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1D dropped into the sea - advice anyone

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--If water got inside; it's trashed. It will fail even if it's cleaned and works for a while. Canon stopped cleaning salt water drenched cameras I heard because of this. It's unethical to sell unless you tell the buyer it was exposed to salt water.

-the old man down the road-
 
steve1984 said:
1) sell it as-is on eBay (SOMEONE is bound to buy it, but for how
much?)
Click to expand...
Throw it back in the box, sell it as "1D - only dropped once!" and you'll get $9,000 easy. When the buyer complains about the dead camera, just claim that they or the shipping carrier must have broken it. That strategy seems to work for the other eBay sellers.

(Unfortunately, I'm saddled with the heavy burden of ethics, so my auctions never get any bids. YMMV.)
--
Daniel
 
misha said:
RDKirk said:
But that's nearly impossible to do without dismantling it,
especially since the camera was submerged in salt water down to 10
feet,
Click to expand...
Not 10ft:
"dropped his 1DII into about 1ft of seawater"
I assume it was quickly recovered, so in this case I'm wondering if
the cure might not be worse than the disease :)
Click to expand...
I read it wrong, then. Presuming he recovered it very quickly, it still needed to be immediately rinsed with fresh water for a few moments, then all batteries removed.

I have heard of a good number of 1D cameras being saved under those conditions.

--
RDKirk
'TANSTAAFL: The only unbreakable rule in photography.'
 
I would have soaked in alcohol for a few minutes and then distilled water for a few and then let it dry for a few days, then take it apart and look at the internals.
 
T_Arkadia said:
I would have soaked in alcohol for a few minutes and then distilled
water for a few and then let it dry for a few days, then take it
apart and look at the internals.
Click to expand...
--Try reversing that. Although the alcohol may not be a good idea. Won't matter; the salt will work it's way deep into connectors, switches, etc. were it will cause them to fail, weeks months, years latter. Selling such a unit is so unethical, and it will be discovered, with the possibility of civil action.
  • You could try ultrasonic cleaning in distilled water, and then rinse with deionized water. Both bats must be pulled immediately too!*
-the old man down the road-
 
Its most likely ruined, its now a paperweight.

Its anyones worst nightmare, $3.5k lost in a second.

Had it been fresh water, maybe no big deal...

But man, saltwater is pure poison to a camera.

sorry for his loss.
 
I'll bet his camera is fine.

These particular cameras are sufficiently waterproof to withstand a quick dunk, I imagine.

Tell him to take a deep breath and to turn it on. If it's knackered his home insurance may pay for it?
 
...for advice (both the good and useless!).

I'lll tell him next time he's at the beach to always carry a 2 litre bottle of distilled water with him and an empty bucket just in case it happens again.

I'll remember to post an update here if and when he decides to do something about it.

:)
sneakyracer said:
Its most likely ruined, its now a paperweight.

Its anyones worst nightmare, $3.5k lost in a second.

Had it been fresh water, maybe no big deal...

But man, saltwater is pure poison to a camera.

sorry for his loss.
Click to expand...
 
Gearóid Ó Laoi Garry Lee said:
I'll bet his camera is fine.
These particular cameras are sufficiently waterproof to withstand a
quick dunk, I imagine.
Click to expand...
That was my point exactly. I'm suprised at the little faith people have in the weather seals of the 1D-series of bodies. A quick (premise being that it was pretty quick) dunk in any type of water shouldn't be a problem. I know that over on another brand's list there are numerous examples of dunked cameras being just fine afterwards. Salt water? They just rinse the camera off under a faucet.

The only exposed and unprotected electronics is, I believe, the flash-sync and hot-shoe.
 
ekn said:
ekn said:
I'll bet his camera is fine.
These particular cameras are sufficiently waterproof to withstand a
quick dunk, I imagine.
Click to expand...
That was my point exactly. I'm suprised at the little faith people
have in the weather seals of the 1D-series of bodies. A quick
(premise being that it was pretty quick) dunk in any type of water
shouldn't be a problem. I know that over on another brand's list
there are numerous examples of dunked cameras being just fine
afterwards. Salt water? They just rinse the camera off under a
faucet.

The only exposed and unprotected electronics is, I believe, the
flash-sync and hot-shoe.
Click to expand...
--I bet it's not; "However, the buttons/dials now have sand in them (they are feel gritty to turn/press) and moisture has also formed on the inside of main LCD protector - although that too is drying out slowly."

-the old man down the road-
 
Just a reminder to all and myself. The problem with salt water is the ionization of salt and dissimiliar metal effects. If you are talking about an ocean liner then there is a lot of metal to work with and even then they make allowances for the problem.

Even the tinyiest (science word) bit of water that gets in the camera has ionized salt in it. Given the small thicknesses of metals, conductors and components in the camera causes it to be a problem. They can be etched out quickly unless they are gold plated (which some are). Drying it out doesn't change things. The minute your moist breath hits the inside of the camera (or humid day) the dried out microscopic salt residues that are still there to go back working.

How much and how long before damage is noted on a photo - who knows. I certainly don't want to drop mine to find out but it would be a good experiment for Canon to run for us!!

The suggestion to wash and dunk in distilled water is a very good one. There might be a component in the camera that is water soluable but I doubt it. The thing about distilled water is there are minimal/no ions in the water. It is pure and pure distilled water won't hurt the metals/plastics in the camera even if submerged continually in it. If there is no distilled water use fresh water - it is better than salt water of any strength.

The fresh distilled water is there to keep dilutting the little residue bits of salt that are just then (several days later while making your way home) finding their way out. Continually replacing the distilled water keeps the free air oxygen away from the metals and stops the oxidation. There is some oxidation underwater but it is less of a problem overall than the massive ionization problem.

