Another drowned camera query

Apologies for another one of these threads!  Long story short - very thoroughly submerged G7 on a hike.  Wasn't able to open the camera up for drying till several hours later.  Was switched off and in a pouch at time.

Have read to be cautious about battery.....??  It is in the charger and appears to be charging fine.  My question is - would it be safe to put into my G85?  I have one critical camera so don't want to risk any damage to my G85!

The G7 will be left to dry out for a while yet but probably past its use-by date 

It is not a good idea to reuse the battery and for sure after you have had your camera for a week in a tapaware with silica packet in a warm environment you want to use another battery that has been dry all along

Lithium is highly reactive with water and the two things do not mix well

kiwigirl wrote:

Apologies for another one of these threads! Long story short - very thoroughly submerged G7 on a hike. Wasn't able to open the camera up for drying till several hours later. Was switched off and in a pouch at time.

Have read to be cautious about battery.....?? It is in the charger and appears to be charging fine. My question is - would it be safe to put into my G85? I have one critical camera so don't want to risk any damage to my G85!

I'm no expert, but if the battery has charged up (and so warmed up and externally dried) satisfactorily, then it shouldn't harm the G85.

The G7 will be left to dry out for a while yet but probably past its use-by date

Sadly, probably so!

Mike

The most important thing to do (or to have done) is (was) to remove the battery from the camera immediately after you retrieve the camera from the water.

Even when switched OFF the camera has various internal circuits that are energised by the battery. Internal moisture can result in currents flowing where they ought not be and that results in corrosion of metal components - printed circuit board tracks, switch and button contacts etc,

If the battery was removed promptly and it was fresh, not saltwater, there’s a good chance that the camera will be OK once it dries out

Peter

kiwigirl wrote:

Apologies for another one of these threads! Long story short - very thoroughly submerged G7 on a hike. Wasn't able to open the camera up for drying till several hours later. Was switched off and in a pouch at time.

Have read to be cautious about battery.....?? It is in the charger and appears to be charging fine. My question is - would it be safe to put into my G85? I have one critical camera so don't want to risk any damage to my G85!

The G7 will be left to dry out for a while yet but probably past its use-by date

In 2012 the G1 and 7-14 f/4 fell into a river (I slipped on the wet muddy floor on boarding a small boat) during a trip. They were picked up by sailors around me within a split second but it came out like a water tank.

Fortunately G1 was powered off during the accident so no circuit shortage.

Took out the battery immediately, drain all of the water inside and dry it with every paper tissue, handkerchief, dry clothes I could find.

That battery had been out of the camera for a few days, put it back to the camera while I believe it had been completely dried. Nothing bad happened. But IIRC I replaced it very soon after returned home for safety. It was a generic battery and so the cost is small. In your case, I might not reuse it, just for a peace of mind.

My wet gear were dried, the one day 0 and day 1 after the accident, they refused to power up. On day 2, G1 can be powered up but a dead LCD and basically not working. During all of the time I got an idea from nowhere to use the hairdryer supplied by the the cruise to blow dry the gear whenever I was in my cabinet. When I was out, I put the wet gears inside a drawer on top of the mini fridge, surrounded the drawer tight by towels to create a warm storage hoping can dry my gear. On Day 3, G1 came back to life again. So was the 7-14. I could shoot with it for the last few days of my trip.

Back home, sent it to Service Center but after inspection, I was told to let it be since it could die anytime.

G1 had been used as my major camera for 2 more years, then retired. But it works well, except for a few rare crashing, until now. 7-14 is still one of my major lenses today.

I had repeated here many times. Moisture corrode electronics, similar to cancer it kills electronic product immediately, or soon or later. Time becomes the essence and the shorter time we let electronic component exposing to moisture, the damage could be smaller.

My only suggestion is to dry the gear as fast as possible. Any possible ACTIVE/DIRECT means of drying (like apply heat, but please not overdoing it like some suggestions to heat a camera in an oven, etc) should be the first front line of action. A low RH storage would be the long time life keeping plan.

