20D is water resistant

[CorruptedPhotographer]

So yesterday I was taking pictures at a hotel called Emirates Palace on a huge lawn. Suddenly the sprinklers come on. I'm standinb among about 5 ~ 6 water sprinklers just shooting out water diagonally to heights of 6 feet and above. Well needless to say I was completly dreneched and the same goes for my 20D w/battery grip w/ 17-40 L attached.
Its hard to explain how wet my gear was, so I hope this analogy works. Imagine picking up a water hose (from ur everyday garden type) and literally from a distance of 3 feet and spraying your gear head on. Directly at it, I coulndt shield it because there were 5 or 6 of them in a 360 degree around me lol. Im not talkin about little droplets of water or mist. No this was bonafide streams of water pouring down the camera and lens. All over the flash mount, the front part where the lens attaches, the LCD screen, the top LCD screen, the battery grip and even the view finder area. The view finder was a little foggy because it was hard to get my finger into the eye piece hole.
Also, the 17-40 L's weather sealing helped pretty well!


Well good job Canon!!

I dried the 20D and 17-40 L with my tshirt and continued taking pictures. Neither camera nor lens was hurt. In fact, if anything at all, I got a free cleaning out of the incident.

Reason for posting this?

20D owners can be relaxed while taking pictures near heavy pours or sprays of water. There is no need to fear your gear getting wet to a degree it breaks.

[lancea]

Well I guess that's one way to clean your camera. Hope you did the sensor at the same time ;)

[defordphoto]

Reason for posting this?

20D owners can be relaxed while taking pictures near heavy pours or sprays of water. There is no need to fear your gear getting wet to a degree it breaks.

I totally 100% disagree. You got lucky. All the Canon line are water "resistant" to some degree, however ONLY the 1-series cameras are truly water proof, and even at that it depends on what lens you're shooting with.

I have shot in a light shower with my old D60, my 10D and 20D with no ill effects, HOWEVER, the camera IS NOT Water Proof! It is NOT advisable to shoot in the rain and it can void your warranty!!

[CorruptedPhotographer]

I totally 100% disagree. You got lucky.

HOWEVER, the camera IS NOT Water Proof! It is NOT advisable to shoot in the rain and it can void your warranty!!

Do you see a single "water-proof" statement in my post RFMSports? lol do you?


20D owners can be relaxed while taking pictures near heavy pours or sprays of water. There is no need to fear your gear getting wet to a degree it breaks.

The above means that if you were in the same condition I was in while shooting or less (water-wise), you will be fine. I speak from firsthand experience. I obviously did not mean to submerge or dip your 20D into water lol.



I made sure to emphasize on water-resistant. So what is it that you totally 100% disagree with? :p :lol:

[tommykjensen]

Do you see a single "water-proof" statement in my post RFMSports? lol do you?

I made sure to emphasize on water-resistant. So what is it that you totally 100% disagree with? :p :lol:


Hmm, explain the difference between water-resistant and water-proof?

[CorruptedPhotographer]

Water proof means that water will not affect it. Water resistant means to a certain degree the item can withstand water. Note: to a certain degree, it depends on the item and the specs to which it can withstand water. Water proof is the toughest in the category, water resistant is the next best thing. My above situation qualifies for water resistant since both LCD screens did not malfunction, nor did the flash or battery grip. I cant talk on behalf of the battery grip. But the magnesium alloy body sure does protect it better than a plastic body would.

According to dictionary.com :


Waterresistant:


wa·ter-re·sis·tant (wôtr-r-zstnt, wtr-)
adj.

Water-repellent.


Waterproof:


wa·ter·proof ( P ) Pronunciation Key (wôtr-prf, wtr-)
adj.

1. Impervious to or unaffected by water.
2. Made of or coated or treated with rubber, plastic, or a sealing agent to prevent penetration by water.

[CorruptedPhotographer]

lancea, no sensor gets cleaned for special occasions with WD-40 :p haha

[defordphoto]

The key here is what CANON says, not you or I. The 20D is NOT warranted for water damge and users should take that as a warning NOT to subject their equipment to unnecessary water exposure.

[defordphoto]

I made sure to emphasize on water-resistant. So what is it that you totally 100% disagree with?


Absolutely. See above...

[Pelao]

This is nice to know. I think we all realize that the 20D does not have the weather-proofing of a 1 series. But it's good to know a typical rainshower is not going to drown your 20D.

Thanks for sharing the experience!

[CorruptedPhotographer]

This is nice to know. I think we all realize that the 20D does not have the weather-proofing of a 1 series. But it's good to know a typical rainshower is not going to drown your 20D.