Remember you don't have any idea where the initial salt water really got to, so until a repair guy opens it up and really dries it out, you have to assume the salt water got everywhere.

It will be the lesser of all of the possible evils.

excuse any spellllling errors! It's early yet. Let us know what the Canon reps say. Personally upon reflecting on it - it would scare me to death.

Best of luck

--
Ben Lanterman

http://public.fotki.com/benlanterman/
http://webpages.charter.net/benlanterman/Index.html
http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=208093
 
...and not looking good.

He took it down to one canon place and was told it would cost about £1200 to repair - i.e. not much less than a used 1DII. Apparently £800 of that just to replace the whole pentaprism. It still turns on but just reports err99 at the moment. They've not tried the shutter yet though.

I think he's gonna write it off anyway (and all because he was using the hand strap on its own rather than the neck strap!!)

Also, for info he washed the body in the shower! yesterday to try and get rid of the salty residue as best as possible (I guess anything's better than sea water). Not that it matters really but the 'gritty' feeling seems to have mostly gone from the controls now.

:)
Ben Lanterman said:
Just a reminder to all and myself. The problem with salt water is
the ionization of salt and dissimiliar metal effects. If you are
talking about an ocean liner then there is a lot of metal to work
with and even then they make allowances for the problem.

Even the tinyiest (science word) bit of water that gets in the
camera has ionized salt in it. Given the small thicknesses of
metals, conductors and components in the camera causes it to be a
problem. They can be etched out quickly unless they are gold
plated (which some are). Drying it out doesn't change things. The
minute your moist breath hits the inside of the camera (or humid
day) the dried out microscopic salt residues that are still there
to go back working.

How much and how long before damage is noted on a photo - who
knows. I certainly don't want to drop mine to find out but it
would be a good experiment for Canon to run for us!!

The suggestion to wash and dunk in distilled water is a very good
one. There might be a component in the camera that is water
soluable but I doubt it. The thing about distilled water is there
are minimal/no ions in the water. It is pure and pure distilled
water won't hurt the metals/plastics in the camera even if
submerged continually in it. If there is no distilled water use
fresh water - it is better than salt water of any strength.

The fresh distilled water is there to keep dilutting the little
residue bits of salt that are just then (several days later while
making your way home) finding their way out. Continually replacing
the distilled water keeps the free air oxygen away from the metals
and stops the oxidation. There is some oxidation underwater but it
is less of a problem overall than the massive ionization problem.

Remember you don't have any idea where the initial salt water
really got to, so until a repair guy opens it up and really dries
it out, you have to assume the salt water got everywhere.

It will be the lesser of all of the possible evils.

excuse any spellllling errors! It's early yet. Let us know what
the Canon reps say. Personally upon reflecting on it - it would
scare me to death.

Best of luck

--
Ben Lanterman

http://public.fotki.com/benlanterman/
http://webpages.charter.net/benlanterman/Index.html
http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=208093
Click to expand...
 
steve1984 said:
He took it down to one canon place and was told it would cost about
£1200 to repair - i.e. not much less than a used 1DII. Apparently
£800 of that just to replace the whole pentaprism. It still turns
on but just reports err99 at the moment. They've not tried the
shutter yet though.
Click to expand...
Ouch. Sounds like either a seal failed around the eyepiece or water entered through the lens-mount. Maybe a combination of both.
steve1984 said:
I think he's gonna write it off anyway (and all because he was
using the hand strap on its own rather than the neck strap!!)
Click to expand...
Did it break or did he lose his balance?
 
--It's sad and frustrating, but writing it off will save time, money and aggravation for a lost cause. He could try the distilled water thing, it may work for a while, but will almost certainly fail. If Canon won't do it, don't pay any other shop money to service it as it's just throwing money away.

-the old man down the road-
 
The strap didn't break - he was just walking along the beach with camera in hand and somehow hit the side of his leg with the camera and it just slipped out of his grip. At the same time a smallish wave came along and washed over it! (otherwise I think it would have just landed on the wet sand)

The camera's now in bits on his desk at home, drying out after another clean!
ekn said:
ekn said:
I think he's gonna write it off anyway (and all because he was
using the hand strap on its own rather than the neck strap!!)
Click to expand...
Did it break or did he lose his balance?
Click to expand...
 
--
RDKirk
'TANSTAAFL: The only unbreakable rule in photography.'
 
I'm just a humble 350D user and looking to a 1-series i'm caught day-dreaming... I really hope it will be fine, at least for some time... maybe exactly until he would've upgraded anyway.
 
steve1984 said:
The strap didn't break - he was just walking along the beach with
camera in hand and somehow hit the side of his leg with the camera
and it just slipped out of his grip. At the same time a smallish
wave came along and washed over it! (otherwise I think it would
have just landed on the wet sand)
Click to expand...
That's a real bummer. I'm still at a loss as to why the seals failed. I can imagine that if that happened to me, that the camera wouldn't have sat in the water more than a couple of seconds. The weather seals essentially set up a pressure-vessel when dropped in water and would have required at least a couple of them to have failed to get any appreciable amount of water inside in a couple of seconds. But the lens, not being sealed, could have allowed water to enter a bad seal from around another joint if the lens was pointed upward. If water entered through the lens, you would clearly see evidence of that in the mirror chamber.

If the seals are THAT lacking, I'd be afraid of using the camera in the rain as seepage would occur. Is this a common problem with the 1D-series?

BTW, as anybody with a marine aquarium will attest, there is something known as "salt creep". If any salt water does get past the seals, it will migrate nicely throughout the interior ruining everything.
 
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