Which lenses are waterproof?

[Fpotter]

The word has it that the camera is waterproof, or at least seriously water-resistant. I gather that some of the lenses are as well, but not all of them. Which ones am I least likely to have problems in the rain, which is not uncommon in the Pacific Northwest these days?

[yukosteel]

Fuji claims all their lens with WR marking are "Weather Resistant", which means increased sealing for better resistance to dust/water (but not 100%).

 

I think it's not designed to be used under the heavy rain.

 

I personally cleaned Fuji X-T1 once under the tap water flow with soap. Later I realized that battery door lock collected some water and  it almost reached battery contacts (that could cause electronic death).

[JRphoto]

The word has it that the camera is waterproof, or at least seriously water-resistant. I gather that some of the lenses are as well, but not all of them. Which ones am I least likely to have problems in the rain, which is not uncommon in the Pacific Northwest these days?

 

Presently Fuji have six weather resistant lens, three primes and three zooms. The primes XF 16mm F1.4 R WR, XF 35mm F2 R WR and XF 90mm F2 R LM WR. And the zooms: XF 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR,

XF 16-55mm F2.8 R LM WR and XF 50-140mm F2.8 R LM OIS WR.

[milandro]

Yes, Weather resistant, but being and staying on the safe side... waterproof?........ None.

 

If you experiment otherwise, share.

 

This guy, Alexandru Magurean,  claims that his camera and lens worked after being dipped in water. There is no evidence, aside what he said (but didn’t show) that this was the case.

 

Don’t repeat! 

 

@https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m35MqUersU

[Jürgen Heger]

Fuji only claims the T1 and the WR lenses to be weather sealed not water resistant. They say they are sealed against moisture and dus not against water. So do not expect too much.

[darknj]

It will do fine under some rain but don't leave it out during the whole time, there are still way too many parts that are exposed or not that well isolated for it to be called waterproof.

 

Don't gamble your gear over some marketing speech or even misconceptions over the product.

 

If you really need something that would need to take whatever weather you plan on travelling to and still benefit from interchangeable lenses, get a Nikon D4S, that camera has proved itself quite numerous time in both very hot, very cold and very wet conditions, including being swong against an ice wall during the climbing, please ensure weather sealed lenses.

 

Now, if you want a true interchangeable camera that is waterproof without a casing, I know only of the Nikon 1 AW1, albeit there are currently 2 lenses but a couple more might come at later date.

[milandro]

still missing the equivalent of the Nikonos (or even better the RS!) , that was an underwater (or a camera for the rain forest!) what a camera! I don’t understand why no one is going that direction.

 

The concept would be very suited to Fuji!

[darknj]

[...]

I don’t understand why no one is going that direction.

[...]

 

Too much of a niche product, I don't think Nikon even sold much of that mode, I don't even think they were able to break even on the production cost.

[milandro]

well, there are many more people doing things live diving and adventure trips now that there were at that time, beside that camera had lots of “ normal" uses possible. 

[darknj]

well, there are many more people doing things live diving and adventure trips now that there were at that time, beside that camera had lots of “ normal" uses possible. 

 

Most of those are using GoPro now or an cheaper variant of it.

 

And with more and more softwares that are able to pull stills out of movies, the stills pictures are being eaten on all front.

 

A good example is the higher demande for 4k camera capabilities, even from Fuji users.

[milandro]

Mal tempora currunt! A go pro is the action camera Iphone equivalent, not even remotely in the same ballpark as something like that! I don’t even have any 4K wishes, let alone demands.

[darknj]

I do agree with you Milandro, but you and I have different expectation than the masses.

 

Just looking at the X-Pro2 or X-T2 expectation threads is filled with plenty of demands for a good video camera and possibly 4k internal recording.

 

I don't know, am I really the only to see that all consumers are asking for 4k cameras just for the sake of having it and brag about it ? That by NOT having that 4k video feature would allow other features to be integrated, like a DSLR level AF ? A better CPU ? More room for larger battery ? IBIS ? Or so many other goodies I would love to have on a still camera and not some kind of hybrid cross over.

[milandro]

I am a person of simple taste and needs   .

 

 

Mind you, I remember when I just bought my first X camera ( X-E1) discussing its purchase during the intermission at community band practice. There was a visitor who kept on telling me that he didn’t understand why would one need a camera to take pictures when a telephone ( he said, showing me his Iphone) would give all you ever need.

 

I told him that I owned a phone to phone, a photographic camera to shoot photographs (I don’t film), a digital recorder to record sounds and what I pretend to call music and a Tom-Tom to go round and about, because I like owning things that are made to perform a task.

 

He looked at me bewildered as if I came from Mars.

 

So, as much as I understand that a go-pro is the thing which most use to film and, dare I say, take pictures, I’d still use the proper thing for the proper task.

 

Maybe you’ve seen this but there were at least two inventors who invented some weird contraptions to transform, one, the Iphone into a “ camera” ( when you can buy a camera to this better and with a smaller dimension) and the other a box which transforms the go pro into a “ mirrorless” look-alike.

 

Weird!

 

[yukosteel]

I saw this GP-1 convept of converting GoPro into a camera like shape. It looks beautiful and is so tiny.