Thanks for sharing the experience!

No problem Pelao :D

happy shooting

[tommykjensen]

It won't change the way I handle my 20D thats for sure ;) Its way too expensive to risk damage by water.

If it is raining the camera stays home.
If the forecast promise rain the camera stays home.
If I can see there is risk of getting water splashed on the camera I keep a minimum distance from the risk zone.

[Tsmith]

Those two definitions of words (resistant & proof) keep the paint companies out of law suits.

[CorruptedPhotographer]

Yes that are what those words are for Bluedog. They are to distinuish between repelling water and completely avoiding damage by water.

[booggerg]

I'm not surprised it wasn't affected from this sprinkler attack.. I would it expect it to be built so that it can at least stand up to something like this in a short period of time..

[jerrythesnake]

I would hope it was built to sustain the odd splash or two cos here in goold old sunny Britain we get lots of showers, no problems yet?!!!

[defordphoto]

Yes. The non 1-series can handle a short, light shower, but not much more than that. I doubt anyone here would want to find out what that limit is when their own 20! :D

One of the man keys to water resistance is the lens. For example, the 70-200 f/2.8 IS is one of the few lenses that is water tight. It has an o-ring to prevent water coming into where it attached to the camera, which is the one of the most vulnerable areas of the camera. A 20D with that lens attached would be able to resist more water than with a non-water resistant lens.

Even a 1-series camera is not considered water proof (only slightly water resistant) unless it is being used with one of the lenses than has the o-ring.

[booggerg]

A 1series camera with a lens that doesn' have a seal around the mount would not fair well either..

[defordphoto]

A 1series camera with a lens that doesn' have a seal around the mount would not fair well either..

That's exactly what I said. :p

Even a 1-series camera is not considered water proof (only slightly water resistant) unless it is being used with one of the lenses than has the o-ring.

[Ogrt48]

I got stuck in a light shower with my drebel about a month ago. It was a very light shower, I was surprised it effected the camera. All the buttons on the back of the camera quit responding and the mode dial thought it was in auto no matter what. Also when I'd press popup flash button it thought I was pressing the ISO button... thank god after letting it sit around 5 hours its back to new.

[jerrythesnake]

has the 100mm 2.8 canon lens have an o ring ?

[CorruptedPhotographer]

jerrythesnake, nope no problems at all. My little sister was playin around with it today afternoon and no complains.

It wasnt a little splash, it was like someone poured say a 1litre bottle directly on the camera. Obviously it wasnt 1 litre directly on the camera, but the total of 1 litre was splashed onto the camera from 5 ~6 different angles. lol how fun

I was actually a little releived to get it splashed. Because in my heart I wanted to know how much water this camera can withstand. Canon proved it can withstand a lot and I consider it Water-Resistant. It took enough water, well resisted enough water for me to consider it a water-resistant camera. Good gob Canon.

Note: I dont think im special regardin the 20D. I'm sure at least 95% of 20D's are built the same. 5% lives for marginal errors in production (line).

[Mark_48]

If perchance some water did find it's way inside the camera it may not have any immediate effect. The lingering attributes of any moisture inside may cause corrosion of some components or the circuit board. Time will tell if you are lucky or not.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Just another tale...

Again canon does not state that these cameras are water resistant..

I too was lucky .. I got my 10D pretty soaked in rain one it's first times out...
It survived.. I too was lucky

However.. when the tale of this was relayed to my local Canon service center.. there jaws dropped.. and they turned white. they expected I had destroyed the camera...

Canon assumed that the camera was toast....

So.. it is one thing to be lucky...

to push your puck based on a happy outcome is another thing entirely.

try to keep your delicate electronic components dry! :) :) :)

[CorruptedPhotographer]

mark, currently I live in a hot country. by the time I was shooting,either everything was dripping with sweat or everything was as dry as a snake's belly. I can imagine the inside got dried up nicely. ;) if not, simply send it back to Canon or buy another one

If my camera still continues to work,then the other day I learned how much water the 20D can resist or be exposed to before disfunctioning. So far my little 20D resisted a sufficient amount of water. Good job Canon

[mjordan]

jerrythesnake, nope no problems at all. My little sister was playin around with it today afternoon and no complains.


I'm sure a lot of 20D owners are breathing a sigh of relief knowing that their cameras are "little sister" resistant as well and they don't have to worry about this. Now they can let their little sisters play with it all they want and not worry. Does it have the same resistance to "little brothers"? Or do you need a 1 series camera for that?

