Saltwater? I dropped my camera in the water at the beach..and I didn't notice I dropped it until maybe 5 minutes after..So i'm not sure how long it was in the water. SOmeone told me, if it was regular water it might be okay, but salt water is very corrosive. I can't turn my camera on..I hope it's not broken because I really can't get another one. Any help?

Index salt chlorinators need a certain flow rate. Check the flow rate on your pump to see if it is strong enough.

Hi there!
There might be little difference between buying a new camera and having this digital camera repaired so I suggest you compare the price. But I'd rather buy a new camera than have this repair after what happened to the computer.
Hope this helps.

This thing is very sensitive. If you dont get the timing just right or in the right order that often happens.When it happens turn it off for a few seconds then try again. The book says hold the down button down for 5 seconds until you hear one beep, then up button for 5 seconds till you hear another beep. I find that 5 seconds sometimes isnt long enough and sometimes to long. Like I said, it is quite touchy. After two years still have it happen sometimes. P.S. Make sure the pump is running and water is flowing when you try it.

DID YOU HOLD THE UP ARROW UNTIL YOU HEARD A BEEP AND THEN THE DOWN ARROW UNTIL IT BEEPS. AFTER DOING THAT YOU CAN SET THE AMOUNT OF HOURS YOUR CHLORINATOR RUNS. ALWAYS MAKE SURE YOU RUN YOUR PUMP 5 MINUTES BEFORE TURNING THE CHLORINATOR ON AND 15 MINUTES AFTERWARDS AT THE LEAST. HOPE THIS HELPS

Well it might be waterproof, but it may not include saltwater proof. I think that is the case. If so, then the salt got into your camera and caused something to not work. I would take it in Olympus and let them look at it. It could just be a bad camera.

My guess the lcd screen was faulty or the water leaked in there and shortcircit it.

Hi,

We had a similar problem. Do you have hard water or well water that you used to fill your pool? We have well water that we use for everything, drinking/bathing/etc., but it wasn't until we started the Intext Saltwater System that we noticed the dark green that turned to black color, horrible! I spent quite a bit of time researching this online, both on this site and a few others, and went to the pool store in town. It was determined that it was the metals in our water counteracting with the chlorine that the Saltwater System is making. We were able to buy a bottle of "metal out" from the pool store, costs about $20 but it worked!!! Biggest thing to remember is to change the filter, you'll be shocked at how brown and nasty your filter will look when you're done! It took about 24 hours to notice a difference and within a few days it was completely clear, like brand new water. Hope this helps, good luck!

This is not a user solvable problem. One thing that should not be done is to turn on the camera when it has been dropped in dirt, sand or water. This will, in your case, grind the dirt around and parts try to move and contaminate additional parts of the camera. It's only worse if water is involved as this will likely cause shorts in electrical areas.
Take the camera to a repair shop and get their opinion on whether it is fixable and if so what they estimate the cost to be. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy a new or used camera.

Unlock the keypad by pressing and holding the "down arrow" for 5-seconds until you hear a long beep and then the "up arrow" for 5-seconds until you hear a long beep.

Set the number of hours you want it to run by adjusting the time display using the "up arrow" or "down arrow" until you have the correct number of hours.

After setting the time re-lock the keypad by pressing and holding the "down arrow" for 5-seconds until you hear a long beep and then the "up arrow" for 5-seconds until you hear a long beep? Several minutes later the Green LED should come on indicating the cycle has started.

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!

Continued below:

I dont know how much water it took but it got some and that is bad,corrosion is only part of the problem,the link is most likely damage,The suggestion is to take it to Service center just for an estimate!!!!