But that's all about pretty look, kind of fansy way to use GoPro.

 

In real life I prefer usability and functionality over the look, and very like custom improvements that make utilization easier.

 

I think if X-T1 is made in UW mode (which I guess means underwater) I'd never buy it. Because in that case its cost would be dramatically higher, and lens cost as well.

I totally agree with darknj - fully waterproof equipment it's a niche product.

[milandro]

a niche which at the moment has no one which fills it, so an open nice.

[Jürgen Heger]

One reason why no one fills the niche could be that there are so many under water cases for all kind of cameras at very reasonable prices available. In same cases you may be lucky that your next generation camera may fit in your existing case. I know it is not the same as the Nikon RS but the many UW cases make the niche much smaller.

[milandro]

If you have ever used a case you know they are clumsy , always much too large and forever in the way, to say nothing of the forever present possible problem of water finding its way into the camera (they nowadays all have a sensor to tell you that there is water in the case, which if for the X-T1 won’t necessarily mean anything final and deadly but in many other cases it just sounds, at depth, a moment before your camera dies.

 

Besides the Nikonos series was not only used under water, in fact it had lenses which were usable in both environments and some for outside water only.

 

The Nikonos was a scuba and all weather sealed camera. 

 

Fire brigades were using it because the camera could be used under the heavy spray of the hydrants and also people who had gone for months on end into the rain forest knew that almost any camera and any lens will come out ruined by the experience, except a camera made to be used under water!

 

Redmond O’Hanlon is a scientist, a writer and adventurer who has travelled extensively under these conditions.

 

After his first trip ages ago, he learned that a normal camera wouldn’t take gently to that kind of thing for that long a time.

 

So he started using a Nikonos Camera ( which he still uses to this day)

[Jürgen Heger]

I agree with everything you said. But under water cases on one end and weather sealed system cameras on the other end seem to nibble on this market segment. And in the end it is just Nikon who are kind of in this segment with their 1 AW. And yes, it has a small sensor and most important to me no dials but I am sure you can take wonderful pictures with it. If some one thinks that the sensor is too small than we are back to the discussion if Fuji needs to make a FF or even a MF and which Zack Arias answers that 8" x 10" will beat them all if you want high quality. OK, his words were a little bit different.

 

In fact, this discussion made me look at the 1 AW. May be it is a useful supplement to my Fuji system - hm, probably just a symptom of my GAS

[milandro]

not in the ballpark of what it could be. 

[CRAusmus]

The AW 1 is one of Burkard's most used cameras.  If he can use it to make the money he's making and sell the big images he sells, it's a capable system.  It does need more lenses though.  But the size of this system obviously shows just how small this market is for this kind of system.  I do wish they would expand it though or that a company would just enter this niche market and focus solely on it.

[darknj]

The Nikon 1 is a nice little system, and the AW1 is clearly in a small niche on its own as there are no direct competition with it.

 

You just need to keep in mind the limitation of the system, meaning, keep ISO as low as possible. Up to 800 is still ok, 1600 is starting to pull it and 3200 is downright bad, I would not use it for anything than FB thumbnails or places where the quality is secondary.

 

That aside, small camera with silly reach and even smaller lenses, I mean 81-297mm F3.5-5.6 equivalent for 110g ?!

 

The fault with the system is the critical lack of quality lenses, the 18.5 F1.8 is nice, the 32 F1.2 is simply superbe, the rest goes from "not that shabby" to just "meh".

But for the past year, Nikon has been working on 8-9 prototype lenses for the system, one of them being a longer zoom (10-45 F4.5-5.6) for the AW1 and a wide angle (7.2-13.6 F3.5-4.5) also for the AW1. Some of these lenses look super appetizing on paper, F1.8-F2.8 for standard zoom lens (9-30), a fisheye lens too along a new super zoom (70-300 F4.5-6).

 

Plus, the V4 hasn't been announced yet, so quite a few things for me to look forward to in 2016-2017 for that small system.

[russw]

Fuji only claims the T1 and the WR lenses to be weather sealed not water resistant. They say they are sealed against moisture and dus not against water. So do not expect too much.

Exactly, also Fuji won't warrantee water damage (at least in the US). I lost one of my X-T1s to 2 hours of heavy rain (not planned but with 18-135WR lens). Talking to the techs it's clear there are many places water can get into camera. I'm hoping the next generation (X-Pro2 and X-T2) are better. The WR lenses look 1st class from what I can tell though.

[alexanderferdinand]

Till now (Jan2016) only the X-T1 is kind of waterproof, and the lenses with WR in their name.

I saw a video on which a guy poured a glass of water over a combo X- T1 with ???- everything fine.

So a bit of rain should be no problem.

[milandro]

Well, videos only say something concerning things happening then and there. What happened later or in another instance is not known.

 

There is also a video of someone dipping camera and lens briefly ( the guy says the camera still works but he didn’t show a video before and after).

 

However we KNOW that the X-T1 has a problem with some of the doors which bend in time, if a camera has a bent door, water will penetrate inside and fry the camera.

 

So, rain might or might not be a problem. However there are camera “ capes” to protect one’s camera if necessary.

 

I don’t walk in the rain, with or without camera.