If I understood correctly, in democracy you can have & express in public whatever opinion you want… but nobody forces you to have one 😉 . And, since I live in a democratic country I’ll now admit in public: I still don’t have a final opinion about the following subject: Weather Sealing!
Personally, I don’t worry to shoot with my Fujifilm X-E2 under light rain (see my wet X-E2 here). Sure, I didn’t test it under heavy tropical rain or in sand storms of the Sahara, and I probably would be afraid to use it in such extreme conditions. But I’m pretty confident that my Fujifilm X-E2 can handle any normal adverse weather condition.
Well, some say that weather sealing is just a sales gimmick… and here is a story that made me think about it.
It’s the story of Claire’s Fujifilm X20 (read her whole story here) that was shared and sent to me by Dan Bailey (thanks danbaileyphoto)… and it’s quickly summarized in the following 3 sentences:
1) Claire lost her Fujifilm X20 in the wild, in an area with many bears.
2) The Fujifilm X20 remained 3 months exposed to rain, dust, wind, sun, animals (bear bites).
3) After three months Claire found her X20 again, put a battery into it… and it still worked perfectly!
Ok, we know that Fujifilm cameras are very well made, but that the X20 would still perfectly work after being completely exposed to the brute force of nature for 3 months, now that comes really surprising for me.
So, let us know in the comments what you think about it. And for all those (like me) who don’t have a final opinion about it, keep in mind what my favorite author, Montaigne, would have said: I know that I know nothing, and I’m not even sure of that ;).
You can buy the indestructible Fujifilm X20 here
or its successor, the Fujifilm X30 here
my Fuji X-E2 in the rain… and a shot taken the day after with it
50 Responses
It’s really surprising that the X20 survived this! Are there sample images taken AFTER the 3month nature trip? Also we have to admit that the X20 is a non-interchangeable lens camera. So it actually is easier for dust and dirt to get inside e.g. an X-E2 or X-T1.
I don’t think so, If you need WS you need it. The long term life of that camera may be a year or less but who knows.
“exposed to rain, dust, wind, sun, animals and bear bites.”
What sun in the forest? And animals (bears BTW are animals too, no need to pad the list) are not interested in lumps of plastic.
made some changes that should make it perfect now 😉
Bears are interested in anything with human or other animal scent on it. That x20 was handled extensively and undoubtedly smelled heavily of humans. If I drop anything in a high density bear zone, the bears “check it out”, sometimes damaging it and sometimes not.
Wow this is a real retro look! Fuji please offer a bear bites version of X-E2 too!
It could still work after 3 months, but what about 6 months or a year? do you know for sure that there isn’t a fungus growing inside or that the corrosion will eat the electronic to death in the near future?
I went swimming in salt water with my iPhone4 I could only get it to a lab after 5 days, some cleaning and a new battery and it came back for life but after a few months it started to die…. wifi stop working and slowly it responded slow…
The only thing to consider that weather sealing is not weatherproof, it will survive some rain and dust but if you drop it in the ocean it might work for a while but will die…
The LCD display of my X100s starts to show very weird colors (looks a bit like CGA) when I stay for a few days in a humid place.
I believe any non weather sealed camera can survive normal rainy conditions.
However constant pouring rains and (sahara) desert sand particles I would not trust any non weather camera to those conditions, while it should not be problem for a weather sealed camera.
Is ‘weather sealed’ a sales gimmick? I am undecided about that though.
I think is most of the modern cameras are manufactured to withstand moisture, dust and shocks; Although they are sort of weathersealed in a way, companies doesn’t advertise mostly for liability concerns and lack of certifications and type approvals.
However, a real “weather sealed” cameras are built specifically for that purpose in mind and passed tests and certifications.
Personally I’ve never worried too unduly about rain, when the body gets too wet I wipe it off and carry it under my jacket. Shooting in sand dunes on a windy day was a worry, but nothing bad occurred, but I doubt that weather sealing would have made me feel more confident in that instance. Having said that, I wouldn’t avoid a product because it stated “weather sealed”, but I wouldn’t totally trust it either. It’s a bit like titanium alloy bodies, just because their stronger it doesn’t mean they won’t break if you drop them.
“Ok, we know that Fujifilm cameras are very well made”…
So I believed, because it was true with my X-T1.
Those last months, I had several issues on my Fuji X-T1.
I just got an answer from the repairer (PM2S) in charge of reparations for Fujifilm France and in Luxembourg.
I’m so angry !!! They quoted 700€ for the defaults I already talked about here ! For the record, lost eyecup, grip getting smooth and unglued, painting going of for no reason in several places like shutter button, leak light, connectors trap bended, lost little screw that has unscrewed itself.
