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Possible water damage HELP PLEASE

lauralee
Apprentice

I had a flood in my basement of my house and my camera was in there when it happened.  I am trying to assess the damage and have charged the battery, or attempted to and I still cannot get the camera to turn on.  Is there any hope that this camera might still work, or will i need to cut my losses and look for a new camera?  It makes me sick everything that I lost in this and didn't find out about until later and would love to at least know that there is hope.  

 

Secondly...if the camera is not salvagable should the lens still be okay?  

 

Camera: EOS 60D

Lens EFs 18-135mm Image stabilization 

 

Any help is appreciated.  Thank you.  

7 REPLIES 7

jrhoffman75
Legend
Legend

Sounds like the camera and lens were submerged. Very unlikely that either are OK.

 

Wouldn't your insurance cover the replacement?

John Hoffman
Conway, NH

1D X Mark III, Many lenses, Pixma PRO-100, Pixma TR8620a, LR Classic

lauralee
Apprentice
This actually happened almost 2 yrs ago. I didn’t find it until fairly recently...moved, had a child, and have really been missing taking my pictures. I didn’t fully assess the damage at the time and was holding out hope it might still work. I don’t know if the battery is just very dead right now or if it’s the camera. I truly didn’t know the extent to which this camera had been damaged either. It just breaks my heart.

Charge the battery but if the camera got wet AND stayed wet for a long period of time then it isn't likely to recover.  Electronics will often stand a brief immersion in clean water for a short period if quickly followed by a proper drying but immersion in salty or contaminated water (either of which is highly conductive and corrosive) or staying wet/damp for a long period of time usually results in serious damage.

 

If it was immersed and stayed wet then this is going to be  a good opportunity to upgrade to a newer camera.

 

Rodger

EOS 1DX M3, 1DX M2, 1DX, 5DS R, M6 Mark II, 1D M2, EOS 650 (film), many lenses, XF400 video

Even if you could dry it out successfully (unlikely, as Rodger points out), both the camera and the lens would require a professional cleaning. By the time you've gone through the cost and aggravation, you might wish you'd just replaced them instead. I guess the lens is still somewhat current, but the camera is rather obsolete by today's standards. Before you even consider a resuscitation, be sure to check the current prices of used equipment in comparable condition.

Bob
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA

"This actually happened almost 2 yrs ago."

 

Normally I might suggest a try at dying it since it is free to do but in your case I don't think it is even worth the time expended to do so.

 

If you must, sit it on a warm, not hot, heating pad for a couple weeks. OPen anything that can be opened on the camera. No lens. No battery. No memory card which should be trashed after you get or to attempt to get any photos off.

Even if you get it dried enough for it to come back alive, it will never be anything you can rely on.

 

The best course is to buy a new 90D and start a new.  Much improvements since the 60D so consider it a time to upgrade.

 

Lauralee, "...had a child, ...", how many photos are you missing by not just buying the new camera. How much is that worth to you?  Priceless!  You get memories once.

EB
EOS 1DX and 1D Mk IV and less lenses then before!

alexpilion
Enthusiast

Checking the battery is quite simple; once you took battery out you should be able to know if it is working from the charger led.

https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/support/product-advisories/detail/adv-batt-charger
If it come to green you can eventually doublecheck its voltage using any cheap digital multimeter before and after the charge.

That battery if I remember correctly has only two large contacts so you just need to set the multimeter on DC 20 and place a pin of the multimeter on each contact.
If battery is fine the voltage tested after charge should be 7.2V ( or -7.2v in case pin are reversed), anyway voltage on a working battery must stay the same even after  you left disconnected from the charger for a whole day.

 

In my experience any recent electronic device I flooded inside water did not come out working ( I tried a compact camera, a mobile, a gate remote controller... yah pretty clumsy guy, I know) except for USB pen drive, indeed it is hard to say if in your case it could be different.

Before losing every hope be sure to dry camera by keeping it for a couple of days closed it in any container (a tupperware box or even a well closed plastic bag for frozen food) with inside "something" that can absorb humidity.

 

Ideally "something"are the silicium mini bags like ones you always find inside the box of a brand new shoes pair but also white rice can do the trick.

 

To facilitate residual water coming out keep it in a place with higher temperature, even 40C is safe for a camera but avoid direct sunlight.

