid splashed the puddle all over me and drenched the camera. Wiped down the lens, due to the element getting water spotted and everything was good to go. I know a D10 or my D60 would not have liked the huge splash, especially the lack of water proofing around the card slot. Maybe things are different in Hawaii, but when I was in Maui a few months back I was really thankful that I didn't have to worry about carrying around any kind of rain shield when we were hiking. Rain storms would come up and we'd just keep on trekking not having to worry about the camera gear.

Kahame said:

I assume you want to get to 3 to 5 times that # of shutter cycles.
Your camera is essentially new. I am talking about proper care for
longevity (maybe even resale). All it takes is one muddy splashup,
or one dirty rain. I am glad you have been lucky so far, but can
you really suggest your methods to others? I would never PLAN on
shooting my 1DS, 1D2 or 10D exposed.

Click to expand...

--
Dan Brown
http://www.pbase.com/wheatenman

'If nothing changes, nothing changes'

i completely agree with your statement.

However, I think you have the whole environmental seal thing all wrong, and have been mislef as to the benefits. The sealing does not prevent dust on the senor.

Am I wrong? Find some marketing material where Canon touts this as a benefit. Environmental sealing is for other benefits, such as being able to shoot in light rain and dust.

Kahame said:

Dust on the sensor happens when the lens if off of the body .

If your careful, it doesn't.

It happens with the lens on, in the field, during shooting, and no
more on the 10D than the 1's.

Click to expand...

--
Andy Biggs Digital African Safaris
http://www.andybiggs.com
African Digital Photo Safaris ~ Photo Workshops ~ Fine Art Prints

you just don't get it. You are making at argument that environmental sealing doens't prevent getting dust on the sensor. Ok!!!! we get it!!! But nobody has ever said that dust won't get on the sensor. The two are completely separate issues.

Kahame said:

As noted above:

If your careful, it doesn't.

It happens with the lens on, in the field, during shooting, and no
more on the 10D than the 1's.

Click to expand...

--
Andy Biggs Digital African Safaris
http://www.andybiggs.com
African Digital Photo Safaris ~ Photo Workshops ~ Fine Art Prints

...since we just buy a new body every year LOL!!!

sean

Kahame said:

There seem to be a large # of posts touting the 1 series
weather-proofing. These cameras (speaking of my 1ds and Mark 2)
need the exact same amount of sensor cleaning as my 10D (with
"weather sealed" L lenses). In Hawaii, that is often (salt, red
dirt dust, ash, moisture, etc.). I never change lenses outside (I
use the auto), and excersise all sound precautions. The gaskets on
the 1's are fine for a little moisture, but if it's pouring, who is
trusting 8 grand of gear without a slicker anyways. I love my 1's
and am stoked to see the next gen, but truly, this is over-hyping
at it's best.

Click to expand...

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Andy Biggs said:

Am I wrong? Find some marketing material where Canon touts this as
a benefit. Environmental sealing is for other benefits, such as
being able to shoot in light rain and dust.

Click to expand...

My comment was that many users are making these claims. They are doing so in posts supposed to be helping others decide if a Mark2 is a wortwhile upgrade to a 10D or 20D (even above in this thread). As you stated, keeping dust off the sensor is not a benefit of the 1DS or Mark2. Being able to "shoot in light rain and dust" is a capability all 3 models have. Being able to shoot in prolonged downpours, well, there is plenty of discussion about that above, but I maintain it is a poor practice for your gear and would not test the feature on any of my cameras. Thanks for your input!