I can’t believe they considered this out of warranty, whereas some users got it taken in charge in UK, USA and Australia.
Fujifilm France totally sucks ! I wanted to buy another X-T1, I am now considering going back to Canon. Fujifilm cameras are awesome, but expensive. I’m ok with that if quality, and after sell services are good. They are, all over the world except in France !
My almost 3 years old Fuji X100s is like new, still, and I use it the same way !
I now have a camera with massive aesthetic defaults, which make it impossible to sell in the future. None of those defaults were caused by a misusing. They just appeared days after days, only 2 months after I bought it.
Other users had a free repair for the same problems in other countries. Not in France apparently !
Fuji sucks on this one.
Because you have had a faulty product doesn’t automatically incline everybody has the same problems, nor that its a bad camera.
Meaby its your user error or just rough handling why things break. Its not that you ‘suddenly’ loose a eyecup. The lightleak has been solved long time ago and for free.
I do have a faulty product. That’s why I contacted Fujifilm France Customer Care, who wants to charge me 700€ for repairs that are taken in charge in other countries (UK, Germany, USA and Canada… even Malaysia).
X100s is solid, a true travel camera. X-T1 is NOT. I talke to a photog using it since march, he took 40.000 shots with it, and the On/Off button became smooth, at a point that he barely can turn it now ! So I don’t know if Fuji changed something in their production between X-Pro1 and X-T1, but X-T1 is really not as solid as it’s meant to be.
No, I didn’t misused it, I can’t even see how I could get smooth grip, unglue it, take off the black painting all around my camera, all by myself and all this in less than 4 months of normal use (3000 pics / month, thats not a lot). My 5DmkII had to be handled roughlier, never had any issue. My x100s is supposed to be more fragile (more plastic), but it remains intact.
Fact is, there is issues with first X-T1 series (I’m not the only one), and we have to advise Fujifilm about those problems, so that they can correct them in future gear. That is my only purpose here, as I invested in Fujifilm and want to remain a Fuji X Shooter !
Late 80’s though early 00 Nikons had a similar problem too with rubber bits coming off. My D1 was terrible with this.
Yes, the grip on the X-T1 does peel off with continued use. I sent mine in for warranty repair (USA) but they only fixed the part that was off, not the part that was about to come off. I think I will send it back again before the warranty is over, for a total replacement. Other than this grip issue, I have been happy with the X-T1, and I don’t worry about it in the rain.
Have NEVER had an issue with using ANY of my equipment in even heavy rain…having used Leica, Nikon and MF cameras and now Fuji. I’ve always used some sort of cover and a wipe when needed. Lately that is a simple silnylon bag and a small microfiber towel. If you really -REALLY- want weather sealing use a Nikonos.
or PENTAX! Most rugged cameras ever built, forget rain, bring on the sand storm!
No issue with my X100s either ! maybe I was just lucky…
Hmmm.. when my X-E1 was new I slipped momentarily jumping from rock to rock in the sea off Koh-samui. My Sexy-1 dipped briefly into the water. I really thought that it would be fine the immersion period was so brief. But both the body and the attached 18-55 slowly died. I was gutted. However, after a day or two drying out the body came back to life albeit with water/salt/gunge marks still visible in the EVF The lens too eventually came back; but that took considerably longer. Nearly a month if I recall correctly.
At the end-of-the day it’d never stop me from loving my Fuji’s but if I’m going to be that stupid/reckless now I’m more inclined to take my K5
Horses for courses
I once lost my 55-200 Nikon DX lens in 3 feet of snow. Is was there from January until early spring when I was able to find it… This is a cheap 200 dollar lens and still works fine after sitting in the melting snow for 3 months.
But this was Nikon. I can only say that I own gear that went very faithfully through decades and still looks like it just came out of the shop. Including that so much discussed and disliked plastic which appears to be extremely time resistant. I know a lot of people will start crying after this post but don’t believe that Fuji is built to the same standards. After 2.5 years I ran with Fuji into all kind of issues pointing to quality issues you can expect from cheap compact cameras but not premium, pro-oriented equipment and the Fuji after sales service was very disappointing, not even capable to organize guarantee-covered repairs in a decent way. I admit, the X-T1 looks like it’s built to a different standard, but I doubt that an X-Pro1 can live for let’s say five years in a professional environment. It’s just a ‘two years and then gone’ camera and that’s not good enough for me. If I ever buy into an X-Pro2-concept, I will have to be a completely different, reliable camera.
During a trip this summer I encountered lots of sea spray. The aperture dial of my 35mm became erratic, but seems ok now… and I have strange spot inside of my X-Pro1 optical viewfinder.
