Ultimate harsh weather terain test on gear

[MHD]

The situation: Walking along the riverbank to the terminal face of Franz Joseph glacier.. Got there took some photos when the heavens opened up dumping phenominal amounts of rain!!! nearly 100mm in an hour!

Walking back I had to ford streams up to my thighs (which in NZ steams is more than a little dangerous.. I utterly abused some of my gear during this, most of all my Gitzo 1227lvl...

How the gear fared:
Gitzo + acratech: Brilliant, after leaning on it, dragging it though rivers laden with glacial silt and debri, after a quick wipe down it works like a new one

Nova 2 AW: Well this really was the ultimate test and its performance was borderline, areas covered by the rain hood were fine but the rain pummelling off my goretex hit the back of the case (where the belt straps are) and I did get a very minor leak into the padding which made my 70-300G and 50/1.4 slightly damp, nothing major, they are still prefectly fine after spending a day strategically placed at a AC vent in a car while driving... but the case is taking a long while to dry out, just about good now (two days later) where I will trust having gear in it again (worried about mould)

Awesome drive through Arthurs pass yeasterday, still overcast, but I shot a 360 pano, which I cant wait to stitch!!!!

Happy new years all!

[birddog114]

The situation: Walking along the riverbank to the terminal face of Franz Joseph glacier.. Got there took some photos when the heavens opened up dumping phenominal amounts of rain!!! nearly 100mm in an hour!

Walking back I had to ford streams up to my thighs (which in NZ steams is more than a little dangerous.. I utterly abused some of my gear during this, most of all my Gitzo 1227lvl...

How the gear fared:
Gitzo + acratech: Brilliant, after leaning on it, dragging it though rivers laden with glacial silt and debri, after a quick wipe down it works like a new one

Nova 2 AW: Well this really was the ultimate test and its performance was borderline, areas covered by the rain hood were fine but the rain pummelling off my goretex hit the back of the case (where the belt straps are) and I did get a very minor leak into the padding which made my 70-300G and 50/1.4 slightly damp, nothing major, they are still prefectly fine after spending a day strategically placed at a AC vent in a car while driving... but the case is taking a long while to dry out, just about good now (two days later) where I will trust having gear in it again (worried about mould)

Awesome drive through Arthurs pass yeasterday, still overcast, but I shot a 360 pano, which I cant wait to stitch!!!!

Happy new years all!

Great to see your gears survived with harsh weather. You should get the back bag when travelling like this instead of the Nova 2 AW, it hurst your side shoulder. BTW, make sure to clean your gears, fix the dents and polish the tripod same as new before put them on the market and lust another series

[Onyx]

MHD, you would have been among the first in the world to see in the new year.

Glad to hear you're having fun - and your gear is mostly holding out. I wouldn't worry too much about the damp lenses, mould/fungus sets only in after decades of exposure to high humidity, the occasional or one time raindump won't likely increase the chance of fungus formation.

[MHD]

Yep! Got some nice photos of the fireworks in Christchurch too...


Did a 360 degree pano yesterday... itching to stitch it!

Very impressed by the Gitzo and how robust it is... I highly recomend it to anyone who is needing a rugged set of legs...

of to Milford in two days... ready to wear out the shutter there

[JordanP]

I can't wait to see what you capture at Milford. Been keen to go there for years.

You will probably get to test the wet weather gear again from what I here.

Cheers,

[Matt. K]

Sounds like you did everything right.
Couple of tips for newbies who might read this post...firstly, never put damp camera gear into a closed camera bag. Let it air dry first. Secondly, you should all pack a large, heavy duty plastic garbage bag in you photo kit for those days you get caught in a downpour. Lowepro bags are not waterproof, (apart from 1 model). Some do come with a inbuilt raincoat and it works fairly well but some photographers forget it is there.

[lukeo]

I've always wanted to shoot in N.Z

i was looking at getting the Minitrekker AW lowepro backpack as well.

Glad to hear the gear stood up to weater conditions you probably only see in 2 or 3 other places of the world.