Help! Camera got wet and I can’t remember if it squeaked when I turned it off before!

[Isabellabelden]

This is great, wonderful! So I lost my first camera, a rebel, to water last fall. I was given my deceased grandfathers camera for Christmas and it means a great deal to me. I went hiking Sunday and had it in my pack with a water reservoir. It’s perfectly new reservoir too, only used two or three times. Well it leaked and half the camera got wet. I tuned it on and it seemed to work perfectly, until I turned it off. When I turned it off there was this faint squeaking sound. I left the camera a EOS 50D on my desk to dry out over night. Monday I set it in a bag of rice with everything open(not the sensor of course) and it’s been in there since. I’m physically sick thinking about it. How could I be so unaware of the pack leaking and my camera inside? Today I felt motivated to go shoot, so I took it out of the bag, popped the battery in and it turned on perfectly fine, but when I turned it off I still heard the squeak. I'm going to leave it in the bag for the rest of the week. I can't take any chances of losing this camera too. But my question, I can't remember if it squeaked before, does anyone else have a camera that makes a squeaking noise when you turn it off?!
My apologies for the long message, I'm an anxious typed.

[shadowsports]

Squeaking?

No, nothing should squeak. 

The 50D is an 11yr old camera.  Cost to repair will likely exceed cost to replace it.  The sad part is the sentimental value to you.  For that I'm sorry.  Hopefully the loss of 2 cameras to water will have taught you a valuable lesson.  You did this to yourself.  I won't mention it again. 

I doubt rice is going to help, but by some grace of god, maybe you'll luck out.  Next step will probably be you shopping for a new body.  Please ensure the next one gets a good case.  One dedicated to protecting the camera. 

[Anonymous]

Some people can hear the sensor cleaning sound that occurrs when the camera is first turned on and again when it is turned off, so it may be normal.

If you get a camera or any electronic device wet, the first thing to do is remove the battery until it is dried out.

[shadowsports]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Some people can hear the sensor cleaning sound that occurrs when the camera is first turned on and again when it is turned off, so it may be normal.

If you get a camera or any electronic device wet, the first thing to do is remove the battery until it is dried out.

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Just not as optimistic in this case.  None of the cameras I've owned or used ever squeaked, and the vibration of the sensor cleaning operation never sounded like a squeak either.  But someone who puts their camera in a bag in close proximity to water might believe or hear a "squeak" I guess.  We all interpret sounds differently. 

Normal use to me doesn't invlove water, dirt, sand or foreign anything if I can avoid it.  I don't eat in my car either, so you won't find french fires under my seats. 

We can just attribute this to accidents happen.  Here's to hoping for a positive outcome, but I tend not to rely on this as a strategy.  @isabellabelden, wishing you good luck and a positive outcome.  Please let us know what happens.     

[wq9nsc]

As mentioned above, it may well be the sensor cleaning system that you are hearing.  I suspect after what happened that you are so paranoid that you are now hypersensitive to every noise and it may well have made that noise before.  It is the same thing many people go through after having a major car repair and they begin to hear noises that were there all along but never noticed because of previous lack of worry.

Accidents happen so don't beat yourself up over a leaking water reservoir.  I have done a lot of hiking and stuff in a backpack does get bounced around and vibrated meaning bad things can happen, several years ago in the CO Rockies my phone ejected its battery and SIM card during a hike to Long's Peak and the key fob for my GMC pickup spit out its battery also.  Your camera is being used as intended and I am sure your grandfather would be very happy that his camera is being used by his granddaughter rather than sitting in a closet collecting dust. 

I am careful with my camera gear but ultimately they are objects that are meant to be used and if something happens they can be replaced unlike people.  Of course I also drive my Corvette in the rain which horrifies many owners who won't venture out of the garage on a cloudy day for fear of getting their precious baby wet. 🙂

Given the sentimental value, I hope that your camera will be around to take many more images and that it will keep you involved in photography until you move on to newer and different camera systems.

Rodger

[RobertTheFat]

At least it sounds as though the water that leaked into your camera was relatively clean. Cameras do sometimes survive that if they're allowed to dry completely. Just be glad it wasn't salt water; very rarely does a camera survive that.