Passive/indirect means like let the gear to dry naturally by itself might not be a good idea unless the gear would be kept in an extremely dry environment which can do the natural drying very quickly. Rice is always a bad idea to me because not only it does the job slowly, rice rots after absorbing moisture pretty fast which might cause damage more than good. Silica gel could be safer to use for a more effective result but still on a relative slow processing. IMHO these are safe keeping measures but not for ER.

My 2 cents.

alcelc wrote:

I had repeated here many times. Moisture corrode electronics, similar to cancer it kills electronic product immediately, or soon or later.

That is absolutely 100% true for salt water. Its a cancer that will kill the camera, rather sooner than later. Flushing with distilled water will go a long way removing the salt, but some will remain in tight areas like inside ribbon cable connectors...

This is not so if the camera fell into clean sweet water like a blue lake or river. It should work again after drying, reliably and long term.

***

It is not only the electronics you need to worry about. Even clean sweet water can adversely affect the filter stack in front of the sensor, which often uses some foil filters that nearly contact each other. Imagine what water does between these foils. These are not always sealed under glass, in my GM cameras the filter stack is open on the sides. Same goes for the viewfinder, water may leave traces after drying.

Thanks all for your responses.  The battery 'appears' to have taken a charge but I won't attempt to put it in my cameras.  The camera has been opened up and stored in a hot water cylinder cabinet in a mesh bag and most visible evidence of moisture has gone.

I have talked to insurance company and I need to take it to a technician for a damage report.  They sound reasonably positive about my claim [which includes another lost item] so hopefully it will be written off.  Unbelievably, the G7 is still available for sale new here.  So hopefully once my excess is deducted it will be worth the effort of doing a claim!

When the engineer of Panny service centre opened up my G1 and 7~14 f/4 (G1 was bought from authorized dealer so free inspection, but 7~14 was bought from gray market, they charged me a non refundable inspect fee close to U$150 IIRC), they advised me that the electronics inside were starting to show oxidization, nearly only the chassis could be reused... 😒. A death certificate was issued to me for insurance poupose.

So fresh water is also very harmful as well. I suppose just to frush water to clean the exterior of a WR sealed body and lens would be ok, but not pouring water into the interior of the camera and lens.

I think there were a few old reports on dead LCD due to corrison simply by the atmospheric mositure.

My gear had been inside a river for few seconds only and I trusted majority of water were out less a hour. Very quick action had been taken to dry it on the first 12 hours (might be?), and damage had already been done. Touch wood their cancer had not killed them yet. The lesson was learnt and I would always advise to take every action possible, and must be very fast, which might have a better chance to save our gear.

That is good news.  However, instead of the G7, which is a bit long in the tooth by today's standards, you might consider the G9.  Newer technology, double slots, 20megs...Just a thought.

cba_melbourne wrote:

alcelc wrote:

I had repeated here many times. Moisture corrode electronics, similar to cancer it kills electronic product immediately, or soon or later.

That is absolutely 100% true for salt water. Its a cancer that will kill the camera, rather sooner than later. Flushing with distilled water will go a long way removing the salt, but some will remain in tight areas like inside ribbon cable connectors...

This is not so if the camera fell into clean sweet water like a blue lake or river. It should work again after drying, reliably and long term.

I disagree with that. All natural freshwater contains dissolved minerals giving it sufficient low-voltage conductivity for electrolysis to occur if the battery was inside the camera while it was left to dry.

Peter

***

It is not only the electronics you need to worry about. Even clean sweet water can adversely affect the filter stack in front of the sensor, which often uses some foil filters that nearly contact each other. Imagine what water does between these foils. These are not always sealed under glass, in my GM cameras the filter stack is open on the sides. Same goes for the viewfinder, water may leave traces after drying.

Fresh water still has dissolved minerals in it which can be as harmful to cameras as it is to plumbing.  I'd say any camera totally immersed in water fresh or salt is toast.  My first action with my camera would be to totally cover it with rice for a week then see what happens.  The chances of it ever working properly again are slim to none so I'd be scanning the pages for a new camera.

I had my real experience @ https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/65760401

A bag of silica gel, like having bandage in the first aid box, could be stocked at home for photographer. Rice is not a good option IMHO.