Weather sealing can be marketing and feature minor enhancements or it can be full on, benchmarked, warranty backed protection. I don’t know of any manufacturer to provide benchmarks or warranty, but would love the XPro2 to set a new standard.
Ditto.
Yes, I hope the X-Pro2 will feature (at least) everything the X100T and X-T1 have best.
Agreed. What we need is an ingress protection rating. Without it we can’t really know if the camera can be trusted. We may be lucky, but if anything happens, the manufacturer is not responsible. Without IP rating weather sealing can only be a gimmick.
Looking at the poll results: obviously, weather sealing is a marketing gimmick, and it works. People want it, en masse.
Which poll results are you looking at – just because people are in agreement that it is NOT a marketing gimmick, your conclusion is that it is a gimmick? That’s some flawed logic.
I draw conclusions from my own logic, which is not a democracy. That’s how I came up with “obviously, weather sealing is a marketing gimmick”. Looking at poll results, I came up with the second part of the phrase.
Now I see why “explanatory journalism” is so popular nowadays.
Ahh, so pulled it from your own rectum – Always a sound scientific method…
Your profile says “Communications strategist”. I see.
That’s an amazing comeback – since yes, that is actually my title and occupation.
haha “my own logic” – yes, we all know how that works for you 🙂
“obviously, weather sealing is a marketing gimmick, and it works” – I hope you realize that what you are actually saying is that weather sealing works? the subject of the sentence is weather sealing, the pronoun “it” refers back to the subject.
Maybe if read more explanatory journalism you’d understand this better, manufacturers aren’t claiming that cameras are weatherproof, simply that they are resistant, that they (the cameras) have rubber gaskets etc.
While you’re entitled to your opinion, however, deluded or arrogant they might be, that doesn’t entitle you to claim something is obvious. To make that claim you would need to be in the majority opinion, and judging by the poll results and the kinds of comments you have elicited, that’s not the case. You’re an outlier here, your views are not shared by the majority. You spout off like you have a clue, which might fool some of the newcomers to the forum, you try to use science terms (and mostly get them wrong) to attempt to sound smart, but you’re just embarrassing yourself.
You consistently fail to impress, troll.
What to think about “Claire’s” story? Well.. how does anyone know that these are bear bites if the camera has got lost? And why should a bear bite into a camera? Not really authentic…
Weather sealing means you have a promise by the manufacturer that you are able to take this camera out, even if it rains. That is more than a marketing instrument. I would never feel good with my non sealed camera out in the rain, but you also have to use the right, also weather sealed lenses. Thus everybody using third party lenses can’t rely on the weather sealing of the camera.
“And why should a bear bite into a camera?”
Because it smells like human and bears are darn curious creatures?
Admin it looks like the rain did damage the x-trans pattern on the sensor, such that the image became black-and-white only. I didn’t know the filter array could wash off that easily.
lol 🙂
I took these photos standing up to my armpits in the sea in a steady downpour.
I used my X-T1 and the non-weather sealed XF35mm with no protection.
It seemed to work well enough, with no ill-effects afterwards
Ah. Can’t see the photos.
I’ll try again
I used the X-Pro1 in cold environments with temperature down to -28 C in Haerbin, North China. No problem. For days. And I constantly used it below -10 C for months in Dalian, North China. I generally don’t use any protection to cover the body. The camera got a hell lot of scratches during the last 2 years, but no problem technically whatsoever.
I have the X-Pro1, too. It sounds encouragingly good what you say about its resistance to weather elements.
My XE-1 has done fine in tornadic environments. Rain, hail, dust, and 70mph winds haven’t affected it in the least. That being said, I’d prefer weather sealing over no weather sealing, as obviously any water/dust/whatever getting inside your camera has the potential to cause issues.
http://i.imgur.com/rRpDktC.jpg
I can’t believe this is a discussion. The cameras rated as weather sealed have rubber dealings, gaskets, etc. which you can corroborate.
If you think your non weather sealed camera is doing fine, you may not realize you may have reduced it’s working product life expectancy by exposing electronics to humidity.
How can a Camera like the X-T1 be called weather sealed, when it has a light leak? When light shines inside the camera, there can always get water and dust inside.
Even when the light leak is fixed now, this shows us that the physical possibilities of
sealing are limited.
Light can travel through places that dust cannot and moisture cannot (light comes in through the glass on the lens, yet no dust does). That is also the case in terms of the limited number of bodies that had the ‘light leak’ you are referring to.
For the record, the X-T1 is weather-sealed, its just up until now, most of the lenses were not. Fuji is now producing weather sealed lenses in the newer lines.
Hulk smash not weathersealed Fuji! Also smash puny sensor xt1! Smaash!
Smash all fuji!
fuji is my fav doing it right now, period!