Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/09/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Tina wrote: .................................. The ability to change ISOs when I need to. The 1DMarkII is great at higher ISOs and, in spite of its size and weight, is a really good, versatile camera to take on a long trip to remote places. You might want to look into the Mark II. It's a tank of a camera. Of course, you won't be that remote in Portugal and England! I carried an Epson P2000 and my laptop to download into and had no problems at all with batteries or room to download even with 3000+ photos. --------------------------------- Yes. I went to the tropics in July - where is not important - with my Canon 20 D, lenses and Epson P2000. The latter is great (transport it in a Peli Micro Case 1040!) and saved my photo life. Read why: The Canon 20D (as well as the 1D's, checked yesterday) have as specifications: 0-40 degrees Celcius and 85% max relative humidity. That max humidity was to be my trap. In a location near the sea, very hot, very humid, on an open plateau about 100 m about sealevel, I was taken pictures of pitcher plants. Sweating a lot, camera - when not in use - in closed wathertight Orlieb-type plastic bag for transport. Pictures were fine. Then the sun came out, and everything - litterally everything - got wet : way above 85% rel. humidity. Picture through the viewfinder fogged, sweat dripped on the body of the camera. The combination of it all did the camera in after a change of lenses: stop, no more pictures, nothing! (Sealed pro camera's can experience the samething after a change of lens) A few hours later, back at the primitive lodge - the camera came back to life, but with an ugly striped pattern on the pictures. That could only be seen with the P2000. Good for the P2000! Back home, the camera is a total loss. Humidity has internally led to corrosion of contacts, helped by the fact that a switch off of power does not switch the electric currents off it at all. Proof - as I discovered later - : a switched off camera recognizes a new flashcard with a light signal on the back. The advice: whenever in doubt - lens fogging etc: immediately rip out the battery and flashcard. You may save your gear, as I discovered with my new (some days later bought in town) Canon 350D. It still lives and managed to function through similar circumstances in other places, fogging included. Pictures on website. Will the Leica MD and the DRM be impervious to high humidity? Of course not!............ Sander Amsterdam Holland www.vanhulsenbeek.com www.van