7d weather proofing

I was down the coast this afternoon takings some pics of a storm front that was approaching.

The wind was blowing a gale and there was lots of sea spray and sand being blown around.

After about half an hour and having taken a few photos, (and a few lens changes) my 7d shut down and wouldn't turn back on. I thought it might have been battery related so I replaced both batteries in the grip.

It then turned on, but shut down again after just a few minutes. Every time I turned it back on it kept shutting down and powering off every couple of minutes. The batteries were reading 100%.

I called it quits and headed back to my car to head home. En-route home I stopped to check out a quiet little bay along the coast (no where near as much wind) and the camera worked perfectly the whole time I was there.

I have no idea why the camera kept shutting down whilst I was on the exposed section of coast, other than possibly poor weather sealing.

Has anybody else ever experienced this sort of problem with their 7d?

The 7D is not weather proof, it is weather resistant, which is a big difference. One drop of water in the wrong spot can kill it(worse case scenario), but it is still a robust camera.

I would NEVER consider a lens change under those conditions! As a matter of fact, you may want to remove that lens now (in a dry, calm room) and let the body dry out.

Sikor7 wrote in post #15186494
I would NEVER consider a lens change under those conditions! As a matter of fact, you may want to remove that lens now (in a dry, calm room) and let the body dry out.

This, also what firmware do you have? Do uou have v2.0? Or v2.0.3? The newest fixes a freezing issue with 2.0

I've had this happen to me in Hawaii, it would shut down after a long exposure in 30C. It would act up all the trip, but after I came back in Canada it's totally fine. I suspect there was some issue with metal expansion or something with power contacts. I pinpointed it to be the issue with the battery door (possibly)

I'm surprised you were brave enough to change lenses in that condition! My only guess would be something got damp during the process and the camera didn't like it and when it cleared up (when you got to your next destination), it was fine.

The camera body itself is pretty robust with mist/sand sealing but if you're not using a lens with the rubber seal (around the lens mount, most L-lenses have this rubber seal) you could be letting stuff in through there.

And if you haven't seen this, it's a great watch of the 7D! http://www.youtube.com …=RCT-YMgjm9k&feature=plcp

Very risky being out in wet weather with any camera that's not designed and rated for underwater use, without giving it some protection. Salt spray is particularly bad on cameras and lenses (inside an out).

7D has a lot of weather/dust resistant sealing... but it's far from sealed! It's not as good as 1D series, and a bunch of those died at a rainy Super Bowl a few years ago (enough that Canon support ran out of backup cameras). In that case, it turned out the most common cause was water intruding through the memory card sockets... probably while the door was open.

The minor little rubber "seal" on the bayonet mount of some of the L-series lenses mostly just gives false sense of security. There are plenty of other ways that water (and dust) can intrude into the camrea and lens.

If you need to shoot out in nasty weather, do yourself and your gear a favor and get some sort of protective wrap for the camera or make one out of plastic bag(s), gaffer tape and rubber bands.

If a camera acts up in weather, or you know for sure it's gotten soaked, the worst thing you can do is turn it off and back on. You should turn it off, remove the batteries and get to shelter, dry it out for a few days before powering it back up. Continuing to use a wet camera, powering it up and down repeatedly, really risks frying the electronics and destroying the camera.

I had a couple 30Ds get soaked in a downpour a few years ago. With lenses and flashes on both of them. No way to get to shelter for about 15-20 minutes! I immediately powered them down, wiped off the worst of the wet and removed the batteries as soon as I was in a dry place. Then took them home and dried them out for 3 or 4 days... opened everything I could, removed lenses and grips, ran hair dryer on low nearby from time to time. Did the same with the lenses and the flashes. Everything survived just fine.

Now I have plastic bags, rubber bands and gaffer tape, and cheap plastic rain ponchos for myself + the gear in each of my camera bags and backpacks, plus some extras in the car.

Thanks for the info folks.

I was very mindful of doing the lens changes and had set up a small wind-break / shroud behind a very large rock outcrop that afforded a lot of protection from the wind so I could change lenses over without too much fear.

At the moment I only have firmware version 2.0.0, so I am hoping it may be as simple as Seoul4Korea said above that 2.0.3 fixes a "freezing" problem with earlier firmware versions.

I am fortunate enough to live near the coast in Perth Western Australia, but I believe many websites rank us as the 3rd windiest city in the world. Even on scorching hot Summer days we will have 30 knot plus sea-breeze winds hit the coast in the afternoons.

Unfortunately strong winds is something I have to contend with nearly every time I head to the coast to take photos.

If you do a Google Image search and type in Greenough Trees, you will see how strong the winds on the WA coast are......The trees near the Greenough coast grow horizontally as the wind is constantly pushing them sideways!

Good luck, let use know if the update works.