Panasonic 100-300mm II may not be splash proof

My local store had a near mint Panasonic 100-300mm mark II lens for sale, and I bought it on Saturday to add to my weather sealed lens collection (Olympus 12-50mm, Olympus 12-40mm, Olympus 14-150mm mark II, Panasonic 12-60mm [G85 kit lens], plus the classic 4/3rds lenses 11-22mm, 14-54mm, 50-200mm, and 50mm).

I went on a whale watch on Monday (US Labor Day), and had the 14-150mm mark II mounted on the E-m1 mark I and the 100-300mm mounted on the G85.  While the day was sunny, we got splashed quite a lot.

I had distilled water in the car to rinse everything off, and later rinsed everything under the tap once again to get any salt off the gear.

The E-m1 mark I works fine.  The 14-150mm mark II works fine.  The G85 works fine.  They've been on whale watches before.  However, the 100-300mm mark II unfortunately makes a loud buzzing when I turn it on.

So, I'm putting it in a sealed box with uncooked rice for a few days to see if the rice can draw out the water.  Hopefully it will work, otherwise I will probably need to find where the Panasonic lens repair facility is.  Bummer.

May be terminology could be mor eclear but if it has an IP rating, what is it. When you  rinse it, it is not a splash  in my book and I would never do that with my lenses. I blow salt of when I shoot surfers. My 100-400 is dustsealed/resistant but after shooting surfers in high wind lots of sound blowing seriously around the100-400 made sharp sounds of a sand/dustpartcile I cleaned it finally but not with water or so.

Putting it in a back with rice seems to be a good idea. Good luck!

Btw: did you get nice photo's and could you show them? Thx! I bet many people are interested in how the 100-300 II performs.

Michael Meissner wrote:

My local store had a near mint Panasonic 100-300mm mark II lens for sale, and I bought it on Saturday to add to my weather sealed lens collection (Olympus 12-50mm, Olympus 12-40mm, Olympus 14-150mm mark II, Panasonic 12-60mm [G85 kit lens], plus the classic 4/3rds lenses 11-22mm, 14-54mm, 50-200mm, and 50mm).

I went on a whale watch on Monday (US Labor Day), and had the 14-150mm mark II mounted on the E-m1 mark I and the 100-300mm mounted on the G85. While the day was sunny, we got splashed quite a lot.

I had distilled water in the car to rinse everything off, and later rinsed everything under the tap once again to get any salt off the gear.

The E-m1 mark I works fine. The 14-150mm mark II works fine. The G85 works fine. They've been on whale watches before. However, the 100-300mm mark II unfortunately makes a loud buzzing when I turn it on.

So, I'm putting it in a sealed box with uncooked rice for a few days to see if the rice can draw out the water. Hopefully it will work, otherwise I will probably need to find where the Panasonic lens repair facility is. Bummer.

Splash proof probably means, the lens can cope with drops of water on its surface.

Rinsing a lens means pouring a continuous flow of water onto it.

That is not what splash proof means.

Splash proof lenses should be cleaned by wet cloth, not by pouring a flow of water on them.

IMHO.

Jorginho wrote:

May be terminology could be mor eclear but if it has an IP rating, what is it. When you rinse it, it is not a splash in my book and I would never do that with my lenses. I blow salt of when I shoot surfers. My 100-400 is dustsealed/resistant but after shooting surfers in high wind lots of sound blowing seriously around the100-400 made sharp sounds of a sand/dustpartcile I cleaned it finally but not with water or so.

Thanks I will consider doing that in the future, but I didn't turn on the tap to be full pressure, and the waves that crashed over us had more force than the tap water and pouring the distilled water did over the lens.

Putting it in a back with rice seems to be a good idea. Good luck!

Btw: did you get nice photo's and could you show them? Thx! I bet many people are interested in how the 100-300 II performs.

I got a few pictures of Gloucester Massachusetts harbor as we were leaving the dock and going to Stellwagen bank (where many of the Atlantic humpback whales feed in the summer time).  When I process them I'll try to remember to post a few hear if they were decent.

The whales were much closer to the boat than some of the trips, so there are almost no shots of the whales with the G85/100-300mm combo.  I caught most of the whales at 30-45mm.  I didn't get any killer shots of the whales this time.

