Weatherproofing?

[DCB]

What is the importance of weatherproofing in older, non electronic or minimal electronic, cameras?

I can understand with modern, all electronic, cameras.

You look at the press and war photographers of the past and they took pictures in the worst of conditions.

Peace

 

[Rob-F]

True, the Nikon F and Leica M3 were carried through the Vietnam war and worked just fine. But electronic circuits don't react well to moisture, hence the need to make water resistance part of the camera and lens design. And this probably explains the appearance of waxwear camera bags from Domke and rain covers for camera bags from Lowepro, ThinkTank, and others.

 

[tomken]

Corrosion?

 

[DCB]

They had a lot of brass in them and not much electronics.

Just curious.

Peace.

 

[Doug]

Cameras with aluminum frames are vulnerable to corrosion in bad circumstances. Aluminum is quite active chemically, the mitigating factor being that Aluminum oxide (which forms quickly on the bare metal) is pretty good protection.

I bought a Pentax MX with a dead meter. Turns out the circuitry in the baseplate was corroded, and the corrosion had also reached up into the frame and lens mount. The repair tech speculated that the camera had been exposed to salt water and sat for a time untended.

Ordinarily for this kind of gear, exposure to rain (essentially distilled water) is not usually harmful if wiped down and allowed to dry out. Modern camera's inner computer may be a different matter!

 

[Addy101]

Apart from corrosion (that is dependent on the exact material used: brass is great, aluminium is good, steel is a disaster) another thing that can be affected by rain are the lubricants. Water and lubricant usually don't go well.