Salt water splashed on a Sony A7SII

[Aussie Ash]

Dead Sony A7S II pulled apart by "Lensrentals"

https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2017/10/about-getting-your-camera-wet-teardown-of-a-salty-sony-a7sii/

 

 

 

[no_connection]

Good to know how much Sonys "weather sealing" is really worth. I'm saying that based on the details of the sealing, not because it broke from overexposure to salt. Which I guess it bad too.

[webrunner5]

I loved my Sony A7r but to be honest I was afraid to sneeze next to it for as flimsy the side door covers were on it for moisture resistance.

[noone]

I don't think ANY camera I have used (Canon. Nikon, Sony, Pentax, Olympus, Panasonic and more) other than a film camera I had that was designed for underwater use would have survived what seems to have happened there (I I don't think it was done as a story about the A7s ii so much as about cameras in general and honesty in renting/returning).

Sony does not say water proof and that camera got soaked from below up to the lens mount it seems.      The cameras have SOME dust and moisture resistance and from my experience with my A7s (about two years daily use now) and previous A7 also for a couple of years solid use and both in the odd rain shower (sometimes fairly heavy until I could get out of the rain), the cameras are pretty good.       I am more worried when an adapted lens is used or a lens without any resistance (like my most expensive Canon 17mm L TS-E).

 

[Django]

yikes... not at all surprised having killed myself an alpha series camera after simply handling it for a brief moment with my own damp (sea water) palms..  good to know sony still hasn't bumped up their weather sealing. meanwhile i used to shoot for hours under pouring rain during my Nikon years..

[DBounce]

Well they did say the have never seen an incident such as this with either the Canon 1DXMK2 or Nikon D5. So I guess some are sealed better than others. Sony to their credit do not list the A7Sii as weather sealed, moisture or even dust resistant. Whereas the A7RII does claim both dust and moisture resistance and the A7R3 adds a whether sealing claim into the mix.

[noone]

All the A7 series have been labelled as dust and moisture resistant including the A7s ii (and my original A7 and current A7s seem to be).     NEVER as waterproof (which is what this camera would have needed to be to survive I think).

The A7s ii note on this on the Sony site is now

"13 This camera is designed for optimal dust and moisture resistance, but is not waterproof or splashproof."

http://www.sony.com.au/electronics/interchangeable-lens-cameras/ilce-7sm2

There ARE different levels and I would not expect any camera to live through what happened in the case here unless it specifically said waterproof (and listed a depth/time) and without that, you do so at your own risk.

As to the 1Dx and 5D, this is what Roger said in reply to a question.

"I don't remember seeing a D5 or 1Dx with obvious salt-water damage, but we rent far fewer of those, and I expect the rentals tend to be to more experienced photographers"

 

 

 

 

[Django]

It was one splash, camera was not submerged:

This camera here was never fully submerged in water; the sensor chamber and viewfinder were clean. The reality is, the entire top assembly was clean except for the edges where water leaked in from the strap lugs or ports. But the bottom and port side was pretty saturated. So the likely scenario was taking pictures near the surf and water splashed up from below and probably behind. Looking at the salt stains on the chassis supports that idea; the bottom and edges are saturated. The edge stains go higher than the lens mount, there would have been marks in the sensor chamber if the camera had sat in water that deep.

Furthermore, the teardown clearly exposed weak if not totally absent sealings in vital areas:

 This camera had easy water access from the battery door, the entire bottom, and around the camera strap lugs that we showed you. It also has two rotating dials that you can pour water through, but this splash didn’t hit those. The viewfinder and hot shoe are a bit leaky, too.

 

To be honest, I wouldn't trust most mirrorless cameras around water but from experience and the above sony's seem particularly weak as far as weather sealing..

 

[noone]

While  it was most likely one splash rather than fully dunked, I think it seems it was a lot more than what I would consider a "splash" in the usual meaning and in some ways may have been worse than just getting wet as it must have been some force to it (like maybe a wave from behind as alluded to as possible in the article and up from the bottom to the lens mount and higher on the side).      Until (if) the renter fesses up though we wont know for sure.

Anyone wanna risk their "splash proof" camera by doing the same to find out?      

Again, I don't think the article was about an A7s ii in particular.

 

The other issue here is that some people took the A7 series to be fully weather sealed when they never have been and it wasn't helped by some early reviews saying they were.

[mkabi]

2 hours ago, noone said:

Anyone wanna risk their "splash proof" camera by doing the same to find out?      

Here, is this durable and reliable enough?

 

[noone]

Well put it this way,     I had a 7D and there is no way I would have let it get splashed by a wave.    

It would have taken it better than my A7/A7s/GX7/D50/various Pentax DSLRs yes, but no, I wouldn't have let it get splashed that badly.

 

Also, I would have had a lens on it and none of five EF mount Canon L lenses I have had are/were weather sealed at all and neither were/are the four other non L lenses.     So had it got splashed at the mount by salt water, it would have died just like the Sony did.

   Probably the camera I least liked of my recent cameras too.

[Django]

@noone Come on dude, the article clearly exposes blatant sealing weaknesses of the A7S2.. and yes some camera models (especially Nikon & Pentax) are much superior to average in weather sealing:

 

 

Go try that on a Sony cam!

