Comments on: 7D #1 Weather Sealing

By: John

John — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:20:32 +0000

Strange indeed, my 7D got cought in a light shower and wouldnt work for 2 days.

By: Jenn M

Jenn M — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 18:31:57 +0000

I had my 7D fry out from extreme weather… a drizzle in foggy conditions. Canon rejected it as a warranty repair and nailed me for 600.00. When it came back from their New Jersey “repair” facility, the AE was off by 10 stops and there were screws missing. A second trip there yielded a fixed AE and replaced screws, but now a malfunctioning AF system and different missing screws. I won’t even mention the rubber covering that was doubled over and squashed between a 3 point no clearance joint. They admitted both issues were their fault (Duhhh).

I wrote letters… oh yeah. Finally I got a call today from Customer service. They offered to do a repair on my XL2 that I need. Nice, but I am skeptical and not impressed. I would have preferred a refund and an admission that it should have been warranty to begin with. So much for their advertising that the 7D is weather resistant.

By the way, I was without the camera for better than 2 months.

By: Nico

Nico — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 18:34:49 +0000

Hi all, I’d like to share something that happened to me yesterday. I was shooting under very heavy rain, it was quite cold, probably a few degrees above 0º Celsius.

After maybe an hour or two I went inside a car with the camera (i mention this because it may have something to do with what happened later), it was slightly warmer than outside as there were 3 more people inside the car, and a bit humid because of this. Calefactioning/Air conditioning was off. I took some water off the camera with a cloth, and after maybe half an hour I went outside again.

After a couple of minutes, all camera controls stopped working. Only the mode change wheel and the shutter trigger responded properly. As far as I could see, there was no visible condensation on the lens or camera screens. The camera could take photos (the shutter triggered), but it was not possible to change any parameter, and under AV mode the lightmeter didn’t seem to respond properly.

I stopped shooting, put the camera back on the bag and as soon as I got home (maybe some 5 hours after the incident) i proceeded to gently dry it with a hair drier. Everything seems to be in proper working order now, but I’m still a bit afraid of taking it out under tough weather again, and I’m pretty sure I’ll need to because of work assignments.

I’m wondering what could have caused this. My bet is that taking the camera inside the car was a bad idea (i’ve shot under rain a couple of time before without any issues).

Have you had similar experiences?

By: Ryan Sommers

Ryan Sommers — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 02:30:47 +0000

Great post, given a recent experience I had with a 5D Mark II, I’m considering the switch to a 1 series. You can read the whole story on my blog, but long story short, a backpacking accident had my 5D in a puddle and it’s having to go back to Canon, the battery was completely soaked through, the memory card as well (although it still worked). After a day of drying the camera “functions” although the mode dial doesn’t work and the camera is stuck on program mode and the AWB is way out of whack. It seems to power up fine, but we’ll see what Canon has to say. Thankfully, it’s insured.

By: Michel Valiquette

Michel Valiquette — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 02:20:41 +0000

This is not true for every 7D. Canon is lying to it’s customers. My 7D has been exposed to very little bit of rain only once or twice and is now broken. I tried to fight my case with Canon Canada service department and their point is “this is not a water or moisture free camera, the seals will help to protect but we do not guarantee that moisture won’t occur” There is absolutely no way to have them understand that Canon is lying about the “weather resistant” aspect of the 7D. They first offered me to replace the camera and charging me 1615$ plus taxes… this is the price in stores right now! I declined the offer and tried to make them understand my point, I even send them the link of this tread and pictures of mistreated 7Ds still working today. They came back with pictures of my corroded shutter button… I asked them why they couldn’t replace only this button instead of the whole camera?? They told me: “Please allow me to explain our policies in regards to moisture damage. Our normal process when we find any type of moisture regardless of how small, is to automatically suggest a replacement. The reason for this is we cannot guaranteed the repair warranty because once moisture seeps in, corrosion can occur at any time, and although the unit may appear to be in working order today, we cannot guarantee the unit will continue to perform within spec.” They then offered me to repair the camera for 219$ with a 90 day guarantee for the repair. I accepted this offer. I a long time Canon products user and this is the last Canon product I buy.

By: Laird

Laird — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:12:34 +0000

Have you done any testing at the other extreme? I was shooting in Panama over the last week with a t2i and had a ton of problems with fogging of the lenses and mirror every time I’d get out of an air-conditioned car. I’m wondering whether upgrading to one of the sealed bodies will eliminate that or if it’s pretty much par for the course.

Of course I could just avoid the airconditioned cars… =)

By: Paris sportifs en ligne

Paris sportifs en ligne — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:06:04 +0000

I really love your jobs and photos.
i am ading u to my bookmarks

By: Takumi

Takumi — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 08:37:59 +0000

Cool Article!! But I still don’t want My 7d to wet.

By: Silverboarder25

Silverboarder25 — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 05:50:24 +0000

So, you mentioned you had put the 50D away the year previously because it wasn’t suited for those conditions… what would you consider its limit? I’m just wondering because I’m often on ski hills with temps -10- -20 + wind chill and snow and throughout the summer, rain is always a possibility, as it anywhere. While I may not need the 7D, I’m wondering if the investment of the extra money into the weatherproofing would be worth it. Thanks for any suggestions!

By: Tabetha Paulin

Tabetha Paulin — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 12:24:54 +0000

Wow… Really informative post!
Have a lovely day!