;)


As for water, well, I suspect the first thing you did was protect the camera with your body and you ran. So though it got wet, I suspect it didn't get wet enough to seep through the lens mount, the buttons, the battery opening, or any of the other openings on the 20D. As others have said, you were lucky because Canon does build in a certain amount of tolerance to rain and moisture into their cameras.

I look forward to seeing your pictures the next time the sprinklers go off and you continue to shoot because you are so confident in the 20D's water "resistance".

:D

Mike

[CorruptedPhotographer]

Mike, well by complaints from my sister, I meant there were no obvious malfunctions like ISO not changing or aperture hanging or shutter speed acting weird. She knows how to use a camera pretty well :)

also, haha I never said i'd continue shootin photos with sprinklers dancing around me. I said I would feel more relaxed if the situatione ver occurred again or something similar to it. I am smart enough to know that the 20D is not as weather-resistant as the 1 series :D

happy shootin everyone

[Kelv2888]

Thank you for your experience.

I can at least have hope that if my 20D gets caught in the rain or gets wet accidently some how , all may not be DEFINITELY lost.
I appreciate you sharing your experience with us all.

[BobbyC]

My camera (20D) has been subjected to massive humidity this summer during a rodeo series I shot that went on until about midnight at each event (12 of them). By the end of the event, my camera was usually soaked from the humidity in the air. I use 550's with pocket wizards and they held up great all summer as well. Twice I was in a slight sprinkle/rain that left me and the equipment drenched and it all survived, even the 550's and the pocket wizards.

I'm not saying these are indications of any kind of reistance or proofing, but they did come through it all fine.

[Sathi]

I spent this weekend shooting pictures at a music festival. My 20d got pretty wet from the constant downpours. I used my tshirt to wipe the water off the buttons and places where it looked like water would seep in and tried to keep it uder my jacket for the most part. It is still working perfectly and it did not seem like much moisture made it in. I would be worried if it got soaked though.

[Jon]

Since Pentax describes its Optio43WR, which withstands submersion of up to 3 ft, as "water-resistant", watches rated for less than 100 ft. are also called "water-resistant", and Canon only describes the 1D Mk II and 1Ds Mk II as "weather-resistant, you need to be careful in the terms you use. You're using a stronger term than Canon is prepared to, and you're not using it in the sense it's normally used for electronics. Calling a 20D "water-resistant" is overstating the case. And the time to determine whether any damage was done is later, once the salts left behind by the evaporating water have had a chance to corrode the circuitry inside the camera. It may have dried off quickly in an arid climate, but the residue from the water that got past the minimal weather seals presents a serious long-term danger.

[CorruptedPhotographer]

Thank you for your experience.

I can at least have hope that if my 20D gets caught in the rain or gets wet accidently some how , all may not be DEFINITELY lost.
I appreciate you sharing your experience with us all.



This was the effect I hoped to leave on members. I in no way encourage or support soaking/plunging/dipping/bathing/showering/sprinkling/wetting your 20D or any digital camera. I understand now that the phrase "water-resistant" may be a bit "strong", but it was the closest phrase to express the experience. It is though, to a certain degree "Water-Resistant". Obviously not officially, otherwise Canon would have stated it. But it did repel a significant amount of water that day. Obviously, I am really no one to make official statement about Canon products, but I am considerate enough to elaborate on my experience. Explain my situation so others whom have not experienced water with thier 20D can understand my situation and thus come to thier own decisions and conclusions about how to use thier 20D's in areas where water may be present. Obviously, as others mentioned, there may be salts that will corrode the insides of my 20D and cause malfunction. Thanks for pointing that out in addition to my experience. Now other users know that if thier 20D's got very wet but still worked, there would still be a chance in the future of malfunction.

Take my thread for what it is, a shared experience + my opinion. Good job Canon :D and happy shooting.

[CanonAndy]

Just for conversation, we have a specific IP (Ingress Protection) rating we give to our products (manufacturing world):

Example: IP Rating = 65

First Number - Protection Against Solid Objects
0. No Protection
1. Protected against solid objects with a diameter of 50mm and over (e.g. accidental insertion of hands)
2. Protected against solid objects over 12mm (e.g. jointed fingers)
3. Protected against solid objects over 2.5mm (tools)
4. Protected against solid objects over 1mm (small wires)
5. Protected against dust - limited ingress permitted (no harmful deposit)
6. Totally protected against dust

Second Number - Protection Against harmful ingress of fluids
0. No Protection
1. Protected against vertically falling drops of water
2. Protected against direct sprays of water up to 15 deg. from the vertical
3. Protected against direct sprays of water up to 60 deg. from the vertical
4. Protected against water sprayed from any direction - limited ingress permitted
5. Protected against low pressure jets of water from any direction - limited ingress permitted
6. Protected against strong jets of water from any direction (e.g. for use on ship decks, heavy seas) - limited ingress permitted
7. Protected against the effects of temporary immersion in water between 15cm and 1m
8. Protected against the effects of continous immersion in water
9. Protected against long periods of immersion under pressure

Of course, as you move down the tables, you increase cost and customer price....

