DA 16-50mm under water

[hans_ch]

Hi,

This might be my last picture with my 16-50mm :-(

Lost balance when shooting from the stand-up-paddle and went under water with K5 and lens. Actually twice, the 2nd time when I had to turn the board in upright position. The K5 seems to be OK but the lens got some lake water inside.

Any ideas how to get the lens dry again are highly appreaciated.


View through the lens: K5 and DA* 16-50mm with circular polarizing filter


View at the lens: DA* 16-50mm after being submerged in lake water

Cheers,

Hans

--
www.hrfisch.com

 

[AviPro]

Hi,

This might be my last picture with my 16-50mm :-(

Lost balance when shooting from the stand-up-paddle and went under water with K5 and lens. Actually twice, the 2nd time when I had to turn the board in upright position. The K5 seems to be OK but the lens got some lake water inside.

Any ideas how to get the lens dry again are highly appreaciated.

I had similar thing happen to my iphone, I blow dried it on medium heat for 15-20 min making sure it didn't overheat and left it overnight in a jar of raw rice grains.

The same can be tried with the lens, you could go a bit high on temp and time if it does not have any electronics inside (assuming it is a screw drive motor).

Maybe u can then sell it and get the 18-135 as it is WR and compared shoots great pics!

 

[solarider]

Hi,

This might be my last picture with my 16-50mm :-(

Lost balance when shooting from the stand-up-paddle and went under water with K5 and lens. Actually twice, the 2nd time when I had to turn the board in upright position. The K5 seems to be OK but the lens got some lake water inside.

Any ideas how to get the lens dry again are highly appreaciated.


View through the lens: K5 and DA* 16-50mm with circular polarizing filter


View at the lens: DA* 16-50mm after being submerged in lake water

Cheers,

Hans

--
www.hrfisch.com

I'm glad you sound to be okay... too bad about your 16-50...

Either have a lens tech take care of it or look at a few reports of fixing this particular lens showing how to disassemble and reassemble it. At least remove the front face/ring to let out some of the moisture and let in air that is at least somewhat dry... it does look pretty damp in there. I hope that fungus doesn't get going inside. The dry rice idea is used a lot for drowned cel phones. Is silica gel available on the cheap in large quantities?

Best of luck,

Nic

--
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, the rational mind is a faithful servant.
We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. - Albert Einstein
________________
Science... became Scientism, which means it didn't just pursue its own truths, it aggressively denied that there were any other truths at all... Ken Wilber
__________
Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next. - Jonas Salk
__________
Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous - Albert Einstein

 

[hans_ch]

Hi,

This might be my last picture with my 16-50mm :-(

Lost balance when shooting from the stand-up-paddle and went under water with K5 and lens. Actually twice, the 2nd time when I had to turn the board in upright position. The K5 seems to be OK but the lens got some lake water inside.

Any ideas how to get the lens dry again are highly appreaciated.

I had similar thing happen to my iphone, I blow dried it on medium heat for 15-20 min making sure it didn't overheat and left it overnight in a jar of raw rice grains.

The same can be tried with the lens, you could go a bit high on temp and time if it does not have any electronics inside (assuming it is a screw drive motor).

Maybe u can then sell it and get the 18-135 as it is WR and compared shoots great pics!

 

[hans_ch]

Either have a lens tech take care of it..

This is probably what I should do..

or look at a few reports of fixing this particular lens showing how to disassemble and reassemble it.

Might be difficult without the skills and special tools..

At least remove the front face/ring to let out some of the moisture and let in air that is at least somewhat dry... it does look pretty damp in there. I hope that fungus doesn't get going inside. The dry rice idea is used a lot for drowned cel phones. Is silica gel available on the cheap in large quantities?

Will order some silica gel, if not for this lens then for keeping the other lenses dry..

Many thanks Nic for your support.

Regards, Hans

Best of luck,

Nic

 

[leopold]

My 7D and 400mm/5.6 L are still working even after this being 3 years ago. Good luck.

https://steevemarcoux2.com/2013/07/11/saving-a-camera-and-lens-damaged-by-water/

https://steevemarcoux2.com/2013/07/11/update-7d-and-400mm5-6l-survived-to-water-damage/

--
Leopold
http://smarcoux.zenfolio.com/
http://www.limagier-photo.com/
http://www.firstlight.com/galleries.php
http://steevemarcoux2.wordpress.com/

 

[hans_ch]

My 7D and 400mm/5.6 L are still working even after this being 3 years ago. Good luck.

https://steevemarcoux2.com/2013/07/11/saving-a-camera-and-lens-damaged-by-water/

https://steevemarcoux2.com/2013/07/11/update-7d-and-400mm5-6l-survived-to-water-damage/

 

[DAVID MANZE]

Mold can grow in 2-3 days and frankly I don't see the lens drying out in that time, air needs to be passed through the lens as the any water has to turn to vapour before being able to escape.

