Digital cameras on the beach

tenchi-fan · 10 Apr 2006 at 13:35

My sister bought a €300 Sony digital camera in Malaysia last year, used it on her holiday in Australia, and when she came home it wasn't working anymore.

She took it to a shop to get it fixed. Turns out, sand got into it and even a small bit can completely banjacksed the camera. He said he spent €1,000 on a digital camera and a sandstorm kicked up and destroyed the camera.

It's funny, I always take cameras to the beach and I never had that problem. Then again, I use kodak disposables! Even a APS camera 3x zoom camera i bought years ago never had any problems on the beach.

Would it not make sense for the manufacturers of cameras to seal around anywhere sand might get in, given that most people on holidays take cameras to the beach?

Raymond Lin · 10 Apr 2006 at 14:04

The Canon Pro range - EOS 1, EOS 3 are weather proof, sand and splash (to an extent). So it's on the market just it's expensive. There are underwater casing for the Canon Powershot S30/40/60/70/80 range, which should keep out the sand as well.

-TA- · 10 Apr 2006 at 14:52

sand on beachs tends to be damp, and stick together,
a desert is super dry and can have much finer grains, like dust! which can blow about and get everywhere!

most cameras should be fine on a beach, most wont be fine in a desert!

Matt · 10 Apr 2006 at 16:16

Great, now you've got me looking at underwater cases for my Ixus :cool:

SDK^ · 10 Apr 2006 at 17:58

As Raymond Lin posted - All Canon 1 Series D-SLR cameras are fully environmentally sealed, couple this with a weather proof L lens and the setup is bullet proof.

bigredshark · 11 Apr 2006 at 04:40

pentax make a dust and water proof ish camera, the optio wpi if i remember, might be worth a look!

jimpy · 11 Apr 2006 at 08:42

Digi Cames in exstreme conditions

I took my Camedia E10 to the Antarctic last year.
Rushing around in inflatables to photo wild life on little islands
Spray and ice were the percieved problems.
I made a wetproof [ish] cover for the can from one of the tough clear plastic bags that trainers and the like come in.
By the end of the trip the bag was kjnackered but the camera was fine and over 1000 shots taken.

m3csl2004 · 11 Apr 2006 at 21:54

bigredshark said:
pentax make a dust and water proof ish camera, the optio wpi if i remember, might be worth a look!

they do indeed - bit pricey for what it is though