The only real value of this is knowing that the manual is right -
don't expose your camera to rain.

Good grief, Rich, is there anything that you don't complain about?

Austin

Why do you persist in blaming Canon?  Everyone knows that you supposed to
liberally spread food grade silicone grease all over the vulnerable points
of the 5D.  It's the user's responsibility to weatherproof their camera and
lenses.

Rita

Please tell us about the 15% who were not using Canon.

f.ck off, f.ck off, f.ck off......

I would have gone  for a film camera  )

This is the update as posted on the site by it's author:

I looked at the site's usage stats on the day after this article was
first published and was astonished to see a huge spike in visitors. It
quickly was evident that the reason was a large number of people on
various forums discussing the equipment failures that we had in
Antarctica, especially those caused by rain.

I won't enter the debate, but the partisan bikkering online over this
is quite astonishing. What I will add are two comments.

1: We were unprepared for rain that day in South Georgia. We found
ourselves ashore, it started to rain, and we kept shooting. None of us
had anything more than a hand towl or plastic bag for protection of
our equipment. There was nowhere to go for shelter, and short of
leaving our cameras in their bags nothing to do except keep shooting
in an extraordinary environment.

2: If there had been 45 Nikon and 5 Canons in use, rather than the
other way round, I think it likely that the shoe would have been on
the other foot.

I have used my Canon 1Ds and 1Ds MKII in snow stroms, dust storms,
heavy rain and worse. I've never had one die. Similarly in past years
with Nikon gear. On my trip to Namibia last year the front element
fell off a Hasselblad lens on its third day of use. The same thing
happened to a new Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L on a shoot in Costa Rica a few
years ago.

Pros and ardent amateurs use their equipment in all sorts of
conditions, sometimes harshly, and sometimes not. But gear does fail.
Sometimes its the elements, sometimes abuse, and yes, sometimes poor
craftsmanship and materials. But no one should draw any unwarrented
conclusions from this report. There just arent enough facts available,
and the sample was highly scewed statistically.

I know nothing about that trip, but given the destinations, it must have cost
a fortune to participate. Since they'd be visiting some of the rainiest places
on earth, it might have made good sense to buy or rent a camera rated for
underwater use as one of their spares. But I guess all hindsight is 20/20.

Bob