This sort of thing works fine, and is what everyone used until weatherproofed cameras and lenses arrived.

Incidentally, I quite happily use my non-weatherproofed DSLR even in quite heavy rain. The secret is simply to minimise exposure, and dry it off as soon as you can. I doubt if it would stand up to being left outside all night in a thunderstorm, but a couple of minutes at a time isn't an issue - I think people are more scared than they need be on this issue.