Canon A70 fell in water

I recently bought Canon A70 and unfortunately I dropped it in the water and it doesn't work anymore.

Can anyone tell me what should I do?

Thanks

Ponting

If it was salt water, I think you are out of luck. You could try soaking it in several changes of distilled or de-ionized water, and then letting it dry thoroughly.

If it was fairly clean fresh water, I would just try letting it dry thoroughly (open all the compartments, remove batteries and cards, etc, put in dry place and let it sit for a week). If it works, fine. If it doesn't, you could try sending it to Canon (I wouldn't waste my $$$ if it was salt water... it is probably futile).

Ponting said:

I recently bought Canon A70 and unfortunately I dropped it in the
water and it doesn't work anymore.

Can anyone tell me what should I do?

Thanks

Ponting

Click to expand...

--
Dave Gard
http://www.pbase.com/gard

Ponting said:

I recently bought Canon A70 and unfortunately I dropped it in the
water and it doesn't work anymore.
Can anyone tell me what should I do?

Click to expand...

Don't try to swich it on. Get the batteries out, leave the battery and CF compartiment open, and leave the camera to dry for a couple of days.

Only other thing you can do is pray.
Geert.

David Gard said:

If it was salt water, I think you are out of luck. You could try
soaking it in several changes of distilled or de-ionized water, and
then letting it dry thoroughly.

Click to expand...

Probably true. Even if you get it to work again, I'd bet it will never be 100% of what it was.

Several years ago I was on the beach with my kids, standing at what I thought was a safe distance, about 12 feet above sea level on a dune with my video camera resting 'safely' between my feet. As you can probably guess, a rogue wave came up and doused it with salt water and sand.

When I got home I disassembled it completely, flushing all of the parts with clean water, then allowing it to dry thoroughly. It actually worked when I reassembled it, but it was never the same. The batteries drained at approximately double the previous rate, and eventually it refused to run off the batteries at all; it would only work off the (enormous) power brick that it came with.

I believe it probably developed an internal short or other problem that caused a high power drain.

Good luck. If it was salt water, and you let it dry before flushing it thoroughly, then I'd agree with David, it would probably be a waste of time now.

Kevin

There is an article about camera repair on Popphoto, do it or thrash it. For water damage: thrash it. Read here: http://www.popphoto.com/article.asp?section_id=4&article_id=477&page_number=2&preview=

Ponting said:

I recently bought Canon A70 and unfortunately I dropped it in the
water and it doesn't work anymore.

Can anyone tell me what should I do?

Click to expand...

If you're lucky, your credit card has full protection for things like this for a short period after purchase and you're still in it.

I was taking pictures and with my A60 during a light sprinkle for aprox 10 minutes. should it still be working perfect?

Ponting said:

I recently bought Canon A70 and unfortunately I dropped it in the
water and it doesn't work anymore.

Can anyone tell me what should I do?

Thanks

Ponting

Click to expand...

If what you meant by "it doesn't work anymore" is you tried turning it on while it was still wet, it surely won't work anymore because water inside your camera caused it to short-circuit. You should have waited for it to get fully dried before attempting to turn it on. :-(

Medic

Hello Medic,

Medic Laviña said:

If what you meant by "it doesn't work anymore" is you tried turning
it on while it was still wet, it surely won't work anymore because
water inside your camera caused it to short-circuit. You should
have waited for it to get fully dried before attempting to turn it
on. :-(

Click to expand...

I am an electronics engineer. You may be right, certainly if the water was salty or had other ions in it. But if the water was fresh, it isn't necessarily so. It may start working again after it dried out. I know from expereince. Not that I did this with an A70 specifically, but with other electronic equipment.

--
Best regards,
Philippe.
Digicam: Canon A70
Film: Olympus Mju Zoom II - Pentor SLR - Zeiss Ikon Contessa

Philippe D'Hooghe said:

Medic Laviña said:

If what you meant by "it doesn't work anymore" is you tried turning
it on while it was still wet, it surely won't work anymore because
water inside your camera caused it to short-circuit. You should
have waited for it to get fully dried before attempting to turn it
on. :-(

Click to expand...

I am an electronics engineer. You may be right, certainly if the
water was salty or had other ions in it. But if the water was
fresh, it isn't necessarily so. It may start working again after
it dried out. I know from expereince. Not that I did this with an
A70 specifically, but with other electronic equipment.

--
Best regards,
Philippe.
Digicam: Canon A70
Film: Olympus Mju Zoom II - Pentor SLR - Zeiss Ikon Contessa

Click to expand...

Do you mean, digicam electronic circuits have enough resistance against busting whenever it gets shorted by water?

Medic

Hello Medic,

Medic Laviña said:

Do you mean, digicam electronic circuits have enough resistance
against busting whenever it gets shorted by water?

Click to expand...

Well, I'll say "yes" to that question, but it is not that simple. First, pure water is not a conductor, it is actually an isolator. It is the ions that get dissolved in the water that do the conducting. So depending on how much of this is in the water (not much with fresh water, much more in salt water) the camera circuits may get more or less "shorted". If it is a "mild" short (fresh water), the camera will not operate correctly but the circuits will not burn out. If the water were salty, then it is a straight short on all circuits and you very probably burnt out the cam by putting on the power.

If the water was very dirty, then what would remain on the circuits after it dried out may probably still short the circuits. Then the camera is dead. But if the water was clean enough and the camera did not collect too much dust inside, than you stand a good chance the camera will start operating again once the water has dried up.

--
Best regards,
Philippe.
Digicam: Canon A70
Film: Olympus Mju Zoom II - Pentor SLR - Zeiss Ikon Contessa