I always thought of connecting a vacuum cleaner (on low speed) to the bayonet end of the lens with duck tape (with a hole so as to not have "all" the air sucked through the lens) to literally suck out the humid air whilst heating the lens gently. The lens could be put a cloth bag to prevent dust from being sucked in.

Rice on it's own will not do it...

Act now!

--
Dave's clichés

 

[shane1130]

Silica Gel can be bought cheap, go find some crystal cat litter.

Shane

 

[retyazhi]

It doesn't look like it is water inside of the lens but the condensate.

I had the same issue with my Nikon 24-70/2.8G on Nikon 750. I was shooting by the sea, some splashes hit the lens but it wasn't anything extreme. However I decided to wash the whole camera with the lens in the nearest cafe. The water there was cold and I could see with the naked eyes how my lens was becoming white inside because of the condensate.

When I drove to the hotel room, I took off the lens and dried it with a hair dryer. It took about 20 minutes. Then I left the lens for a night with the open mount. Everything was fine since then.

 

[hans_ch]

Thank you all for the very helpful tips on how to get the moisture out of my lens.

As I tried most of the proposed procedures, I can't tell which one did contribute best to the success. Here is what I tried:


Drying in a jar filled with rice (1 night)


Getting impatient this morning, I 'cooked' the lens in the stove at about 40 to 55 °C

This helped a bit, but after an hour or two I was ready to try out David's prescription:


Lens attached to a vacuum cleaner as proposed by David Manze. A converted PET bottle served as x-over.

I luckily managed not to overheat the vacuum cleaner. I left the lens another 6 hour in the plain sun. The water drops disapeared but some smudges remain.


After the treatment (I)


After the treatment (II)

The stains are bothering me a bit but I doubt that they have a major effect on the picture quality. The lens seems to be as sharp/unsharp as before; contrast is fine.


Proof of survival (I)


Proof of survival (II)

Regards, Hans

--
www.hrfisch.com

 

[soheil]

Happy to see it's working again. I'm still worried if it was salt water that gets inside because retained salt may cause corrosion on metal parts inside the lens.

 

[MightyMike]

I may know someone who could help you replace it... he is thinking of selling his

 

[Mark Ransom]

Congratulations!

You've beaten the most immediate danger, which is fungus. However you might want to consider sending it in for a professional disassembly and cleaning. It will probably come back better than new.

 

[DAVID MANZE]

Thank you all for the very helpful tips on how to get the moisture out of my lens.

As I tried most of the proposed procedures, I can't tell which one did contribute best to the success. Here is what I tried:


Drying in a jar filled with rice (1 night)


Getting impatient this morning, I 'cooked' the lens in the stove at about 40 to 55 °C

This helped a bit, but after an hour or two I was ready to try out David's prescription:


Lens attached to a vacuum cleaner as proposed by David Manze. A converted PET bottle served as x-over.

I luckily managed not to overheat the vacuum cleaner. I left the lens another 6 hour in the plain sun. The water drops disapeared but some smudges remain.


After the treatment (I)


After the treatment (II)

The stains are bothering me a bit but I doubt that they have a major effect on the picture quality. The lens seems to be as sharp/unsharp as before; contrast is fine.


Proof of survival (I)


Proof of survival (II)

Regards, Hans

--
www.hrfisch.com

Yay yay yay!!

I'm super glad you tried that!!

I have never had that happen to me but I have had strong humidity in my boat in which I live....I like an idiot left my kettle on the stove when I went out and came back twenty minutes later with steam everywhere!!!

I opened the windows and forgot all about it, three or four days later I took out my Sigma 50-150mm F2.8 lens to find mold filaments behind the front element, I had it apart in five minutes, fortunately only the front element was affected....phew.....

Since I have had many thoughts on humidity management and have five small safes for stocking my gear......they are all insulated now with camping mat foam, which also helps against bumps....I then spent some time thinking about having a source of heat as a further measure......I've now fitted a aquarium heater, which is glass tube with thermostat built in, this is put in a steel tube welded to a plate to spread the heat, the safes are now lightly warm to the touch.....I figured that the heater would be something very reliable as folk often keep expensive fish.

I thought of the vacuum cleaner trick because of the lens seals preventing humidity escaping from the lens, I remember trying to dry something once that was semi sealed and just wasn't drying, (can't remember what it was), the hoover trick had it dry in no time.

Glad it all worked out and that you reacted quickly, many people would have dithered until it was curtains (of the filament type) for the lens!

--
Dave's clichés

 

[Leandros S]

Yay yay yay!!

I'm super glad you tried that!!

I have never had that happen to me but I have had strong humidity in my boat in which I live....I like an idiot left my kettle on the stove when I went out and came back twenty minutes later with steam everywhere!!!