CanonAndy

[CorruptedPhotographer]

CanonAndy, I assume you work with Canon ? If so, what is the 20D's IP rating?

[Sherlockoam]

And what is 1-series IP rating?
I hope all cameras in 1-series have 69 IP rating.....

[CanonAndy]

Canon dSLR's would all rate in the IP54 area. They all prevent *most* dust from entering the body (assumptions: all plugs/covers in place, and a Canon lens installed) Harmful dust would be considered any dust that reduces camera life or significantly reduces performance of the camera. Dust specks on the sensor, although emotionally traumatic to many of us, don't significantly affect camera life, and only reduce performance slightly (I won't argue the significance of sensor dust at this time)

As far as fluids, the Canon bodies won't handle pressure washing (i.e. taking the camera through a car wash, or running it through a dishawasher). Canon's 1 series bodies are better equipped to prevent condensation. They also are equipped with better seals for splashes. In the case of a lawn sprinkler exposure, the "luck" is that a jet of water didn't hit a sealing joint on the camera directly. A 20D can easily be brought down by a syringe of water carefully aimed....

Last but not least, I am NOT employed by Canon, or any of their sub-contractors, suppliers, marketing consultants, or janitorial services... :) I DO have a good knowledge of their manufacturing processes, and design methodologies..

CanonAndy

[CorruptedPhotographer]

CAnonAndy, thanks for the info. I thought you worked with Canon because you begun your post by sayin " we have a specific IP (Ingress Protection) rating we give to our products (manufacturing world):"

So by we, I assumed Canon and you :D

[mjordan]

Rather than water resistant, I'd say the 20D was more moisture tolerent. :D

Mike

[CyberDyneSystems]

Rather than water resistant, I'd say the 20D was more moisture tolerent. :D

Mike

Yes,. that is the "PC" term :lol:

[photo_luver]

is the 350D water proof? resistant? or as mjordan would say moisture tolerant? lol

[Sherlockoam]

Canon dSLR's would all rate in the IP54 area.

Then why are there higher IPs, 56, 57, 65, 66, ..............? :confused:

[tommykjensen]

Then why are there higher IPs, 56, 57, 65, 66, ..............? :confused:


CanonAndy is not working for Canon. He reference the "manufacturing world" which suggest to me that the IP list he refers to is a standard used on all kinds of products not only Canon cameras.

[CorruptedPhotographer]

Yes what Tommmy siad makes sense. It could be like an ISO 9001 standard. Manufacturers have to thier gear based on the above scores. But he said all Canon cameras would be IP5-4. Hmmmm so my 20D is built to specs same as EOS 1 series? That cant be true because Canon advertises that the 1 series is weather-resistant.

[Sherlockoam]

CanonAndy is not working for Canon. He reference the "manufacturing world" which suggest to me that the IP list he refers to is a standard used on all kinds of products not only Canon cameras.

I see :)

[BobL]

. . . . Canon proved it can withstand a lot and I consider it Water-Resistant. It took enough water, well resisted enough water for me to consider it a water-resistant camera. Good gob Canon.

I'd say you just got lucky and are reading way too much into your experience. About 10 years ago a similar thing that happened to your 20D happened to a laptop I was using in the garden - water was squirted into the interface ports, the keyboard and onto the power adapter. Although it still works today, I did not take that as any sort of proof - I just called it luck.

In the world of engineering and science a single event is not a proof, it's called an "anecdote" or story [just like most stuff reported on this forum]. Proof requires reproducibility. Something closer to a proof would be 50 or 100 20Ds having 1 litre of water poured over them and making sure they all worked immediately afterwards and also 12 months later. A weaker but useful proof would be taking one 20D and pouring a litre of water over it 50 times and drying it out and making sure that it worked in between every litre and then that it still worked 12 months later. If you are so confident about how much water the 20D can take, you may wish to perform the latter experiment and report back to us? Up until this evidence is available your anecdote is an amusing & interesting story but most definitely not a proof.

BTW my background is in metrology - (not weather forecasting, that's "meteorology") Metrology is the "science of measurement". Although we try to assess proof, the best we can do is establish some sort of probability. The first thing you learn is that a single experiment is often about as useless/full as no experiment.

