ZOMBIE 5D Mark 3

[Streker26]

Weird but true story..... I had a cup of coffee that I had put down in the curved chair next to me and I put my Mark 3 alongside it and was interrupted by a phone call for twenty minutes. When I returned, to my horror, I saw that the coffee had spilled and the camera was about three inches into the muck for the entire twenty minutes. I  turned it off and wiped it down. The next day I turned it on and got an error message on the screen when I tried to start it up. I brought it to Nippon Photo Clinic in NYC and they checked it out and said that the corrosion was so bad they could not repair it and I should send it to Canon repair in Jersey. I did, and got a message from Canon a few weeks later that they could fix it for about $400 as it needed several parts changed. I gave them the green light but was surprised and disappointed when some time later they wrote back that it was in fact beyond any economic repair. I tried to get an explanation as to why at first they gave an estimate and only later realized it could not be fixed but they would only say that that was their conclusion after further evaluation. So I got the camara back and put it in a draw. That was a few months ago. Well the other day for the hell of it I tried out the camera and it is working perfectly. How the photo repair shop and Canon itself could say the camera was dead and now it works fine is beyond me. Of course I am happy about this. Except for one thing.... I went out and spent my rent money on a Mark 4 which I never would have done if I thought that the old camera was capable of being saved. 

[Ray-uk]

I can understand the response from the shop and Canon.

The problem with liquid ingress into a camera is that the liquid will contain a variety of corrosive salts and chemicals. When the moisture has dried out it is possible that the camera will work but the impurities will remain usually as a crystalized deposit.

As the humidity changes some of these impurities will be activated and slowly corrode through the various parts of the camera and whilst your camera is working at the moment it is unlikely to keep working for long.

When Canon do a repair they have to be able to guarantee that repair so unless they replace every part which shows moisture contact then they can never be sure it is going to last.

[ebiggs1]

"... I thought that the old camera was capable of being saved."

Like most mechanicall things made by the hand of man, I doubt it fixed itself.  This may just be a reprive and I, for one, would not trust it for serious shoots.