Just how rugged is the D300?

[InsuredDisaster]

I have a question about my D300. I recall reading that it was weather sealed and had a magnesium body or something like that, but what does this mean in real world terms? Can I shoot in a steady drizzle? A drenching downpour? A quick dunk?

I recently had a "waterproof" camera suggest anything but so I'm curious about what the actual users say about their D300's.

Thank you.

[Harryb]

The D300 is weatherproofed. Its one of the best weatherproofed cameras I've seen. I would shoot in a drizzle w/o hesitation. I haven't and don't intend shooting with it during a downpour w/o some extra protection.

I've been caught is a heavy rain with my D300 on a couple of occasions w/o a problem so far. I would not attempt to dunk it (or any other camera) in water.

[LensCap]

Yep they are tough...shot a motorcycle race the second day I had one, it was in a steady drizzle or rain for most of the day. Also use it for all my underground mine work which is the worst environment you could put a camera in, no problems at all after 3-4 months.

[InsuredDisaster]

So then, if its raining on the camera,its ok*? I'm buying the 70-200 VR 2.8 which nikon touts its orings and everyone says how rock solid that is. I'm guessing if I were to just leave that attached and never take it off, I could work very well in a drizzle with no problems? Since the lens is pro tough and supposedly weather sealed.

While I'm not looking to run out in the rain and start dancing with the camera, it does rain a lot some times and I want to get some more rain shots, without needing to cover the camera up in trash bags and what not.








*well, not "ok", but you can do it?

[LensCap]

I still do what I can to keep it dry, but I don't stress out about it. If it was good hard rain I'd definitely recommend some sort of protection. When I did get stuck out on the motorcycle track with it I had the 70-200 VR on it as well, no problems whatsoever...except getting raindrops on the front of the lens a few times. My son was with me with my d40 and a 18-200 VR, I had him run it back inside the truck whenever it got to raining pretty hard.

[InsuredDisaster]

My son was with me with my d40 and a 18-200 VR, I had him run it back inside the truck whenever it got to raining pretty hard.


For his sake or the cameras?

Actually, I also had trouble with the rain drops a while back. I tried the hood and it helped but only so much. When I turned the camera portait wise, of course the hood offered only "half" as much protection as in landscape.

But if you say you had him run back when it was "raining pretty hard" then I guess that means a lot for the D300.
Thanks for the answers everyone!

[Art Scott]

There is only so much that can be prevented or helped with....the lens shade is made to shade the sun in landscape mode....You can get a step up ring and a solid hard rubber hood for a pro video cam and glue them together and use....that was my solution when I broke my petal hood and even tho it doesn't stay toghether 100% of the time (have not found the perfect glue yet)...it still works like a charm......now for drizzle and rain....even tho a camera and lens are supposedly sealed why in the world would yopu purposely put the camera and lens into that situation......I carry like 12 or 15 gal trash bags that hve one corner cut out to allow the end of the lens to stick thru and is attached by a rubber band......it can also keep eyes and head dry.....

[Joves]

Mine has been rained on as well, with no problem. Had it been my D80 then Id have worried. I would still get a rain hood for the downpours. I had my 80-400 on when mine got hit last. That lens is sealed as well.

[davidweaver]

Is mist-resistant a "rugged" feature? I bent the hotshoe mount the first week I had my D300. Nikon gets 256 bucks for the repair. Canon shoes are user serviceable with hot shoe screwed down from the top. The D300 (and D200) screw in from underneath. After a year the D200 needs to go into the shop for a simple tightening that the local repair shop want 125 bucks. I'm going to ask them to use loctite on it, if possible. That is a bad design and is not a rugged feature of the D300 and D200.

The seals are better on the D300. Just look at the 10-pin cable release cover and the seals over the usb/hdmi and battery connector.

I beat the heck out of my gear. It's generally in my hand or bag. I find the butterfly lens shades to provide good bumper protection for the front of the lens and they are cheap to replace when broken. Yes you an set it down on wet surfaces but that dried beer smells if you don't clean it up after a day.

That said. I shot a D70 in the blowing talcum-fine dust of the Antelope canyons. The environment took out a 10.5mm lens but the camera was fine.

Now if 'rugged' means drop resistant then YMMV. Don't drop them. It's like dropping a 2-3 pound cell phone. Don't knock it over when mounted 5 feet above the ground to a tripod. If you do. You may have to replace the lens mount on that nice fixed 300mm f/4 lens but you might not have any damage done to the camera body (I was lucky - it hit soft dirt)

[andyroo]

Dont you guys have plastic bags in the US? :rolleyes Seriously whenever I found myself at a football game here and it was drizzle I would just grab a plastic shopping bag, works fine, the few times my old Nikon got lightly* wet just wipe her down before storage and it would be fine.