Dropped my 5DII in the creek.

[bloodhound31]

Fright of my life!!

Pulled up on the bank in my kayak... took the 5DII on a tripod and placed it on the sand...gave it a little wiggle to settle it and stepped out of the kayak....turned around and heard...KERSPLASH!!..Whipped around and grabbed it from a full submerse. Shook it off, wiped it got six or 7 shots out of it and it all went downhill from there.

I had a weather sealed 16-35L on, so no water got in through the front thank the Lord!

First thing to go was AF...then top scroll wheel became intermittently unresponsive..then the back scroll wheel would scroll forward, but not back...then the other buttons stopped responding, then the screen went black....

I was panicking now!!! :eyepop:

I paddled straight back over the creek and pulled the camera apart on a towel. Batteries out, grip off, lens off, compartment flaps all open, CF card out. Dried them all then spent the next three hours as a passenger in the 4WD in front of the heater vent, getting the camera and grip hot and drying it out. There was also water under the top screen, so I removed it and dried it out then replaced it.

Slowly, but surely, each time I put it back together and tried it, things started working again. There was a LOT of water coming out of the dual control zoom buttons of the grip!

Finally, now it is all working again. The water was crystal clear clean mountain water with no mud.

Now I am deciding if I should just leave it open for a few days in warm dry room or send it in for repair/inspection.

Baz.:sadeyes:

[astroron]

Best of luck with the camera Baz,I did the same many years ago witha Minolta 101 and a 300mm lens and it kept on working after a clean:D
Cheers:thumbsup:

[iceman]

Lucky you weren't up the creek without a paddle! :)

Glad it's working again. I want a 5DM2 :(

[gary]

Hi Baz,

From a professional Electrical Engineering perspective, I recommend you
ship it for inspection/repair ASAP.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Mt Kuring-Gai NSW

[bloodhound31]

Is there an authorised repair agent in Canberra who could do such an inspection?

I just can't be without my camera as it is my livelihood now. I have tog jobs this week!

[TrevorW]

I dropped my mobile in a toilet once and it survived

best of luck Baz

[bloodhound31]

Thankfully a gripped 5DII would not fit in a toilet....

on another note...not sure why one would take a camera into the toilet...ahem...let's not go there hey? :rofl:

Baz.

[Lester]

How is your house and contents insurance Baz? If it is working now and you need it, keep using it, if covered. Otherwise you could be up for a large inspection bill for nothing.

All the best.

[gary]

Hi Ron,

The 101 was a great camera. A classic.

So much less to go wrong with SLR's back then. The worse you could do
is in a panic to change rolls in a hurry because you wanted to capture some
action was forget to wind the old roll back before opening the back. :lol:

Back in the mid-70's, a 28mm lens for the Minolta 303 SLR (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Minolta_SRT303.jpg) I had with me
slipped out of the bag, rolled down a sandstone rock and then into a lake.
It all happens in slow motion and you get that terrible sinking feeling as you watch it
roll away. Never found it again and as you will recollect, in real terms
a 28mm lens for an SLR was not cheap back in those days. SLR's and lenses
weren't the mass consumer commodity items they are today.

Maybe 2000 years from now, someone will find it preserved, buried in the mud
and it will be on display next to the Greek Antikythera mechanism as some amazing
artifact from the past. :lol:

[bloodhound31]

Yes mate, it is insured. Thanks for the input.:thumbsup:

Baz.

[Barrykgerdes]

What about that TV add that shows someone skipping a camera across the water to get someone to take a shot from the other side and then skipping it back. Was it the same brand. If so I think you have a claim on the manufacturer for false advertising.:lol::lol::lol:

Barry

[dugnsuz]

Not good news Baz - such a sickening feeling when this happens to our pride and joys!
Hope the 5D MkII pulls through.
Doug

[gary]

Hi Baz,

When you enter ACT on the Canon Service & Repairs site it only has the
repair facility in North Ryde in Sydney available.

See http://www.canon.com.au/en-au/Support-Services/Camera-Service-Repairs

Canon Camera Repairs Workshop ServicesAddress: P.O. Box 343
Postcode: 1670
State: NSW
Suburb: North Ryde

They quote a typical turnaround time of 10 days. The site also says -
"Whilst we will do our best to accommodate urgent requests, please understand that this may not always be possible."

Even though the camera is working now, it is wise to consider as "walking wounded".
The old saying about a "stitch in time" holds true when electronics has been submerged in water.

Good luck!

[bloodhound31]

Thanks Gary. Considering options.

Baz.

[gary]

Hi Baz,

If you have some paying gigs, there are places that rent cameras that come up when you
Google Canon camera hire. But they're not cheap. For example this place in Sydney -
http://www.auphotographer.com.au/hire/canon-digital-camera-hire-sydney
A Canon 5D Mark II is about $50 a day for a week's hire from the URL above.

[ausastronomer]

Hi Baz,

Glad to see the Camera appears to have survived. I think the critical thing in your favour is the fact the water was "fresh" water. Salt water would have munted it in very short order. I agree with Gary, while everything "appears" ok spend a few $$$ and get it checked by the experts, it's not a cheap camera. There could still be some water in there which will "run" when you put the camera on a different angle and you are back to square one.

I had a situation about 10 years ago when a high pressure cold water pipe burst in the ceiling of our office and absolutely "drowned" the Canon Copier/Printer/Fax sitting underneath it. When the ceiling tiles caved in above the machine and 100 plus liters of water drowned it, I instinctively, cut the power to the machine ASAP. The machine got absolutely saturated. We pulled all the user serviceable parts out of the machine (cartridges and paper cassettes etc) so that it could start drying out. We jury rigged another printer and used the old fax machine as the fax and photocopier for about 2 weeks until the machine dried out some. I held absolutely zero hope for the machine to ever work again and it was a $20K machine. I thought it can't hurt to leave it dry for a couple of weeks and then spend the money on a service call before we trash a $20,000 machine and buy a new one. The service guy came in, pulled it apart into 1,000 pieces. Replaced a couple of parts, powered the machine up and away it went. It cost me less than $500 to get it going again and it worked fine for another 4 years until we upgraded to a colour Zerox multifunction machine. I still to this day cannot believe that the machine ever worked again. It had water in just about every orifice.

Cheers,
John B

[GrahamL]

Good luck with it Baz , I'd of cried dropping a couple of k of camera in the drink.

Note to self



never borrow a phone off Trevor:thumbsup::P

[leon]

Baz I reckon you got to it in time and now that it is functioning again I reckon leave it be.

Electronics once cleaned and dried are pretty tough.

I know this is not the same, but I found someone else's CF card in the mud and wet, they obviously dropped it when changing, and it had been stood on as well, anyway I took it home dried and cleaned it and all images were there, and I still don't know who owns the card

Leon

[M_Lewis]

You could try putting all the individual pieces in rice. Let the rice soak out any moisture.

[bloodhound31]

Got it in front of a small fan heater. A few hours of that should do the trick.

[dugnsuz]

...or loads of those silica gel pacs (big ones!) after the heaters have done their bit
Good luck Baz

[Omaroo]

Ah crap, Barry! :sadeyes: