Just happened to be reading this thread over on one of the Nikon forums (I also have Nikon gear). The writer is responding and please take note of paragraph 2 in which he mentions about taking a trip in Argentina with both a D-3 and E-5. He goes on to say that the E-5 gave up somehow. I find this hard to believe - especially that the D90 kept on ticking.What do you think here? No, I'm not maligning the poster or the post. Just surprised to see him say that the E-5 somehow conked out under those conditions. Hmnnnnnnn?http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1034&message=38578286 --

Yes, D90 is definitely more rugged camera than either E-5 or D3 -- Cheers, Marin

If what he posted is true... then he must have been :either very unlucky with a dud copy of the E-5or careless (e.g. by swapping lenses in an extremely hot and humid environment, thus breaking the weathersealing and giving condensation a change - but still, I could have expected some fogging, but not the camera giving up...)Anyway, this is what I did with my E-5, and at precisely the same spot where he was talking about, on theborder between Brazil and Argentina (Iguaçu Falls):For this picture :In that location :I got my camera drenched like this :No problemo : I just wiped the worst water off and went on shooting.

and make much conclusion about it. Now if there was a trip to Argentina with say 5 E-5's and 4 fail that would be differentBut yeah, I mean, you get a lemon or partial defect in every brand from time to time. Another question to ask is what lens he attached to the camera and how old that lens is along with how much use before, because the camera could be fine but maybe not the lens, and if the lens is not, that's the weakest link.You are only as weather sealed as your weakest link is.-Raist3d/Ricardo (Photographer, software dev.)- "You are taking life too seriously if it bugs you in some way that a guy quotes himself in the .sig quote" - Ricardo

Sounds odd to me. I beat the hell out of my E-3 & subject it to rain, snow, high humidity, dirt, mud & dust constantly, and have yet to encounter a problem. Maybe I've just been lucky? I can't imagine the E-5 is built any less durable than the E-3 since the bodies are virtually identical. -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/nvsteve/sets/

you just have to assume products will fail for whatever reason every now and then. -- Smoke me a kipper....i'll be back for breakfast

be interesting to know howfunny he's never been to this part of the forum, when he seems to have been everywhere else

Impossible to say why or how two out of three bodies failed without knowing more. IIUC the places an E-5 could take in moisture include the zoom vent tucked IIRC behind the connector flap, the battery hatch and of course the lens flange.He discusses the D3 and E-5 with no differentiation, so it's impossible to know if they suffered exactly the same symptoms. If there was a failure to power up, I'd start with the battery compartment and whether moisture got onto the contacts during a battery swap. Second would be moisture in the power switch itself.He noted moisture appearing on the two exterior displays. The top display implies moisture getting into the body and migrating outward, which has me wondering whether all his lens o-rings are intact. Seems to me the easiest way to get water inside an E3 or E-5 would be through a gap in that o-ring. I'm also curious whether it's possible to ingest water through that vent if the cover isn't closed tightly?So, we're left with one data point. Since I have an E-30 and not an E-5, I'll be just as paranoid as I was before reading this account--which is to say, "somewhat." Not headed to the jungle anytime soon.Cheers,Rick

It could just as easily have been the Nikon and not the Olympus. That's why, if you're serious about your photography, younevertake along just one camera!

Looks like it was the Nikonandthe Olympus. From my reading the D3 bit the dust as well.Robert

His other posts explain that he was talking about other people on the trip, so he couldn't offer any details about the failures, including if they were really weather related as he assumed. This could be as dumb as a battery going dead. -- Bob