I remember a while back a number of reports from users dropping their kit Philip Bloom in Australia and accidentally dropped memory cards and 5D's in beaches - Could this new tech save the day?

I shoot in the UK and with the weather as it is I'd be interested in proofing my kit for those rainy days.

What are the potential health risks of this new tech always concerned that it could be absorbed by the user - thoughts?

From the handbook: "0 °C to 40 °C (32 °F to 104 °F)"

I have a shoot Saturday and temperatures are said to reach -20 °C. Batteries of course will only last a 1/3 of rated time, and condensation may become an issue. Any tips on how to deal with this, like getting the camera to temperature gradually?

http://vimeo.com/groups/gh2/forumthread:249248 has this:

"D D 2 months ago I happily used mine last winter when it was worse than -10C, but I doubt the internals ever got down that far. I'd imagine the Panasonic specs relate to continuous core temperature and also have a small margin of tolerance. In the cold, it's often the battery that's first to fail to perform adequately rather than the electronics of the camera, or whatever. Keep your battery warm in a pocket and pop into the camera just for the shot. I've had cameras operate well below their published minimum in this way.

Besides keeping your batteries in a warm pocket, a couple of other good tips for taking pics in the extreme cold ... 1) For at least a couple of hours (the longer the better!) before going out into sub-zero temperatures, put the camera into one of those plastic zipper food bags with a couple of freshly recycled Silica Gel sachets. This removes the internal moisture and reduces the chance of condensation inside the camera/lens. 2) Take the bag and Silica Gel sachets with you. Before popping the camera back inside your jacket to keep it warm between shots, first take out the battery and keep warm in your pocket and put the camera back in the plastic bag. The humidity under your nice warm ski-jacket is really high! 3) Before returning into the warm indoors, remove the battery and memory card and put the camera back into the bag and leave in the bag until it has warmed up. This prevents condensation forming on the outside of the camera. The memory card has very little mass and not too subject to condensation . . . and you probably want to download pics/video without waiting for the camer to warm up - and, likewise get the battery on to recharge."

"The cards can take the kinds of punishment that we often associate with rugged gear, such as temperatures from -13F to 185F, immersion in 3.3 feet of water for half an hour and the usual steep drops. It's beyond this that the resistance levels become truly exotic: the cards are also built to survive zaps of electricity, proximity to magnets and exposure to X-rays. If it all becomes too much to bear, the design will even fuse on the inside to prevent fire burning the card from within. Those who like what they see will only have to decide whether or not they want the SDAB range's 95MB/s read speeds and 80MB/s writes or are willing to settle for the SDUB line's respective 90MB/s and 45MB/s transfers. "

sounds like they're prepping for a new weather sealed camera, eh? ;)