[mkabi]

6 hours ago, noone said:

Also, I would have had a lens on it and none of five EF mount Canon L lenses I have had are/were weather sealed at all and neither were/are the four other non L lenses.     So had it got splashed at the mount by salt water, it would have died just like the Sony did.

   Probably the camera I least liked of my recent cameras too.

Easy there. You do know that even though you bought into a system that you don't have to defend that system to death... Unless, you've been appointed as their new CEO or something....

But, in any case, I will concede that I wouldn't put my camera under those conditions either.

Also... Just to point out, in the video that I shared, the guy wasn't using a weather sealed L lens either.... Here is the kicker, he didn't even use a lens on the 7D when fully submerging it in water and freezing it... Just a body cap.

Funny thing about that video... I was hoping that at least the LCD of the 7D to stop working after being hit by a truck, thrown down the stairs, submerged under water, frozen, and then baked and set on fire. Ridiculous.

[noone]

8 hours ago, Django said:

@noone Come on dude, the article clearly exposes blatant sealing weaknesses of the A7S2.. and yes some camera models (especially Nikon & Pentax) are much superior to average in weather sealing:

 

 

 

No, the article was NOT about a Sony A7sii.

This is what it was about

"So What Did We Learn Today?

Salt water is really, really bad for cameras. Even in small quantities. Really. Bad. 

If this had been fresh water there’s a chance the camera would have survived. Saltwater, no way.

Trusting ‘weather resistance’ is risky business. 

They all say they have it. But none of them define what it is or how much they have. This camera had easy water access from the battery door, the entire bottom, and around the camera strap lugs that we showed you. It also has two rotating dials that you can pour water through, but this splash didn’t hit those. The viewfinder and hot shoe are a bit leaky, too.

Wiping the camera off carefully and saying it never got sprayed with water isn’t very efficient at anything other than establishing your level of trustworthiness. 

And just before it starts, we don’t discuss interactions with individual customers.

While I rarely defend the service center, there are good reasons why they won’t touch your water damaged camera. 

On the front end, this didn’t look that bad. But repair would have been impossible. You’d have replaced the entire camera except for the viewfinder. Even when it’s less severe, you can never be sure what part has just enough corrosion to fail in another month or two. (That’s why we won’t reuse the viewfinder even though it seems fine.)  As an aside, one of the reasons we’re so vigilant about corrosion is we have seen a lot of cameras that got splashed and seemed fine fail two or six weeks later.

The beach is the sworn enemy of your gear. If the salt-spray doesn’t get you, the sand will. When you go into hostile territory, take appropriate precautions. And yes, Johnny, I know you spend every weekend photographing on the beach and nothing bad has ever happened to your camera. Yet."

 

Sony or A7sii isn't mentioned once there and it just happened to be an A7sii that was the camera used in that study.

As I have said, there IS different levels of sealing and yes, sometimes people have lost Sony cameras due to the elements but that is down to taking a camera where it shouldn't have been (at least without any extra care).

I am not a brand fan boy, I happily use all brands and it just happens that the A7s is my favourite camera to date (as it happens the unsealed CANON 17mm TS-E is my favourite lens to date, anyone wanna take one of those into the surf?).    I have owned seven Pentax ILC's, three canons, Two Sony's, two Olympus two Nikons, a Panasonic and a few others in my life.     Of my many most used lenses, only two are Sony.     Very few of my lenses have/are weather sealed (maybe one of the Sony's might even be the best sealed but still would not use it in a heavy rain storm without a plastic bag on it) and the A7s and A7 are as well sealed as any of the others except the 7D or even a bit better (though still not well sealed at all for rain/surfl).        I have only lost two ILC cameras that stopped working and became bricked (both Pentax) and one lens that was bricked as well (a Canon L).

My point is that I suspect there are very few cameras around that would have survived what happened to the camera in the article and even those that did would still have issues  going forward from corrosion that might make a repair center baulk.

If people want to take a non water proof camera into the surf, or close enough to get a major splash, feel free to do so, PLEASE!

[jhnkng]

Hahaha this whole thread reminded me of this:

Wonder what that did to the resale value?!

[Django]

Further proof Sony weather sealing has flaws.. even on it's latest "further improved sealing" model

[Kisaha]

I have an NX1 operating in Canada for a couple of years (in heavy snow and sub zero temperatures most of the time), and being my crash-cam for a whole year now and it is working flawleslly (a lot of salt water on it, and the occasional rain). The exterior plastic has started to reducing in width, but no problems whatsoever. My "good" NX1 is like new even after a few years of heavy use as my A cam.

[jonpais]

Camera, photographer and model get soaked.

[mercer]

On 1/8/2018 at 8:22 AM, Kisaha said:

I have an NX1 operating in Canada for a couple of years (in heavy snow and sub zero temperatures most of the time), and being my crash-cam for a whole year now and it is working flawleslly (a lot of salt water on it, and the occasional rain). The exterior plastic has started to reducing in width, but no problems whatsoever. My "good" NX1 is like new even after a few years of heavy use as my A cam.

I thought you lived in Greece?

[Kisaha]

@mercerYes, but I buy a lot of stuff from friends all over the world. The first 2 years of that camera was in Canada, and I own it for a whole year now. I have 4 NX cameras, cover all my bases. Still waiting for the Canonikon  mirrorless, or next Sony/Fuji "pro" APS-C to really upgrade from the NX.