I opened the windows and forgot all about it, three or four days later I took out my Sigma 50-150mm F2.8 lens to find mold filaments behind the front element, I had it apart in five minutes, fortunately only the front element was affected....phew.....

Since I have had many thoughts on humidity management and have five small safes for stocking my gear......they are all insulated now with camping mat foam, which also helps against bumps....I then spent some time thinking about having a source of heat as a further measure......I've now fitted a aquarium heater, which is glass tube with thermostat built in, this is put in a steel tube welded to a plate to spread the heat, the safes are now lightly warm to the touch.....I figured that the heater would be something very reliable as folk often keep expensive fish.

I'm surprised that worked for you as I've also heard that the heaters will burst when used outside of water for extended periods of time. I think it works like this: Heat will not easily distribute in air, and air will not as readily communicate heat (compared to water). Therefore the thermostat will get delayed feedback about ambient temperature, and crank up the heater further. The heater, meanwhile, has trouble distributing its heat to the air, will overheat and... ker-klank! This would be most likely to happen when ambient is much colder than the temperature set on the thermostat. But maybe the tech has improved since I last heard about this...

I thought of the vacuum cleaner trick because of the lens seals preventing humidity escaping from the lens, I remember trying to dry something once that was semi sealed and just wasn't drying, (can't remember what it was), the hoover trick had it dry in no time.

Glad it all worked out and that you reacted quickly, many people would have dithered until it was curtains (of the filament type) for the lens!

--
Dave's clichés

--
There's no bad bokeh, just background that's too close.

 

[DAVID MANZE]

Yay yay yay!!

I'm super glad you tried that!!

I have never had that happen to me but I have had strong humidity in my boat in which I live....I like an idiot left my kettle on the stove when I went out and came back twenty minutes later with steam everywhere!!!

I opened the windows and forgot all about it, three or four days later I took out my Sigma 50-150mm F2.8 lens to find mold filaments behind the front element, I had it apart in five minutes, fortunately only the front element was affected....phew.....

Since I have had many thoughts on humidity management and have five small safes for stocking my gear......they are all insulated now with camping mat foam, which also helps against bumps....I then spent some time thinking about having a source of heat as a further measure......I've now fitted a aquarium heater, which is glass tube with thermostat built in, this is put in a steel tube welded to a plate to spread the heat, the safes are now lightly warm to the touch.....I figured that the heater would be something very reliable as folk often keep expensive fish.

I'm surprised that worked for you as I've also heard that the heaters will burst when used outside of water for extended periods of time. I think it works like this: Heat will not easily distribute in air, and air will not as readily communicate heat (compared to water). Therefore the thermostat will get delayed feedback about ambient temperature, and crank up the heater further. The heater, meanwhile, has trouble distributing its heat to the air, will overheat and... ker-klank! This would be most likely to happen when ambient is much colder than the temperature set on the thermostat. But maybe the tech has improved since I last heard about this...

I thought of the vacuum cleaner trick because of the lens seals preventing humidity escaping from the lens, I remember trying to dry something once that was semi sealed and just wasn't drying, (can't remember what it was), the hoover trick had it dry in no time.

Glad it all worked out and that you reacted quickly, many people would have dithered until it was curtains (of the filament type) for the lens!

 

[hans_ch]

Happy to see it's working again. I'm still worried if it was salt water that gets inside because retained salt may cause corrosion on metal parts inside the lens.

 

[hans_ch]

Congratulations!

You've beaten the most immediate danger, which is fungus. However you might want to consider sending it in for a professional disassembly and cleaning. It will probably come back better than new.

Thank you Mark,
professional cleaning would be the right thing to do. I'm hesitating as the cost would probably be close to the price of a 2nd hand piece (saw one 'like new' for less than US 500.-). Regards, Hans

 

[hans_ch]

Yay yay yay!!

I'm super glad you tried that!!

I have never had that happen to me but I have had strong humidity in my boat in which I live....I like an idiot left my kettle on the stove when I went out and came back twenty minutes later with steam everywhere!!!

I opened the windows and forgot all about it, three or four days later I took out my Sigma 50-150mm F2.8 lens to find mold filaments behind the front element, I had it apart in five minutes, fortunately only the front element was affected....phew.....

Since I have had many thoughts on humidity management and have five small safes for stocking my gear......they are all insulated now with camping mat foam, which also helps against bumps....I then spent some time thinking about having a source of heat as a further measure......I've now fitted a aquarium heater, which is glass tube with thermostat built in, this is put in a steel tube welded to a plate to spread the heat, the safes are now lightly warm to the touch.....I figured that the heater would be something very reliable as folk often keep expensive fish.

I thought of the vacuum cleaner trick because of the lens seals preventing humidity escaping from the lens, I remember trying to dry something once that was semi sealed and just wasn't drying, (can't remember what it was), the hoover trick had it dry in no time.

Glad it all worked out and that you reacted quickly, many people would have dithered until it was curtains (of the filament type) for the lens!