Advice needed for submerged DSLR!


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gremlin

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Nov 15, 2002
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My photographer friend was taking an outdoor bridal shoot this morning over at clarke quay when he slipped on the river bank steps and fell into the singapore river. He was holding a 10D with 70-200IS and 550EX. I was there and the whole thing lasted a few seconds. The camera was fully submerged for about 2-3 secs and he immediately switched off everything, took out the batts and detached the lens and flash when he came ashore.

There was some condensation inside the lens, but the lens gave an err 99 when we tried it on my 10D. Is everything screwed since it's salt water we are talking about? If he were to send it to canon service center, should he tell them exactly what happened? (He is concerned that canon may automatically take a "change everything" policy if they know about it, instead of testing and changing only the damaged parts).

I feel quite sorry for him as he just spent about $500 on the IS unit of the lens. So what's your advice guys?

Appreciate any inputs.
 

typically when anything electronic is wet, it should be totally dry before feeding any current through.

hope your friend doesn't have to fork out too much to get these fixed, as i know (but have not yet experienced!) salt water + camera gear = suicide... :(
 

your friend should have got a 1D :p

i have heard pple drop their 1D into swimming pool for minutes and swing their monopod while crossing river and got the 1D smashed under the river back..but still works

ok..back to topic...no point lie to the service center, cos once they open they can tell what happened already (same for mobile phone, the technican can tell if the phone got kenna moisture or not)

i think the 550EX should be gone...but the lens should be fine since 70-200IS got better weather seal. for the 10D, hopefully is just some PCB burn, in that case it wont cost much to replace (canon parts and service charge is very reasonable compare to others)
 

Yeap, you're right about telling the service centre what actually happened to your gear and they are rather reasonable with the parts replacement.
 

If it's salt water, there's no way to hide it... cuz when the water dry, the salt still stays. Don't advice to turn it on even if it's dry, coz salt might still short the circuit.

As for the 70-200 IS... it's sealed in front, but on the rear, I'm not sure... need to check if water got into the mirror box or not... dunnoe if water can get into the lens from the rear.
 

CYRN said:
As for the 70-200 IS... it's sealed in front, but on the rear, I'm not sure... need to check if water got into the mirror box or not... dunnoe if water can get into the lens from the rear.

for a few seconds, i dun think water can go into mirror box so quickly, most likely is the PCB outside short circuit first

luckily it was not S2 pro, read from other thread that it cost $1700 to change PCB only
 

i think it won't be unreasonable if you told them the truth and asked for a quotation before proceeding to fix it. THe very most they will charge for diagnostics. Else if they were to change all the parts inside.. might as well buy a 2nd hand 10D body which will be much cheaper.

I only know Fuji doesn't charge for diagnostics and labour :D :thumbsup:
 

OMG, thats terrible. :bigeyes:
Feel sorry for the guy, hope his 10D survive the salt water.
 

I'd agree with letting it totally dry before feeding any current. You can wash motherboards this way too, but have to be sure it's totally dry else you'll fry the board.

However, since it's salt water.. might as well just 'fess up and let Canon do the cleaning.
 

Wai said:
your friend should have got a 1D :p

i have heard pple drop their 1D into swimming pool for minutes and swing their monopod while crossing river and got the 1D smashed under the river back..but still works

ok..back to topic...no point lie to the service center, cos once they open they can tell what happened already (same for mobile phone, the technican can tell if the phone got kenna moisture or not)

i think the 550EX should be gone...but the lens should be fine since 70-200IS got better weather seal. for the 10D, hopefully is just some PCB burn, in that case it wont cost much to replace (canon parts and service charge is very reasonable compare to others)

Urban legend... we have one dead 70-200 IS and 1D here in the office because of a flood in Aceh
 

The 1D series is built weather proof not swimming proof. I have seen a few sets that got dunked in water and i've not seen any of them function. All sitting as paper weight in the service center i go to here in the uk. As a rule, the weather sealing of the IS lens is only as good as the camera it is mounted onto as it depends on the two gaskets on the camera mount and lens mount interlocking together. Unfortunately, i believe this sealing is only available for 1 series cameras. If it is saline, i suspect the lens is a goner as well cos salt will precipitate on the glass later or rust will will jam the helicoids. good luck all the same, but be prepared to declare total loss.
 

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