[CorruptedPhotographer]

BobL:

Quote:
Thank you for your experience.

I can at least have hope that if my 20D gets caught in the rain or gets wet accidently some how , all may not be DEFINITELY lost.
I appreciate you sharing your experience with us all.



This was the effect I hoped to leave on members. I in no way encourage or support soaking/plunging/dipping/bathing/showering/sprinkling/wetting your 20D or any digital camera. I understand now that the phrase "water-resistant" may be a bit "strong", but it was the closest phrase to express the experience. It is though, to a certain degree "Water-Resistant". Obviously not officially, otherwise Canon would have stated it. But it did repel a significant amount of water that day. Obviously, I am really no one to make official statement about Canon products, but I am considerate enough to elaborate on my experience. Explain my situation so others whom have not experienced water with thier 20D can understand my situation and thus come to thier own decisions and conclusions about how to use thier 20D's in areas where water may be present. Obviously, as others mentioned, there may be salts that will corrode the insides of my 20D and cause malfunction. Thanks for pointing that out in addition to my experience. Now other users know that if thier 20D's got very wet but still worked, there would still be a chance in the future of malfunction.

Take my thread for what it is, a shared experience + my opinion. Good job Canon and happy shooting.

[tommykjensen]

One thing that just occurred to me and I don't know if You have thought about this but consider following:

You live in USA, the land of lawsuits.

Suppose a fellow member reads this thread and thinks "cool I don't need to be careful out in the rain". So one day he is out photographing and it starts to rain. He does not anything to protect the camera, afterall it is water- resistant according to a fellow 20D owner. Next day when he turns the camera on and it malfunctions. Strange but he sends it to Canon for repair. Canon tell him that the camera was damaged by water and it will cost $xxx to repair the camera. So the member thinks, damn it if only I had not followed the advice from that other member. But since he lives in USA he decides to slap You with a lawsuit to get compensation.

Don't take this the wrong way. But You know when a person can get money from McD because they did not print on the coffe mug that the coffe is hot then this could definately also happen here.

[CorruptedPhotographer]

tommy, I dont remember the legal terms, but in casual language. The US is very fond of "the law does not protect the ignorant". Any sane judge will ask this person who sues me " is this guy(me) Canon? Did you not read his post completely?"

Im not really worried about getting sued about the above topic. Many times ive mentioned im not Canon, dont work for Canon and stating my experience for the benefit of others. How they chose to take it is thier choice.

Also, I temporarily live here, just for education. Comin home this December with my degree :D:D:D:D

[roanjohn]

I wish your statement was true :-( Cuz the 20D is most certainly NOT water resistant.

Thank your lucky stars that your camera still functions.......

MENTAL NOTE: Don't buy used 20D from corruptedphotographer. :-) (j/k)

Ro1

[CorruptedPhotographer]

roanjohn, dont forget about the bg-e2 and 17-40L that were attached :p :p

[shiato storm]

waterproof = can drop in a tub of water and no harm done
resitstant = can survive a bit of a light raining...

it would be an expensive experiment to find out if the 20D is water proof

[tommykjensen]

tommy, I dont remember the legal terms, but in casual language. The US is very fond of "the law does not protect the ignorant". Any sane judge will ask this person who sues me " is this guy(me) Canon? Did you not read his post completely?"


But any sane person would also say that You could get hurt if You spill hot coffe on Yourself and still a 81 year old woman got awarded $2.9 million.

[Mark_48]

On page 8 of the 20D Manual there are handling precautions on simply allowing condensation to form on the camera and what steps to take should it occur. If Canon deems it necessary to put a caution in the manual such as this, I certainly wouldn't wouldn't want to risk a rain shower without protecting the camera in some way. It's just too big of an investment for me to lose for the sake of taking a few pictures in potentially camera damaging conditions. On the other hand if the shot would be an award winning, big money, one time shot, yeah I'd go for it and run the risk.

I came close about a month ago a local firefighters muster (competition against other firefighter teams to see who can roll out the hoses fastest and knock down a target). I was shooting close, it was a hot day and one of the firefighters handling the nozzle end decided to let loose on the bystanders. I saw it coming and tucked into a fetal position with the "baby" protected against the drenching. I was soaked, but the camera came out dry.

[roanjohn]

roanjohn, dont forget about the bg-e2 and 17-40L that were attached :p :p

Oh yes!!!

NOTE TO SELF: ANd don't purchase used 17-40 and bg-e2 from corruptedphotog.

:-)

Thanks for the heads up.

Ro1

[10Dennis]

Those two definitions of words (resistant & proof) keep the paint companies out of law suits.

And expensive watches too! :D

~JDennis