Weater sealing of Nikon D7000 vs Pentax k-5?
Pentax claims that k-5 has 77 weather seals on its body and it provides a detailed drawing in this regard, whereas Nikon simply says D7000 has great level of weather protection.
I watched some videos of k-5 on youtube where the camera was submerged or subject to shower without any ill effect. I only saw one video of D7000 where it was subject to water splash from a wave while filming on the board of a yacht. Honestly the videos of k-5 really creates the effect of “wow, this camera is really water resistant!”, but I cannot say that for D7000.
My question is, although not officially disclosed by Nikon, do you know how many weather seals are available on D7000’s body? Also, do you believe that D7000 can be as water resistant as k-5 to the extent that it will sustain after the same tests k-5 was subject to in the videos available on youtube?
PS. Please do not digress, e.g. by stating that lens needs to be weater sealed as well or etc. My question only concerns body.
Tagged with: drawing • extent • ill effect • nikon • regard • water splash • weather protection • weather seals • yacht • youtube
Filed under: Water resistant
If the D7000 had as many or more weather seals as its competition, Nikon would not hesitate to say so in it’s advertizing.
By simply saying the D7000 is weathersealed but not saying how many weatherseals, Nikon makes it look better than the Canon competitor (which is not weathersealed), but avoids looking silly compared to the Pentax K-5. I would bet that the Nikon has much fewer than 77 weatherseals.
In an interview shortly after Pentax’s first weathersealed camera, the K10D, was released in 2006, a Pentax engineer said it was designed to withstand a "torrential downpour" (translation from the Japanese) for any length of time, and to be as weather-resistant as Nikon & Canon’s most expensive DSLRs. Since then, Pentax has slightly improved the weathersealing (up from 76 seals I think).
To this day, I have not heard of a single Pentax dying due to inadequate weathersealing. Not true of Nikon & Canon, though to be fair there are of course many more Nikons & Canons in use compared to Pentax.
If I’m allowed to digress *after* giving you a straight answer:
You might also want to consider the price, size, and weight of weathersealed lenses. For Nikon, only the most expensive, large, and heavy lenses are weathersealed. For Pentax, the most expensive lenses (the DA* line) are of course weathersealed, though they are smaller and lighter than their Nikon equivalents. More importantly for most wet-weather users, Pentax also has moderately priced weathersealed lenses (the WR line), which are also very lightweight and compact. You might want to think about what kit you’d rather walk around with all day.
Good luck and have fun!
Greg
No DSLR camera is designed to be submerged underwater for an extended period of time. I would expect something like the Nikon D300s to have the same number of weather seals as the K-5, but probably not the D7000 as it’s aimed at a slightly lower-end market.
If I was truly concerned with how water resistant a camera is, I’d pay a little extra and get a waterproof case.
I think you should go with Nikon D7000 16.2MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR
*High Resolution 16.2 MP DX-format CMOS sensor
*Body only; lenses sold separately
*High Speed 6 frames per second continuous shooting up to 100 shots
*Breathtaking Full 1080p HD Movies with Full Time Autofocus