Nikon NIKKOR Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S Lens

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Anyway, I do like the lens a lot, it's very nice. I just bought it with a bad timing with regards to light levels to use an f/5.6 long lens in these conditions is a bit ... well, daunting. The backbird shot was taken on a sunny day, while we can have only a dozen or so sunlit hours for the whole month of November in some years! :-)

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Frog season starting, alas, today it was rainy and although I had a mattress and pillow under the lens, and a rain cover over the rig, the Z8 malfunctioned. I got my shots but the camera won't turn off. I guess it's off to service tomorrow. I didn't expose it to heavy rain, there was a bit of light rain but mostly I handled it with the rain cover.

Anyway, it seems the lens is quite capable of this type of situations. Made it black and white to please my desire for high contrast.

Z8, 100-400mm at 400mm, f/11, 1/100s, ISO 4000; slightly cropped (maybe 25% of the area left out to get a more level surface of the water).

[Ilkka Nissilä]

I managed to dry the camera with silica gel in a closed box for a few hours and the on/off switch now works normally.

[Akira]

I managed to dry the camera with silica gel in a closed box for a few hours and the on/off switch now works normally.

Sorry for your mishap, Ilkka, but relieved to know the camera seems to have survived!

[Ilkka Nissilä]

Sorry for your mishap, Ilkka, but relieved to know the camera seems to have survived!

Yeah, I am relieved too, to not have to see how it would have to be fixed. I had some glitches with the D700 in similar (high humidity, lake surface) situations when taking close-ups of icicles and what happened with that was that the camera would simply turn itself off on its own when trying to use it, until spending enough time in dry conditions after which it worked normally. The Z8's refusal to turn off is kind of the opposite reaction so I was really wondering how it could happen. ;-) But hopefully it'll function normally in the future. I do have to say that if it was just the rain then it speaks poorly of the camera's weather sealing and field usability, but if it's also the humidity from the pond and the possible condensation under the rain cover then I guess I may have been running it outside of the specifications (85% RH or less, with no condensation). I have read some others having had malfunctions of other cameras under rain covers and so in some cases while it may protect the camera from the direct rain it can create a highly humid environment inside which may then affect the camera's operation. I'm actually a bit curious about it and may take a temperature and RH logger to the location and test it under the rain cover to get an idea of whether I exceeded Nikon's specs.

[Anthony]

I have had a similar problem with a Z9 (but no dampness involved) which was solved by removing and replacing the battery.

[Ian Watson]

It is a great photograph, Ilkka, and I am glad that your Z8 is OK.