5D2 in the cold, cold south!, Question for Chris Options

[citizenjoe]

So Chris, I'm dying to know how the 5D2 held up for you on you trip!
Are you pleased with it?

Cheers,
Hugh

[michael]

You don't want to know.

Reports(s) coming soon.

Michael

[Robert Spoecker]

You don't want to know.

Reports(s) coming soon.

Michael

I just ordered my 5DII yesterday Michael. Why are you scaring the (expletive deleted) out of me?

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Maybe Michael is simply saying that the 5DII is allergic to penguins.

In any case, for the moment I think I'm glad I haven't traded in my plain old 5D yet.

[michael]

Not to make too big a mystery of it, because I'll have a "What Worked, What Didn't" article up within 24 hours, but of the 26 Canon 5D MKIIs on board six died in various ways at various times, largely due to humidity and water issues, while no other cameras suffered similarly. That's a 25% failure rate.

More tomorrow.

Michael

[citizenjoe]

Not to make too big a mystery of it, because I'll have a "What Worked, What Didn't" article up within 24 hours, but of the 26 Canon 5D MKIIs on board six died in various ways at various times, largely due to humidity and water issues, while no other cameras suffered similarly. That's a 25% failure rate.
More tomorrow.
Michael

Ouch! That's painful. I hope mine will prove to be different - I've already sold the 5D.
I look forward to reading the report. Sort of....

Cheers,
Hugh

[Easton]

How cold?

I'm leaving Australia (hot!) to Sapporo Japan (snow!)

But then again to us aussies, 10 degree cel is cold.

Bought the 5D Mark II for this trip, hope it won't die on me!

This post has been edited by Easton: Jan 31 2009, 05:38 AM

[michael]

Just a heads-up that I've delayed the publication of my "What Worked" article till later next week. Today's new essay takes precedence as does the one that I'll publish on Tuesday (for reasons that will become obvious then).

Michael

[jjj]

This is why exactly I am reluctant to buy kit that is fresh to market. I prefer to wait until any problems have been discovered + sorted. I bought the original 5D4-5 months after release IIRC.
Mind you if you can afford that particular trip, you probably had a 1DsII/III as back up anyway - as I think Michael mentions in his value article.
I certainly wouldn't go on that sort of sojourn with just a 5DII.

[pegelli]

Just a heads-up that I've delayed the publication of my "What Worked" article till later next week.

Thanks for letting us know and take your time. I'm sure it will be a balanced article as always with much to learn for all of us.

In the meantime I will just enjoy all the trolls killing each other in a lot of other forums on explaining and valueing the little piece of data you let out

[dyong888]

Just a heads-up that I've delayed the publication of my "What Worked" article till later next week. Today's new essay takes precedence as does the one that I'll publish on Tuesday (for reasons that will become obvious then).

Michael

Whats the proportion of 5DII cameras that failed over the others that didn't fail? And whats the brand breakdown? Remember the Canon 1 series cameras that failed on one of Michael's trip to the pole? This sets a trend....

Daniel

[Bern Caughey]

died in various ways at various times, largely due to humidity and water issues

Michael,

I picked up two of the first batch of 5D2s & have been working them fairly regularly. During a two day shoot in the forests outside San Francisco it was rainy & cold so I mostly used a Storm Jacket camera cover over my primary body.

While downloading CFs I noticed this camera became covered in condensation, so I stopped bringing it into the heated motor home. Still shortly after the multi-control toggle failed & I switched to the backup body.

At the end of the day I put the camera & lenses in Ziplocs, so additional condensation would form on the outside of the bags, & luckily the next day the primary camera came back to life.

Best regards,
Bern

This post has been edited by Bern Caughey: Feb 1 2009, 01:48 PM

[citizenjoe]

How cold?

I'm leaving Australia (hot!) to Sapporo Japan (snow!)

But then again to us aussies, 10 degree cel is cold.

Bought the 5D Mark II for this trip, hope it won't die on me!

I live in Winnipeg. Minus 30, minus 40 C regularly during the last couple of months. No problem with my 5D2.
Frozen batteries are the biggest problem I face!

