Flooded Camera

[dieseldude]

Well it finally happened. I flooded my camera yesterday. There is a small string from the flash diffuser to the housing. I caught a very small piece of it when I closed the housing & pinched it. The housing never did flood 100% but it had plenty of water in it. I feel sick. It's allot like taking a stack of $100 bills & lighting them on fire when you are as broke as I am right now. I rinsed it all out & actually dismantled allot of it, rinsed & dried. No life coming back. The battery would not react to the charger when I got home but after 24hrs seems to be ok & the 2GB memory card survived as well. I guess that saves me from getting any extra packages beyond the camera.
Does anyone have any tricks to resurect my camera? Maybe some small part that acts as circuit breaker & saves the rest of the box? Its a Canon power shot SD870 IS. Not a fancy camera like lots of you have but it has taken some real nice shots for me & my housing works fine when I pay attention to what I'm doing.
I think I can upgrade for $175-$200 but if I have to buy a new housing the price will at least double. Worst part is I was just about to buy a strobe to go with what I had.
Any advise welcome. I feel like a heroin addict with no needles. The DT's are already setting in. I wonder if ingesting the broken camera will help?
:shootself:

[Sounder]

Thorough rinsing with clean fresh water, then dry it as completely as possible. I would go to Home Depot and get the moisture removal cans/packs and stick a couple of them in a large ziplock baggie with your camera (with the doors/traps all opened up). Seal it in the ultra-dry environment for several days and shake the camera around a bit throughout the process... and pray.

There is some pretty inexpensive gear insurance you can purchase through a company affiliated with DAN if you're interested in insuring future gear.

Sorry to hear about it.

[spatman]

Thorough rinsing with clean fresh water, then dry it as completely as possible. I would go to Home Depot and get the moisture removal cans/packs and stick a couple of them in a large ziplock baggie with your camera (with the doors/traps all opened up). Seal it in the ultra-dry environment for several days and shake the camera around a bit throughout the process... and pray.

this is a good technique. uncooked rice works well, too.

[Scott G]

The camera is toast. It feels terrible when it happens, I've done it 3 times. I would start from scratch, get a new housing too. A good time to upgrade.

It sucks, but it is the truth, there is not resurection from a camera flooded in salt water ... better off to just move on.

think of it this way, how many dives to you have on it?, how much have you enjoyed it? how much did it cost?

I would guess you would call it worth it.

Scott

[April]

I don't mean to pour salt on the wounds here, but if you get your camera working or end up getting a new one...

http://www.awryinc.com/depp/mainmenu.aspx

[Dusty2]

Sorry to hear that Mike but it is a fact of life. I have been there several times. :( There is no way to explain to someone who hasn't experienced it what it feels like to look down and see water in your case and know that there is nothing you can do.

When you take electronic equipment into salt water sooner or later the two will meet and the result is always the same. There is little hope if any. In fresh water you sometimes get lucky but in salt it ain't going to happen. Salt in contact with a charged circuit causes instant electrolysis which is the same as pouring acid on the metal parts.

I would look at it as a reason to move up. You might find a deal on a used or refurb cam thru ebay or one of the camera houses if money is really tight which I suspect it is. You need to check the canon site and see if that is the only model that fits your housing before you buy something.

[dwashbur]

We have had several floods; some come back, some don't. I recently had one flood, and I set it aside and got another one. Two months later, just for the heckuvit, I slapped a battery in the old one. The stupid thing works again. Meanwhile, the new one flooded. So far, it's not coming back. Most anything can happen, but don't get your hopes too high.

[spatman]

fwiw, i've seen two cameras come back from complete salt water floods.

[Sounder]

Yes, I've seen some come back from total floods as well.

Mixing electronics, saltwater, and pressure is an expensive proposition.

[renoun]

Sorry about your loss.

My strategy for submersion for of electronics is as follows:

1. Remove battery ASAP
2. Rinse in fresh water, keep moist until able to complete rinsing/drying process
3. rinse in distilled or deionized water
4. disassemble to the degree that seems prudent
5. rinse in alcohol
6. allow to dry, possibly in cool oven or with desiccant
7. plug an pray

I have had some success with cell phones but haven't had to do a camera yet (I seem to drop them from extreme heights and don't take them under water on puropose). Now is the time to track down the assorted little screw drivers and have them at hand.

