The Hiking Camera Conundrum

Jeff Biscuits wrote:

This post largely boils down to two questions:

1. Just how weather resistant is the X100V really?
2. Is there a way to carry an X-E body and lens such that is accessible (which likely means attached to the chest via rucksack straps) and well-protected from torrential rain?

Currently my main hiking setup is the X-T2 and 16-80, which broadly speaking suits me fine: the range goes just about wide enough and just about long enough, and image quality is just about good enough. I have decent faith in the weather sealing of the X-T2 and it means not having to change lenses.

Thing is, that kit represents not only a large chunk of financial value but the T2 is also my most advanced body in terms of sensor and imaging capability. Which again is fine, except that most of the time I’m not hiking, and if I’m not hiking then I’m likely to be using either an X-E body or my X100T (I prefer the rangefinder ergonomics, especially as I’m a left eye shooter). Pretty much the only time I use the X-T2 other than hiking is for street photography in the rain.

So it makes sense to put the greatest image quality into a body I’ll use a lot, which probably means the X100V.

Now, I’m comfortable with that being adequately rainproof for urban use, but the hills are different: once you’re out, there’s no shelter when the weather hits hard. But if I change my kit then it’s either a case of taking the X100V or packing an X-E into an absolutely watertight bag. And given experience of one day this year (persistent 50mph+ wind and rain that killed two iPhones and penetrated supposed dry bags within my rucksack) I’m dubious about the latter.

There is always the option of keeping my 27mm WR and picking up a cheap X-T1, but that adds expense. Another option is the X-Pro3 instead of the X100V, but that works out more expensive and leaves me with the 27 as my street setup rather than the more compact and nicer-rendering X100 lens. In any case, I still need to test drive both, as I couldn’t get on with the X-Pro2’s viewfinder (I wear glasses) and I’m not sure I’ll like the X100V’s button positions (being left-eyed).

So: a truly weatherproof setup is needed; is the X100V up to the job? If not, what ideas have I missed?

Cheers 🙂

You're not getting a camera that's weatherproof unless you grab something like the TG-6 from Olympus regardless of what the rating of a WR designated lens/camera is.

That said, I take my X-E4 with me on 100% of my hikes/backpacking trips regardless of weather and while I don't have to worry about rain much because I live in southern CA, I do have to worry about dust which IMO is just as harmful to a camera as water. Now because of the dust issues I'm constantly dealing with the PD Clip was a non-starter, and not just because it left my camera exposed but also because once I started wearing it for more than a few hours at a time it was pretty uncomfortable. The solution I found was this:

https://www.lowepro.com/global/dashpoint-30-slate-grey-lp36444-0ww/

This case not only secures very well to the shoulder straps of both my day pack (Osprey Stratos 24) and my backpack (Gregory Optic 58) for easy access but also fully enclose my camera until I want to use it, and then it's simply a matter of unzipping, taking it out, and taking the shot. Not only that, I've not had any of the comfort issues I had with the PD Clip in addition to the bag being just large enough to use with either the 14/2.8 or 60/2.4 mounted on the X-E4 which have been two of my favorite trail lenses of all time. Oh, and once you strip it of the shoulder strap and shoulder strap loops it weighs 71g which is less than the PD Clip and Plate attachment was for me.

Also, in case of rain I carry my electronics in a DCF drybag that's a bit oversized for my phone, charger, and cables, but just big enough to carry all of that plus my camera bag which I can remove from my bag in case of a sudden change in the weather.