pounder35 Loc: "Southeast of Disorder"

I often fly my drone over fresh and salt water. If it goes down I'm not going to bother looking for it.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Actually, distilled water is inert...until it comes into contact with something that it will dissolve...like salt. Then it's salt water. When it evaporates it leaves the salt behind.

ricardo7 Loc: Washington, DC - Santiago, Chile

That's why you rinse it a number of times to
eliminate the salt.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

exactly.

Don, the 2nd son Loc: Crowded Florida

Some brands and models are "weather sealed," maybe yours? A ray of hope?

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

IF you lens and camera are WEATHER SEALED you MAY have a chance. BUT, only if you did the following right away (which you did not), remove batteries, rinse in cold shower and place in oven at 120 degrees for two hours. If the lens or body are not WEATHER SEALED you are out of luck.

Skiextreme2 Loc: Northwest MA

Probably not the camera. The lens may be a different story but don't get your hopes up. Salt affects the CPU of the camera (I had salt spray hit my digital video camera, so I know the result) and the cost to repair is usually more than the camera is worth.

You didn't say what camera or lens you are talking about so the seals (weather proofing) may have helped. If you're talking about something that happened yesterday, send it to the manufacturer ASAP and explain what happened or better yet, give them a call and get a professional opinion whether it is worth sending in.

Good luck

Jim Bob

I’m sorry but a professional cleaning is your only real option and I am doubtful results will be favorable.

crazydaddio Loc: Toronto Ontario Canada

Great advice.
Spent my career doing electronics Failure Analysis for high end electronics for the major OEMs.

Depending on where the water got in will determine whether it is recoverable. If you are lucky enough to have pulled the battery immediately...there is a chance the camera and lens could still function. The problem is that there is likely other smaller batteries in the camera to run the date time function. Wherever there is availability of voltage, the salt water mixed with other molecules will allow a kind of "plating" effect that deposits these molecules between the electronic points. You can dry that all you want but once the plating has happened (aka dendritic growth, corrosion, etc), you cant clean it. It can happen in under 10secs or may take days depending on voltage and the molecules involved in the "soup".

Net: once the salt has dried and sits in the camera, a simple dew point traversal (ie moisture event going from an air conditioned room to hot muggy outdoor), mositure forms at micsoscopic levels in crevices (called capilleries) mixing with the salt etc and you setup the plating process again.

Your camera may work for awhile but will likely die if the salt found its way to the electronics.
...and as others have noted....sticking it in rice and all the other home remedies may help dry it but will not remove the contaminents. Any moisture event will kill it.

insman1132 Loc: Southwest Florida

Hey, Cas, my heart goes out to you. Trying the suggestions above can do no harm. You might get lucky, but don't be too disappointed if you aren't! Hopefully you've had the camera for a while and have amortized your original investment in it by now?? You might inquire if your Homeowners insurance will give you any relief?

Let us know how things come out!

agillot

vacuum will boil moisture out , so pack gears in a food bag and vacuum seal .

DaveC1 Loc: South East US

In addition to the above mentioned problems salt is going to attack the aluminum and magnesium components in the lens and camera slowly turning them to white powder. (I lived for over 20 years in South Florida, so been there, done that, got several tee shirts.)

Its time for an insurance claim.

mikegreenwald Loc: Illinois

Sea water is highly corrosive, and impossible to remove from all the tiny cracks and corners in the camera and lens. It will treat the lens coatings badly too. Do yourself a favor, and just write off whatever was dunked - you’ll suffer even worse if you try to salvage it, and still end up replacing everything eventually.

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

I had a Sony HX9V. It was the first small P&S camera that would shoot video at HD 1080p60. It cost $350 and was one of my all time favorites.

My (adult) son was invited on a 40 foot sailboat cruise. I loaned him the camera and thought he took good care of it. Six months later it was crap. The "salt air" and maybe some mist was enough to do it in.

Salt water and cameras don't mix well.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Probably not. Salt water and electronics don't play well together. If any of the salt water got inside the lens or camera, it is almost certainly ruined.

The only way I have ever heard of that was successful involved IMMEDIATELY washing off all trace of salt with distilled fresh water. Leaving the salts on the metallic parts of the camera & lens circuitry and optics rapidly causes irreversible corrosion and ruins the device.

You can have someone look at it.... But I'd be prepared for bad news.



I don't know what you mean by that.... Are you asking if you can do the work yourself? In that case, I'd say no.

Do you mean have a local repairer look at it rather than sending it to a factory repair facility? If so, a local independent repairer might at least take a look and give you advice. Many factory repair facilities will simply refuse to even look at anything that's been dunked in salt water.

But, again, be prepared for bad news. Maybe the gear is covered by a homeowners insurance policy?