Singin' in the Rain

After the LCD display on the top panel, the next two pro camera features I mentioned in my list were a rugged, usually metal body, and weather sealing.

When normal folks would buy that boxed Nikon D3000 or Canon Rebel kit from Walmart or Best Buy, it represented a chunk of change. Especially back in the late '00s, when their only other experience with digital cameras had been a $150-$250 point-'n'-shoot, that $500 to $1000 DSLR kit that they purchased to document their big trip to Europe or their kid's first season of Little League was a luxury item and tended to be treated as such.

On the other hand, working photogs... especially photojournalists, wildlife and sports photographers, et cetera ...treated their cameras like the working tools they were. The body needed to be rugged enough to take a beating, and the weather sealing had to be up to shrugging off the elements.

I stumbled on a leaf-covered sidewalk and faceplanted right on top of this Canon EOS-1D Mark IV

If a camera will stand up to the sidelines of an NFL game or deal with a NatGeo expedition into the Amazon, I figure it's more than up to wandering around my Broad Ripple neighborhood.

I'll note that this is all for naught if not paired with a comparable lens. The Olympus E-5 and the Zuiko Digital 14-35mm f/2 Pro lens are both known for being quite weather-resistant.