Camera sat in water - can anything be done ?

[mjw123]

Whilst out walking my son I went to grab my Fuji F20 from the shopping tray at the bottom of his pram only to find his water bottle had emptied and the camera was sat in it. It was only a few mm deep but looks like the camera has absorbed quite a bit. I shook most of it out but powering up the live display is very cloudy and the same when a picture is taken.

Would a hair-dryer help - just worried it may cause condensation with the heat....alternatively I'll let it dry naturally and hope for the best

Any other ideas here ?

MJW

[danburbridge]

take batteries / cards etc out of it and leave it to dry naturally for at least a week. As its bottled water you may be ok as its not nearly as electrically conductive as salt water etc

[bsuttie]

Whatever you do, don't power it up.

Oh, you just did that.

I would take the battery out and leave it to dry naturally.

Then try it tomorrow.

regards

Brian

[michael.redfern]

Originally Posted by mjw123

Whilst out walking my son I went to grab my Fuji F20 from the shopping tray at the bottom of his pram only to find his water bottle had emptied and the camera was sat in it. It was only a few mm deep but looks like the camera has absorbed quite a bit. I shook most of it out but powering up the live display is very cloudy and the same when a picture is taken.

Would a hair-dryer help - just worried it may cause condensation with the heat....alternatively I'll let it dry naturally and hope for the best

Any other ideas here ?

MJW

I would open as many doors, flaps and covers as it has and leave it in a well ventilated place for a few days.

I'd also have said "don't turn it on" because of the risk of shorting, but too late for that

I poured a bottle of milk over an ipod and that stopped work, but then worked fine after we literally washed the motherboard under the tap. Don't suggest you do that without extreme confidence, but it did work.

[Gingerbillc]

try putting it in your airing cupboard if you have one to help it along, worked wonders for computer equipment for me.

[mjw123]

Would anyone suggest taking the small screws out thus allowing more air in as the case is off etc...

[Gingerbillc]

IF you are confident you can put electricals back together, the more you can separate parts the better. If it was only water though, not juice, then just stick it away in your airing cupboard, and once confident its dry try it out. 5 days normally recomended to be sure if you use an airing cupboard. Good Luck.

If it still doesn't work once dry, warranty repair?

[peterpatch]

This might sound daft but try sitting it in a container with uncooked rice for a couple of days. Possibly the rice will draw moisture out of the camera..

[mjw123]

Now theres's a thought - gonna try the ex airing cupboard with a couple of sachets of silica gel

[PhilNUK]

had similar today but with cat pee

the cat pee'd on the bed for some reason and my ixus 75 was on the bed too in its case. Case is soaked and camera won't power up at all...

Is urine more likely to do more harm than water? I am guessing a firm 'yes' will be the answer.

[Gingerbillc]

Urine contains urea salts, dead skin, vitamin c, amonia, making it slighty alkaline. The salts in it will conduct, you should not have tried to start it upo. Remove your batteries and wash with cooled boiled water. Leave to dry for a long long time and you might be lucky. House insurance will cover it, providing you think the risk of increased premiums come renewal is worth it. No getting rid of the smell though.

ps No sympathy on this one as I friggin hate cats, they kill 'ickle birdies and steal your breath when you are asleep, so you shouldn't have one!!!

[PhilNUK]

cheers for the reply, I thought vitamin c was supposed to be a good thing!!
The camera itself was dry, the case was not. I have put it in a warm spot to dry out.

[mjw123]

Great news (for me anyway) - camera seems to have dried out a treat

All I need now is to find the great thread on manual settings for the F20 (it reset itself) which really improved results....think it came from dpreview.com somewhere.

Saved myself £75 trying to source a replacement

[noidea]

if you were secretly trying to create a reason to upgrade, it sounds like cat's urine might be worth a try

[mjw123]

Originally Posted by noidea

if you were secretly trying to create a reason to upgrade, it sounds like cat's urine might be worth a try

LOL - The later fuji F's are actually a DOWNGRADE in terms of PQ