WLF - can focus screens get wet with rain drops?

rayonline_nz · Feb 8, 2022

I damaged an RB67 on the coast with splashed up salt water using a WLF. So now I am extremely careful. With normal rain water droplets are they OK with a WLF camera? I've seen videos when photographers have used their WLF finders out in the park or forest and it started to rain.

Cheers.

abruzzi · Feb 8, 2022

well, like any water drops, when it evaporates it can leave a mineral scale. I've had it hapen on my Bronica. I try to be careful, but it does happen. I try to dry it off as soon as I can with a microfiber lens cloth.

oh, and salt water? evil stuff, get it off as soon as possible.

moto-uno · Feb 8, 2022

^ You should see what that salt water does to our cars up here in the "Great White North" . Peter

mrosenlof · Feb 8, 2022

I generally try to keep my cameras dry, but a few raindrops on the outside are unlikely to hurt it. Unless they get inside and then your mileage may vary. I've used Hasselblads and Mamiya TLRs in light rain with no issues.

mshchem · Feb 8, 2022

Not a big deal when you could buy new factory parts. I'm not going to take a chance with my Hasselblads.

Sirius Glass · Feb 8, 2022

mshchem said:
Not a big deal when you could buy new factory parts. I'm not going to take a chance with my Hasselblads.

I have a plastic rain sleeve for my Hasselblad which I have never used because it never rains in Southern California.

jvo · Feb 8, 2022

boy, i never had a concern with the ole' reliable analog camera's - rolleiflex, mamiya, etc. I was never cavalier, but i used them in all sorts of weather - cleaning and providing tlc where needed, post photo session,

i haven't felt digital camera's to be as sturdy, especially in the range i'm willing to pay.

250swb · Feb 9, 2022

Here is the thing to think about. Unless you bought your camera new a film camera will most likely not have had as careful an owner as they have now, so it will have endured rain and water and heat and cold probably more than you'd be willing to condone. So is it still working, has it rusted away? There are the Nikons that have endured years of professional use shooting news and sports and getting soaked, but Hasselblad's and Rolleiflex's were also used to shoot sports and news in all weathers, and one of those may be the very camera you own now, and it survived. So armed with common sense is it worth worrying about a few drops of rain if it gets you the photo?

David Lingham · Feb 9, 2022

I carry a small travel umbrella in my bag. Very English but it has been very useful.

bdial · Feb 9, 2022

A few raindrops aren't going to hurt anything. Protect the camera from them if possible, otherwise, wipe them off when you can. On the screen, the main hazard is that they may run off into the interior of the camera. So, you may want to make sure you keep the camera level until you can get under cover and blot them up somehow.
Afterward, open the camera up in whatever way you can and let it dry.

With WLF's learning to compose with the magnifier helps, since you can block the rain with your head.

abruzzi · Feb 9, 2022

bdial said:
With WLF's learning to compose with the magnifier helps, since you can block the rain with your head.

Also, a lot of cameras (though no all) the flip up magnifier essentially closes the box around the GG:

Alex Varas · Feb 10, 2022

bdial said:
A few raindrops aren't going to hurt anything. Protect the camera from them if possible, otherwise, wipe them off when you can. On the screen, the main hazard is that they may run off into the interior of the camera. So, you may want to make sure you keep the camera level until you can get under cover and blot them up somehow.
Afterward, open the camera up in whatever way you can and let it dry.

With WLF's learning to compose with the magnifier helps, since you can block the rain with your head.

I remember myself in a rainy day in the park trying to shoot a Medalist II with my big umbrella, quite a show!

Nitroplait · Feb 10, 2022

I wouldn't worry if using a camera model that is known to have been widely used professionally under similar conditions.
Rolleiflex was widely used as a press camera and should be able to take a bit of everything. The huge Fujifilm manual focus medium format rangefinders were used on tripod throughout Japan outdoors in parks (used for photographing group tourists) - they were frequently knocked over during typhoon season and would be exposed to lots of drizzle and humidity during the rainy season.
There are probably more but, from the top of my head, I can't think of other medium format cameras that were routinely exposed to the weather in common use.
Surely I have seen models of many brands in use outside, but post WWII 35mm began taking over the role as the press' favorite format, and medium format cameras began moving indoors into the studios and were probably designed primarily with indoor use in mind.

AgX · Feb 10, 2022

David Lingham said:
I carry a small travel umbrella in my bag. Very English but it has been very useful.

So you are the lucky one with 3 hands.

RalphLambrecht · Feb 10, 2022

Sirius Glass said:
I have a plastic rain sleeve for my Hasselblad which I have never used because it never rains in Southern California.

but when it does, watch out.

Sirius Glass · Feb 10, 2022

RalphLambrecht said:
but when it does, watch out.

Fifty years ago when it rained in Southern California it felt like a bathtub was being poured on you, but the bathtub never emptied. No longer.

David Lingham · Feb 10, 2022

AgX said:
So you are the lucky one with 3 hands.

It has its uses.

eli griggs · Feb 10, 2022

I suggest a dark cloth or the sleeves of a rain jacket/windbreaker.

The dark cloth an be made of two layers, typical black cloth and blackout curtain fabric which is white on the outside and has a rubberized reverse.

Use something like "E6000" fabric glue to join parts my, any stich holes will show light in surprising volumes.

WLF - can focus screens get wet with rain drops?

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