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Nikon D7200 in inclement weather


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#1
vandexa2

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As some of you might recall, I posted a while back about my D7200 that died after I had used it all day in very hot and humid conditions.  The camera needed just about all the internals replaced other than the sensor, and it made me a bit wary of the weather sealing and it's ability to handle tough conditions.

This last week I spent 10 days hiking in the Pacific Northwest.  I only had one day without rain, humidity was incredibly high every day, temps varied from 40-60F.  I stayed in a cabin on the ocean and the camera was exposed to moisture pretty much 24x7 for the time I was there, except for when I was driving, in which case I used air conditioning set at a temperature slightly warmer than outside, and a high fan speed, to try to remove as much moisture as possible in between hikes.

Anyway, I had no problems whatsoever with the camera.  Fogging was occasionally an annoyance, but that was to be expected given the conditions.  Keeping raindrops off the lenses was also a problem when shooting birds or gigantic trees, where I needed to have the lens angled up in the rain.  There were many days the camera was pretty much soaked the whole day.  I couldn't shoot a single photo without the camera getting soaked, and only under heavier downpours did I even try to keep it somewhat under my raincoat.  I honestly expected it to die, but wasn't going to miss any photo opportunities worrying about it.

So, as others suggested with my earlier post, it may very well have just been a coincidence that my camera died in hot humid weather, and not actually been a victim of the heat and humidity.  At the very least, I have a little more faith that the camera can handle anything I'm likely to put it through.

Also, as an aside, I had one clear night where I tried some astrophotography.  The camera works really well for this with the Sigma 18-35 f/1.8.  I didn't have much time to experiment, but I was able to get nice shots of the Milky Way at ISO 800, f/2.2-f/2.8, and 20 second exposures.



#2
TBonz

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A raincoat for your camera / lens can come in quite handy.  OpTech makes some rather inexpensive "throw away" versions based on your equipment (length of lens being the most important part.  They are reusable although they aren't really designed for long term use.  They fold up nice and small so it is easy to have a couple of them stashed away in your camera bag "just in case".  I use them all the time with my smaller lenses and have the big and expensive AquaTech for my camera with the 200-400...works well and I've used them MANY times in extremely heavy rain.

 

The price of a pack of 2 OpTech rain sleeves is under $20 last I checked, so it won't break the bank.  I prefer not to tempt things with such a cheap alternative.



#3
Merco_61

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Another thing to investigate is getting some dessicant and stick a bag or two in the bag when you go out in high humidity and for long-term storage at home if humidity is high. Real Silica crystals can be dried out in the oven and reused over and over again.

 

I agree about the camera dying and the conditions probably being coincidence, but a rainsleeve doesn't hurt and you get used to shooting with them.