Use in the rain? - Leica M6 classic + 50 Summilux ASPH

menos said:
This questions is of interest to me too.

After a rain shoot with my DSLRs, I take each item (lens, body) seperately in a zip lock bag and load it with silica gel.

Do the rain shooters here do the same or is it just the towel and open storing over night?

Is silica gel harmful to any of the Leicas incredients (the shutter curtain for example?)
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I am told the normal treatment for a watch that is wet is for the repairman to open it, and let it air dry at normal temperatures, never using heat. Often, or so I am told, that is about all it needs, if the water is not corrosive.

Should work with mechanical cameras, but if I get water inside of a camera, or watch, I would want to have it checked out.

Assuming you do not travel with a repairman, I would think a good air drying would be best, at normal temperatures, and the removal of any batteries.

I would not generally shoot in heavy rain, unless I saw some image of great interest, though I used to shoot some football games and some of us got to feel the power in a Graflex Strobe battery.

I had one experience with a few drops of salt water in a new AF SLR, and it was an immediate and lethal experience for the camera. I had just paid a guy $300 to run us over to an Island for some shots with a model, fortunately, spare cameras saved the day.

I have seen silica gel actually draw enough water to get soggy, which would indicate the local humidity is perhaps 100%, don't think I want my camera sealed with that?

I hear from Igor that he had some Blad lenses that cleaned up perfectly, except the diaphragm blades were destroyed by rust, so he sold them for parts. I had a drowned Rolex that ran for two years after drying, until I had it rebuilt by Rolex in Paris. Watch looked new.


Regards, John
 
Thank you all for sharing the overwhelming wet experiences.
I am sold to the water capabilities of the camera and will get a filter for the bad days.

Is there a filter, recommended for the 50 lux ASPH, that flares the least and is practical in the rain?

On my Nikons, I put on a B&W MRC clear filter, which works nicely. I will likely get one of those for the Leica too.

The only lens, it didn't work out well with a filter was my Nikon 50 1.4 AF-D (which I sold on the day, I bought the Leica). It showed extreme ghosting of light sources and flare with the filter.
 
I use B&W MRC filters. They aren't *that* expensive, are well built, and have good durable coatings. I have them on all my lenses.

My big fear of using this stuff in heavy rain is water getting inside the lens, between elements, or in the viewfinder, etc.
 
As I am new to BW too - is there a colored or special filter from B+W, that gives no light loss and has some nice effect to low light photography in the rain? I am thinking more contrasty or how it deals with reflections (which would be most interesting)?
 
To Alt4852. The shoot in the rain in Philly was a tough situation. The other photogtapher shooting the M6 was the organizer of the shoot and eventually collected the images shot from the participating photographers. There were 10 to 15 photographers involved. The organizer was dissapointed with the collective images. He informed me, after talking with each of the participating photographers, that all the autofocus equipment went down during the shoot. I have no idea how many cameras were autofocus. This was in 1994 or 1995. I only knew the organizer and one other photographer personally. I have no idea whether the other photogs were professionals or what they were using except a third photographer, a pro, had to quit because his Mamiya M6 stopped working right. I know for a fact that that there were only 2 photographers still shooting after 6 hours because I was one of them and the other was my friend the organizer. I didn't bother to check out other shooters equipment since I could care less what other people shoot. I also keep a filter on my lens and find shelter out of the rain to change film. I have no reaon to doubt that anybodies cameras works well in the rain if they say so. What I know beyond any doubt is that my Leica M6 works well in the rain. I can also say that prior to 1990, my Nikon F3 and F2 also worked well in the rain.
 
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