Camera is not getting on - after fell in sea water
Camera was dropped on a hard deck or into any water solution.
My Answer:
Whether your camera was dropped into any water (or onto a hard deck for
that matter) - even for a split second - the damage has already been
done. Esp with the "hard deck" drop.
Unless your digital camera is a totally "100% waterproof down to X
number of feet" sports digital camera, or quite possibly a
"water-resistant" sports digital camera I'm afraid you got water into
the "lens barrel" area of the camera and that usually is just as FATAL
as getting water into the camera anywhere else as well. Esp if it's
SALTWATER!!
Saltwater will destroy any camera (or anything else electronics for
that matter) just as bad as leaky batteries will. Once those micro
circuit-boards get that acidic saltwater or batt acid on them it's only
a matter of time before TOTAL FAILURE.
Sometimes it's immediate, and other times it takes awhile for that
saltwater/acid to do it's damage inside. But it will happen - as I know
very well from all my years of repairing electronic equipment no matter
what it was - Marine environment stuff as well.
See - those saltwater crystals left behind never go away once the water
evaporates. Only way to possibly get that saltwater out initially (out
of anything electronic dropped in ocean water btw) - with any luck - is
to first remove any and all batteries from the damaged electronic
item(s).
Next - squirt ALCOHOL (91% or higher rubbing alcohol, or better yet 99%
Isopropyl Alcohol) into the openings where you suspect the saltwater
got into the camera (or other items) to begin with, and then hold the
camera with the lens barrel facing down while shaking the excess
Alcohol out. Just letting the excess ALCOHOL drain out by itself won't
do, as you need to get out as much as possible thus carrying the
saltwater by-chemicals out with it as well.
If you have a compressed air source - no higher then say 20-30 psi, or
a LPHV (Low Pressure High Volume) regulated air pressure source - use
it instead to forcefully blow out any and all Alcohol as best you can.
Next - take the flushed out camera and open up any access panels,
memory card slots, battery port doors, display panels, etc and place
the camera in a kitchen oven that uses GAS ONLY, and with ONLY the
PILOT LIGHT burning leave the camera in there for no less then a
complete week (7 days)! NO LESS then 7 days!
That low PILOT LIGHT ONLY heat temp ( < ~ 110-115F ) will never harm
anything electronic (as I use mine all the time to naturally dry things
out that have gotten wet for one reason or the other). It will
thoroughly dry out the camera insides and hopefully remove all traces
of moisture and salt residue! Hopefully!
If you keep using that camera without at least doing the above FIX with
Alcohol - after you have exposed it to saltwater - then I'm afraid your
camera will have suffered unrecoverable internal damage and will fail
totally at some point thereafter.
Saltwater and Electronics DON'T MIX - plain and simple.
Same goes for any camera that has been dropped on the "hard deck".
The guidelines and consequences of a dropped camera are listed below as
a general guideline of what NOT to do, what to do afterwords, and what
to do to try and prevent a camera drop to begin with.
I'm afraid that "drop", or "small drop", or even that "very big"
drop you - or anyone else here posting - spoke/speaks of was more like
that of a camera ending
life - as related to all digital cameras. No matter how much that
?-year old ???? camera cost when new.
Not all digital cameras are created equal, and if you are an active
sports person, or something close to it whereas your camera is subject
to or exposed to this kind of rough treatment then you might want to
consider doing several things from now on.
Unfortunately it sounds like you dislodged the imagining converting
pixel matrix chip and/or the related optical components that convert
the optical picture information into digital information that is
processed to the memory card for storage.
You may have even possibly dislodged some PC connectors (printed
circuit board connectors) inside the camera. Not to mention pulsed
servo motor drive components as well.
Each camera is different as to how many individual circuit boards they
have inside. Could be 3-4-5 or more. Each is interfaced by a paper thin flat
interface type cable and it's possible that particular board cable
could be damaged as well. Hard to say. Very very complex inside!
I've had a few destroyed digital cameras apart myself (that people gave
me to try and fix) - just to see how they were put together, as I knew
they were toast right off the bat in less then 5 mins after looking at
them. If it wasn't bad batteries leaking inside and destroying the
many smaller circuit boards inside, then it was dislodged and broken
parts inside from being dropped.
In any case - each digital camera I had apart WAS NOT worth repairing
if taken into an authorized repair dealer or even the main factory
repair outlet. Esp if it is/was a SONY!! Sony anything is really not
worth the repair charges they want today. Totally ridiculous as they
charge you roughly $35-50 today just to even look at whatever is broken
of theirs. Then comes the actual repair cost on top of that. I won't buy anything
of theirs anymore, as they burned me twice before years ago - and twice
was enough....
Not so with Olympus and other digital camera makers! That is why all my
cameras today are Olympus because of the GREAT factory warranty or out
of warranty service I received past to present. They are the best in
my books and I have NO TIES AT ALL to them in nay matter or form!
One thing I should mention here regarding digital cameras in general, as with all 35mm film cameras as well is this.
With digital cameras that cost less then $200 (esp those under $100),
and those that are say 3 to 5 years old already - if they break
internally for whatever reason (ie: batts leaking - worn out drive
motors - dropped camera - water damage - etc) they are considered THROW
AWAY CAMERAS and NOT WORTH FIXING. Plain and simple - all sentimental
attachment aside btw. Always remove and keep the Memory Cards before
throwing out any damaged "beyond repair" camera though. The cards can
always (possibly?) be reused on your next digital camera purchase.
With any new camera purchase over $200 it's always an added decision
whether to buy the 2 or 3 year EXTENDED WARRANTY - as related to the
added cost. I know I would have, and I have done so on my $400+ higher
ended Olympus 35mm film camera not only because Olympus builds the best
and are renown for their lens QUALITY worldwide, but because I wanted
the extra PEACE OF MIND knowing an act of God or Mother Nature could
occur at any time. It just made sense to me at that time!
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