Cheers,
Hugh

[BernardLanguilli...]

Just a heads-up that I've delayed the publication of my "What Worked" article till later next week. Today's new essay takes precedence as does the one that I'll publish on Tuesday (for reasons that will become obvious then).

Michael,

You probably already intend to include such information, but it would be interesting to get data on the temperatures that you got when shooting during your Antartica trip.

My understanding is that it is pretty mild at this time of the year, but more accurate info would help plan possible future trips.

Thank you.

Cheers,
Bernard

[rockrose]

but of the 26 Canon 5D MKIIs on board six died in various ways at various times,

I am curious to know if their 'death' was definitive. Hell of a way to spend your once-in-a-lifetime-$15.000-photo-trip without photos.
Hopefully their owners had a camera-cellphone, and hopefully Canon will have a meaningful reaction soon.

This post has been edited by rockrose: Feb 2 2009, 07:43 AM

[michael]

The problems had nothing to do with temperature. The range was +2C to -3C. It was humidity and light rain.

More later in the week.

Michael

[NigelC]

The problems had nothing to do with temperature. The range was +2C to -3C. It was humidity and light rain.

More later in the week.

Michael

It will be interesting to discover, over the course of time, whether this expereince is widely replicated - percentagewise, few 5D2 owners go to the Antarctic, but very many will use in conditions of damp and humidity. Either its a manufacturing/batch fault in which case the manufacturer may or may not do something about it, or its a design fault, in which case the characteristic will likely persist at least until there is a new model in 18/24 months time. Funny, my 5D (original) doesn't seem to suffer in that way.

[wtlloyd]

You know, I wish I had spoken up when we took the survey. My concern is that some people were worried about condensation. They chose to use rain covers and I think some sealed their equipment on return in large plastic baggies.... is it possible they forced moisture into the warming equipment by doing so?

For the record, I shot with a 1D3 totally exposed, along with the 580EX II in the rain for about 2 hours. I even took on and off several times a 1.4EX, shielding as much as possible the open camera when doing so with my body. I had no failures in the worst conditions we experienced. I merely wiped everything down with a towel afterwards, and left it out on my bunk. I also used a 40D, with either a 24-105 or 70-200 f/2.8 IS. I chose not to use the 40D in direct rain, but had it out while on Zodiac cruises....no problems there as well.

Lucky, I guess.

Last August, I had a brand new 1Ds3 in a very light rain with the same 70-200, or a 400DO lens. In 15 minutes, I had an "Error 99" that didn't go away until an overnight drying - then it was fine. I didn't have that camera on this trip, as I have traded it away...

These failures seem random.

[BernardLanguilli...]

The problems had nothing to do with temperature. The range was +2C to -3C. It was humidity and light rain.

Thanks for the feedback, looking forward to your article.

Cheers,
Bernard

[NigelC]

You know, I wish I had spoken up when we took the survey. My concern is that some people were worried about condensation. They chose to use rain covers and I think some sealed their equipment on return in large plastic baggies.... is it possible they forced moisture into the warming equipment by doing so?

For the record, I shot with a 1D3 totally exposed, along with the 580EX II in the rain for about 2 hours. I even took on and off several times a 1.4EX, shielding as much as possible the open camera when doing so with my body. I had no failures in the worst conditions we experienced. I merely wiped everything down with a towel afterwards, and left it out on my bunk. I also used a 40D, with either a 24-105 or 70-200 f/2.8 IS. I chose not to use the 40D in direct rain, but had it out while on Zodiac cruises....no problems there as well.

Lucky, I guess.

Last August, I had a brand new 1Ds3 in a very light rain with the same 70-200, or a 400DO lens. In 15 minutes, I had an "Error 99" that didn't go away until an overnight drying - then it was fine. I didn't have that camera on this trip, as I have traded it away...

These failures seem random.

Thats logical. If you seal a wet camera in a bag and bring into (comparative) warmth, the water will evaporate and then potentially condense on the still cold surfaces inside the camera, e.g electrical contacts . Still, you would need to establish that it was only those with 5D2s were doing this to exonerate the camera. As it is my planned upgrading from 5D to 5D2 is definitely on hold.