JOHNERIKSSON Loc: CENTRAL WISCONSIN

When a grizzly bear charged me the Canon 70 x 200 on th 1D mark 4 went into the river It was submerged about a minute but that is all it takes. Canon say that mold will begin to grow inside the lens and eat the coatings. My only consolation was the bear stopped

lhardister Loc: Brownsville, TN

Assuming that your items are replaceable--that is, that they can be replaced by items available in the open market-- then "fair replacement value" would seem to be equivalent to the legal term "fair market value". The latter is generally said to be the price at which a willing but unforced seller would sell and at which a willing but unforced buyer would buy. I know that with respect to the more common film-era Canon lenses, you can get an idea of the range in which they trade by looking at fairly recent sales on e-bay and checking prices at used dealers such as KEH. I would assume that you can do much the same with your Nikon equipment. Possibly some buyers--again, like KEH--might even give you their "expert" opinion of the value of your equipment, which should carry some weight with your insurance adjuster. A word of caution from my occasional experience with adjusters--be realistic and don't set your expectations too high. In any event, best wishes and good luck!

JBRIII

I would still try rinsing by submerging several times in distilled water and draining in between, maybe with an anti-mold agent of some sort.
Then drying in a vacuum with desiccating agent.

Coatings on modern lens are fortunately in this case pretty resistant to removal by chemical agents. Many have tried to remove then for better UV performance and I've never heard of anything that works other than rubbing it off which is not good. Modern coatings have a rare earth element I believe which absorbs UV, older (30's, 40's?) do not I believe. Never heard of someone trying mold, but I believe they also eat the glass, must have to do with eating up rocks to get at nutrients. Wonder what they use to do it, humans use HF, really, really nasty stuff.

If covered by insurance, still worth the experiment. Put cleaned and dried lens someplace safe for a while and see of anything grows.

Just for reference, cost me $400 to have the corrector plate on a 14" telescope cleaned for mole. Obviously larger than a camera lens, but simpler, so cost probably similar for a lens.

Boris77

Apparently you are talking about film equipment. Of very little value. Used to be local camera shops here that repaired cameras; now ALL gone. Unless you know someone to give them to, I would bag them into the trash.
I still have my old film cameras, because they work and take up little space, but would be rid of them in a flash if non-functional.
Boris

JBRIII

If you decide to throw out, let me know, might be interested just to play with.
Jim