Before we got to Stellwagen bank, I tried capturing a few seagulls sitting on the ocean, and I ran into the issue that I dislike about the G85 where if you have a blob of white, the G85 will tend to burn out the highlights more often than the Olympus cameras do.  So in this case, you a blob of white in the middle of the ocean.  The boat was going much faster than previous trips between Gloucester and Stellwagen Bank, so there was no time to focus or play with exposure compensation.

Robiro wrote:

Splash proof probably means, the lens can cope with drops of water on its surface.

Rinsing a lens means pouring a continuous flow of water onto it.

As I said in my other reply, the repeated splashes of the ocean spray were harder and longer than the bit I did with the tap water.  So maybe it was the ocean spray that did it.  In that case, I would argue that the lens is not splash proof if it cannot stand having several ocean waves splash on it.

Wasabi Bob wrote:

1. In this weekend's local paper (The Record - Bergen County, NJ) there was an article that confirmed the myth about rice - it does nothing to dry out your device. The same results can be achieved by letting it sit, unused, for the same time. The proven method is to have the device in a vacuum chamber, with a temp of about 175F for abt 30 min. Two companies are offering this for phones.

Do you have a link?

2. Panasonic's lens are "Splash Resistant" - not Splash Proof, not "Weather Sealed". The IPX rating suggests it is designed to survive the morning dew. More important, any testing uses fresh water - NOT salt water.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Note, i went to the Panasonic USA web site, and here is the quote about the 100-300mm mark II:

Brave the elements in nearly any kind of weather or shooting location. This lens features a splash/dustproof construction* that is tough enough to withstand even heavy field use. It protects the lens system inside from sand, rain and more, making it perfect for shooting under harsh conditions. Now there is nothing holding you back from capturing the creative nature or landscape shots you want.

*The lens supports this feature in conjunction with splash/dustproof LUMIX cameras.

And here is what the manual has to say:

Lens Care
Please read these instructions carefully before using this • This lens has a dust-proof and splash-proof product, and save this manual for future use. construction. When using it, please be careful of the following. If the lens is not working properly, consult the dealer or your nearest Service Center.

• Please attach the lens to a dust-proof and splash-proof digital camera.
• When detaching the lens from the digital camera, take care to ensure that sand, dust, splashes of water etc., do not get into the lens or the terminals.
• This lens is not waterproof and cannot be used to record underwater. For splash-proofing, the lens is constructed to resist the entry of water. If splashes of water etc. do adhere to the lens, wipe after use with a soft dry cloth.
• To improve the dust-proofing and splash-proofing of this lens, a lens mount rubber is used in the mounting portion. After changing the lens a number of times, you may find that the lens mount rubber has marked the mount portion of the digital camera body, which does not affect its performance. For information on changing the lens mount rubber, contact your nearest Service Center.
• Do not press the lens with excessive force.
• When there is dirt (water, oil, and fingerprints, etc.) on the surface of the lens, the picture may be affected. Lightly wipe the surface of the lens with a soft, dry cloth
  before and after taking pictures.
• To prevent dust and other particles from accumulating on or entering the lens, attach the lens rear cap when the lens is not in use.
• To protect the lens contact points 1, do not place the lens with its mount surface facing down. In addition, do not allow the lens contact points to become dirty.

Note, I had the lens on the G85. Being a non-lawyer, I would certainly interpret that as being able to withstand strong splashes. Now, it doesn't mention salt water, but I would certainly argue that 'creative nature' type shots include shooting by the ocean.

In any case, I suspect I will go back to buying Olympus weather sealed lenses.

My next big purchase is going to probably be a wide angle lens, and I had been trying to figure out whether it would be the Olympus 7-14mm or the Panasonic-Leica 8-18mm. For now, it moves me to the 7-14mm camp.

But they were not plashes, were they. You appear to have given the lens a proper rinse.

Wasabi Bob wrote:

1. In this weekend's local paper (The Record - Bergen County, NJ) there was an article that confirmed the myth about rice - it does nothing to dry out your device.

However, based on my own experience, a device that is dry outside and wet inside makes the surrounding rice to expand.