Old water damage is almost always fatal to electronics so even if it does come back I wouldn't put a lot of faith in it (even if you aren't a pro photographer it would be a real shame to have it die during a trip).

 

For those who come across this thread in the future looking for advice on the same subject, I have rescued a number of electronic items from accidental immersion and purposefully subjected others to water when cleaning.  A few pieces of information:

 

1.  As soon as it gets wet, immediately remove all batteries (including the backup battery).  Once all sources of power are removed you have stopped potential damage to components being inadvertently subjected to a source of voltage (or voltage beyond the design rating).  This is CRITICAL and time is of the essence.  Fresh, relatively clean water, isn't highly conductive but it doesn't stay fresh long as it picks up contaminants as it enters the camera and it mixes/reacts with other stuff in the camera so remove all sources of power and don't even consider turning it on to see if it still works at this point.

 

2.  If it was only subjected to fresh water (i.e. rain) and not much of it, then it will probably respond well to drying.  For electronics when there is only minor water exposure, I use a bag with desiccant and put it on a plant germination pad which provides a safe source of heat.  If exposed to a lot of water, use a fan to blow air over it for an hour or so to get the worst of the moisture away or it will just immediately saturate the desiccant.  Putting the camera or lens where the output of a dehumidifier is blowing on it is a good source of warm dry air for the initial drying of something that has been heavily exposed to water before moving to the desiccant step.

Good desiccant will change color when it is saturated and can be dried in a warm oven to dry off the moisture before reuse.  I have some big bags (probably 3/4 pound each) of military grade desiccant that I bought years ago and I have reused it many times because it really doesn't wear out.  Rice is far less desirable, it isn't a great desiccant and it can outgas "stuff" as it absorbs moisture which isn't what you want sealed in a bag with your electronics.  Proper desiccant is inert over a reasonable temperature range and won't produce any corrosive vapors to further damage electronics.

 

When I don't have a lens on the body, I always keep a cover in place but if your camera needs drying then you don't want any cover over the sensor area and any doors (battery, card, etc.) and covers for interface ports should be left open to aid drying.

 

3.  If you drop your camera or lens in salt water, the odds for success took a big hit but there is still a chance to save it.  As before, immediately remove the battery(s) then immediately flush it with large amounts of distilled (not bottled drinking which has added minerals) water.  It sounds radical but your best hope is to dunk it in fresh water, you can start with a couple of dunks in your tap water but finish with several immersions in distilled water before immediately going to two stage drying.

 

De-ionized water is even better but not as readily available and since cameras don't use high voltage (except for the the flash which isn't even that high for the built in flash) de-ionized isn't as critical.  This flushing sounds radical but once it has been in salt water, you have nothing to lose and I have saved some gear this way.

 

After the fresh water flush (multiple times to drive out all of the salt) then use the standard drying recommended for a more typical fresh water immersion.

 

4.  Rain can do more damage than most people realize.  I shoot sports with 1 series bodies and weather resistant L series glass which are designed to be robust in a typical sports shooting environment but even then I keep the cameras as dry as possible and have the Canon combined lens/body raincoats.   Consumer grade bodies aren't nearly as well sealed and many of the non-L lenses don't have rubber seals around the interface to the body.  Rain itself generally isn't that "dirty" in most parts of the country but it will pick up the salt and oil that build up on the body from your hands and the rain will carry this conductive and corrosive stew into the body via openings like the buttons and rotary switches and encoders.  So with a non-1 series body, try to avoid getting the camera wet even with rain and if you think it is likely to happen at the least clean the body thoroughly before you set out to remove the buildup from the body so that the rain won't be as contaminated when it enters the camera body.

 

5.  One final note is a good camera bag is something you should always have when out in nature with your cameras.  I use Lowepro AW (all weather) series bags which have a retractable rain shield built into the bag and a weather resistant Lowepro backpack for longer ventures.  When going to sports events, the gear travels in waterproof Pelican cases.  Even with this setup, keep some paper towels sealed in a freezer bag handy.  These are just basic preparations because at some point you will get caught in the rain unexpectedly.

 

Rodger

EOS 1DX M3, 1DX M2, 1DX, 5DS R, M6 Mark II, 1D M2, EOS 650 (film), many lenses, XF400 video
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