[fmerkel]

Suggestion to all camera owners and most divers for light The best tool(s) I have found to prevent flooding are a shop magnifying visor, strong light, and patience. It is AMAZING the amount of tiny hairs, nit, lint, crap and corruption I find under strong magnification on an O-ring I JUST cleaned and lubed. You will be too. All it takes is a tiny chunk of hair, placed just wrong....

Fritz

[dlh]

I don't mean to pour salt on the wounds here, but if you get your camera working or end up getting a new one...

http://www.awryinc.com/depp/mainmenu.aspx

My DEPP renewal just showed up in email today. The best thing about spending the money for insurance is that you can be sure the dreaded flood won't occur until you don't renew one year. Seriously, it's good peace of mind to secure some expensive gear that is prone to damage and theft.

Dave

[fmerkel]

The alcohol acts as a drying agent. I helps pull the water out and dries more quickly.
Renoun's list of steps is almost exactly what I do.

Partly flooded a light once. Scrubbed the dive and went to shore to find some fresh water. No one had any. I threw the innards in a mud puddle. Muddy fresh water is better than saltwater. Light still functions but got a more appropriate cleaning at home.

[no excuses]

whats it cost to insure a camera (G10) in a ikelight or factory cannon housing?

[Dusty2]

whats it cost to insure a camera (G10) in a ikelight or factory cannon housing?

In an Ike case Their warrenty will cover you for one year unless you do something like close something in the seal as happened here. I looked at the Dan warranty and it showed a $400 dolllar deductible so I figured it wasn't worth it.

[dieseldude]

Back in the saddle again! Cannon SD990 IS with Ike housing. I havent fired it up yet but I'm more than ready. I had to sell my last stock & pull the profit I had going this year but it's worth it. The market winds me up, the camera will soothe me back down. I'm sure you other camera junkies know where I'm comin from.

[Bric Martin]

Congrats! I have the same set up and I am pretty happy with it. Let me know how you like it.

[Gooch]

Congrats on the new camera-----it will be a big step up. I'm looking to get a new one too

On the flooding- mine did the exact same thing at Redondo--string (stupid string) from the diffuser caught under the seal and at 30' I went to turn it on and noticed it wasn't doing it...water is like halfway up the case. I surface and dump the water out and reseal it and finish the dive.

Then I rinse the heck out of it in the bathroom with water. Must look pretty cool rinsing $100's of hardware out in the sink to the average joe.

At home, I rinsed it again with distilled water; immersing it a lot. Dried it out a few days on a house vent for heat and put it in a scientific oven (tightly controlled---at work) for a day a 110 degrees F all day. Battery charged and back in after I deemed it dry enough and ....nada. It was dead. Walking out to the car, I was beating on it and pressing all the buttons hoping there was a secret code to bring it back Canon didn't tell you about and it goes--BOING! "set the date and time"...I'm like "Wow!" and do. It starts snapping pix and showing me the ones I took right before the flood. I was amazed. I'm still using the dumb thing on its second life.

'Course.....I still want a new camera even though the scuba Gods saw fit to give me the old one back. But the advice on this thread is great for floods. Essentially:

1: Don't try to turn it on- take the battery and mem card out and dry them separately.
2: Rinse ASAP with lots of fresh water---like you mean it; don't be shy with your electronics.
3: Dry it----longer than you ever thought it would need. Isopropyl alcohol is a great idea- displaces water and aids in drying.
4: The rice and drying beads are good thoughts too to drive the moisture out. Don't stick it in the oven unless you have access to something you can tightly control (and don't come to me if you do-----and don't think microwave either!)
5: You will need to sacrifice small offerings to the Megapixel Gods and hope they take pity on you.
6: Remove all useless, dumb, idiotic strings-things from your casing---if you are using that one again.

[sheahanmcculla]

Sweet...can't wait to see the new shots.