Wasabi Bob wrote:

1. In this weekend's local paper (The Record - Bergen County, NJ) there was an article that confirmed the myth about rice - it does nothing to dry out your device. The same results can be achieved by letting it sit, unused, for the same time. The proven method is to have the device in a vacuum chamber, with a temp of about 175F for abt 30 min. Two companies are offering this for phones.

2. Panasonic's lens are "Splash Resistant" - not Splash Proof, not "Weather Sealed". The IPX rating suggests it is designed to survive the morning dew. More important, any testing uses fresh water - NOT salt water.

Keep your fingers crossed.

I have never had a non-weather sealed camera/lens that had a problem with morning dew.

If the new Panasonic 100-300 lens is not Splash/Dust Proof, then someone should tell the Panasonic USA website to stop saying they are Splash/Dust Proof.

I have had my E5 and E-M1.1 (with 12-60 and 50-200 SWD) splashed by ocean waves and while I haven't put them under a running tap, they have been given very gentle showers with the water spray over the top of the lens/camera (lens extended) and then carefully dried with a cotton cloth without any problems. Any dried salt on the external zoom would quickly destroy the seals

"Splashproof" is not listed under the specs for the 100 - 300 II.  Guess you destroyed your own lens.  The 100 - 400 is "Splashproof, but reasonable care should still be taken.

LMNCT wrote:

"Splashproof" is not listed under the specs for the 100 - 300 II. Guess you destroyed your own lens. The 100 - 400 is "Splashproof, but reasonable care should still be taken.

Umm, as I quoted above, the Panasonic USA web entry for the 100-300mm mark II lens explicitly says splash proof, as does the 100-300 mark II manual that I downloaded. I don't know how you can be more official than that.

• Panasonic entry for the lens: http://shop.panasonic.com/cameras-and-camcorders/lumix-camera-lenses/H-FSA100300.html#start=1&cgid=lumix-camera-lenses
• Panasonic manual for the lens: ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/lenses/om/h-fsa100300_mul_om.pdf

LMNCT wrote:

"Splashproof" is not listed under the specs for the 100 - 300 II. Guess you destroyed your own lens. The 100 - 400 is "Splashproof, but reasonable care should still be taken.

It takes about one minute to go to the Panasonic web and find

"Upgraded support for harsh weather conditions (Splashproof / Dustproof).:

http://shop.panasonic.com/cameras-and-camcorders/lumix-camera-lenses/H-FSA100300.html

Michael Meissner wrote:

My local store had a near mint Panasonic 100-300mm mark II lens for sale, and I bought it on Saturday to add to my weather sealed lens collection (Olympus 12-50mm, Olympus 12-40mm, Olympus 14-150mm mark II, Panasonic 12-60mm [G85 kit lens], plus the classic 4/3rds lenses 11-22mm, 14-54mm, 50-200mm, and 50mm).

near mint??  did you check whether the gasket between the body and lens had been compromised??

Michael Meissner wrote:

• [snip]

Note, I had the lens on the G85. Being a non-lawyer, I would certainly interpret that as being able to withstand strong splashes. Now, it doesn't mention salt water, but I would certainly argue that 'creative nature' type shots include shooting by the ocean.

In any case, I suspect I will go back to buying Olympus weather sealed lenses.

My next big purchase is going to probably be a wide angle lens, and I had been trying to figure out whether it would be the Olympus 7-14mm or the Panasonic-Leica 8-18mm. For now, it moves me to the 7-14mm camp.

My Olympus gear is doused often down the beach, or down the creek, and I wash water off LIKE THIS:

https://photohounds.smugmug.com/Gear-tests/Wet-wet-wet/i-SVGhWLb/A -

Olympus do it properly, but watch lenses (zooms) that "breathe"!

Wasabi Bob wrote:

1. In this weekend's local paper (The Record - Bergen County, NJ) there was an article that confirmed the myth about rice - it does nothing to dry out your device. The same results can be achieved by letting it sit, unused, for the same time. The proven method is to have the device in a vacuum chamber, with a temp of about 175F for abt 30 min. Two companies are offering this for phones.

Well rice absorb humidity. Put it into salt box and after some time compare to salt box without and you will see. The question is how much it helps with completely soaked electronics.