In one embodiment, a minimally invasive surgical system includes a patient side manipulator, a hermetically sealed endoscopic camera instrument, a vision cart, and a monitor. The patient side manipulator has a robotic arm. The endoscopic camera instrument has a housing at a proximal end to couple to the robotic arm. The endoscopic camera instrument further has a hermetically sealed camera sensor at a distal end, a shaft coupled to the housing, and a wristed joint coupled between the shaft and the camera sensor. The vision cart has a camera control unit coupled in communication with the hermetically sealed camera sensor to capture the images of the surgical site. The monitor is coupled in communication with the camera control unit to display the captured images of the surgical site.