6D weather sealing

[entoman]

The 6D is a great camera, very straightforward to use and it produces high quality images. However, on a trip to the Amazon, while photographing on a river beach where the temperature was about 35C, my primary 6D body suddenly went crazy. Touching the front dial caused the shutter/aperture settings to cycle constantly, and other settings e.g. ISO just kept changing randomly, without any input from me. After a few minutes the shutter button locked up. I switched off, removed the batteries and stashed the camera in a cool shady cabin, and after 2 days of "rest" it resumed normal functioning.

Meanwhile I had switched to my back-up 6D body, which operated fine for the remaining 3 days of the trip, but the high humidity regularly fogged the viewfinder, despite storing overnight in a sealed poly bag, and giving the camera an hour to "acclimatise" each day before starting to shoot.

A friend of mine who also has a 6D had a very similar experience, with his camera developing a mind of its own and randomly cycling itself through the full range of settings without any user input.

So, for what it's worth, my advice would be to steer clear of "budget" full frame cameras if you need to shoot in tropical heat and humidity. I've since upgraded to a 5DMkiii and 7DMkii, neither of which have yet given me any weather-related problems despite being used in similar tropical conditions in South America, Africa and India.

 

[AcutancePhotography]

Does Canon even advertise the 6D as being or having weather sealing?

I just went over to CanonUSA and there is no mention of it on the 6D page.

 

[midluk]

Does Canon even advertise the 6D as being or having weather sealing?

On the european page in the specifications the 70D, 7D2, 6D and 5D3 all have "Water/ Dust Resistance: Yes (equal to EOS-1N)". The 7D2 and 5D3 also mention the sealing in the description text.

 

[AcutancePhotography]

Maybe European dust and water is thicker than 'merican dust and water?

That might explain why the European sites state dust and water resistance (what ever that means)
But the USA site doesn't. ;D ;D ;D

Nothing can stop 'merican dust!!!

 

[midluk]

According to the USA website the 7D2, 6D, 5D3 are all featuring "enhanced dust-and-weather resistance". The 70D and 5DS do not seem to have it, the 7D (and 1DX) has "exclusive dust and weather resistance".

 

[Zanken]

I have experienced this as well while using the camera in moderate rain. I think what is happening is that the water infiltrates the dial/buttons, closing the circuit and 'activating' them until it dries. I don't think it's 'too' dangerous to the internals of the camera but it could cause problems if they rusted.

Before this happened to me, my dial became 'sticky' - often if I turn it one way or the other it drags the on/off switch with it. Then the top of the dial went missing (I still haven't gotten around to replacing it)

https://instagram.com/p/1W3qwNGK4s/

I would love to upgrade to a better made model, but I hate how much more heavy the 5D series is. I'll keep using this body until it utterly disintegrates. I'll give it a year.


On the weather sealing side, I would stalk http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/ - they debunk a lot of the weather sealing marketing stuff for both lenses and bodies. They really loved the 7DII and are generally fans of the 5D & 7D series sealing. I strongly suspect that you may be right in the construction of 'sub-professional' bodies.
http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2014/11/cracking-open-the-7d-ii

 

[jhpeterson]

I work on the water about 100 days a year, so weather sealing is a very important consideration for me. For this reason, I use nothing but 1D series cameras when I'm out there. I have a 6D which I find very useful in low-light situations - as long as I'm on shore.

 

[Mr_Canuck]

You're all likely correct, and it makes sense considering the published material and the price points. I think you'll find that only Pentax have budget decently weather sealed bodies.

 

[tomscott]

Must be problems described above. I spent 7 days in the Amazon with my 5DMKIII regularly switching lenses etc never had an issue with fogging etc

When removing the lenses obviously there is no protection wonder why you had such problems... I went out shooting in solid rain had no issues and didn't really take any precautions like you did strange when you took such precautions!

In fact the only time the 5DMKIII has given up was after 6 hours in torrential rain at a Motorsport event earlier this year, after a night drying it was fine.

 

[jeffa4444]

In Britain were renown for rain. I had my 6D soaked in Wales last October and it worked just fine. When we were in Venice in early June the humidity was pretty high almost like Florida weather but the camera had no issues what so ever.
One of our rental 5D MKIII cameras had humidity issues in Africa earlier this year it also killed a BM 4K camera.

 

[Big_Ant_TV_Media]

According to the USA website the 7D2, 6D, 5D3 are all featuring "enhanced dust-and-weather resistance". The 70D and 5DS do not seem to have it, the 7D (and 1DX) has "exclusive dust and weather resistance".

the 70D does have weather sealing

 

[midluk]

According to the USA website the 7D2, 6D, 5D3 are all featuring "enhanced dust-and-weather resistance". The 70D and 5DS do not seem to have it, the 7D (and 1DX) has "exclusive dust and weather resistance".

the 70D does have weather sealing

I know (and it is also written on the European website), but I could not find anything about it on the USA website.

 

[Valvebounce]

Hi BigAnt.
None of our Canon DSLR's carry an IP or International Protection (often Ingress Protection is misused) number, so no way to know how weather proof they are.
Quote from Wikipedia,
"The standard aims to provide users more detailed information than vague marketing terms such as waterproof."
Also have a look at Roger from Lens Rentals blog on weather sealing!

We sometimes get our gear wet and we are lucky enough for it to survive, sometimes (from what I have read here) they get less wet and fail, it seems each wetting is a roll of the dice! I don't get mine very wet, light drizzle tends to be the most for a few minutes, and I leave any thing that gets wet to dry thoroughly before returning to the bag I also remove the worst of the wet with a clean bar towel.

Cheers, Graham.

According to the USA website the 7D2, 6D, 5D3 are all featuring "enhanced dust-and-weather resistance". The 70D and 5DS do not seem to have it, the 7D (and 1DX) has "exclusive dust and weather resistance".

the 70D does have weather sealing

 

[geekpower]

i've had no issues at all using my 6d in either cool and wet, or downright freezing conditions. i wonder if the heat makes a difference by expanding the body and opening up cracks?