Tuesday 9 August 2016

Are typical camera bag materials enough for non weather sealed DSLR in 5 minutes of medium rain?


I have a non weather sealed DSLR (Canon 2000D) along with a bunch of non weather sealed lenses and other equipment. I am for obvious reasons not planning to use the camera outdoors in rain, snow or similar weather.


However, I may have to move the camera in the bag to another indoors location in rain.


Today, I learned that many "all weather" camera bags have separate raincovers you have to put on. So, it's not the main material that is weather-resistant but rather a separate raincover.


Do typical camera bag materials (apart from the separate raincover) keep the equipment inside dry enough during a 5 minute walk in medium rain? In very heavy rain, I can of course use the separate raincover but I would prefer a camera bag that is built from material that keeps the camera adequately dry in medium rain for short periods of time. I understand that most camera bags are built from nylon and polyester.



Answer




In my experience, most well-padded bags will hold dry in medium rain even for several hours. They will get soaked, but very, very slowly. The only source of immediate leaking could be the zippers. So the advise to the cautious would be to buy well-padded bags with weather-proofed zippers.


Note that it also depends on the design of the bag - e.g. mine has a separated non-photo-equipment compartment on the upper side (I use it for water bottles, pens, business cards,....), so even if some rain would enter there, I do not have to fear that my camera gets wet immediately.


Personally, I do not even know where I left the rain cover of my bag - in monsoon-type storms, I typically try to stay indoors or at least under some roof, and for everything else, I never even saw water getting in.


You could also try to further enhance the weatherproofness of your bag with an impregnation spray. They work better than nothing for all kinds of shoes, so it would be worth a try.


Note also that even non-"waterproofed" cameras will typically not die on you at the first exposure to the elements (i.e. a single rain drop), so 5 minutes of light rain should not even damage your camera in the open.


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