D400 got a dunking...concerned!

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Hi all, new on here so please be gentle!

Took my Canon D400 on a sailing holiday 2 weeks ago...hadn't even got to the boat when water bottle in same bag as camera emptied itself all over the body. LCD screen was swimming in water - looked fatal at the time.

Aside from cursing myself for being an idiot, the camera spend the rest of the holiday in bits, drying out.

A week later, battery re-installed and memory card back in - It works...but for how long?

Tthe screen initially had weird splodges on it, but after another week turned off it seems to be ok. Should i get it serviced? if so - can anyone recommend anyone and how much is this going to cost?

cheers for any help :)
 
you may have got away with it. my camera suffered similar fate and did not work after water and digital cameras don`t mix.
as long as it drys out and it wasn`t salt water .

it may be worth getting it checked . as it may pack up when you dont need it to.

cheers Steve
 
I assume it was just bottled fresh water?

If it works then all is good - but corrosion is the thing to worry about. However with fresh water and assuming it dried out quickly I would not be overly concerned. If it was salt water that would be a different matter. I'd be concerned if the sensor had had a dunking though.

Nothing to stop you ringing Canon for advice. Check out the price of a service and see if you think it is worth it.
 
Cheers Steve & Dazzler. Definitely fresh water (we'd not even got to the wretched sea by that point!) about 3/4 of a normal bottle - i suppose not all of it will have got into the camera, difficult to tell. lots of things in the bag got wet.

Might try it out in the garden a bit and see how it fares, will ring Canon for advice (didn't know they did advice...)
 
Well the probable Canon advice will be to take it into one of their service centres.
It's hard to give any advice so you need to weigh up the risk of it failing in future against the service cost. Keep some silica gel packets in the case with it to keep the moisture away, if there is any corrosion then keeping a dry atmosphere is the best way to ensure it does not spread. An original short circuit looks less likely if it all works well.
 
My view is that if electronics work after a soaking then game on.

Count yourself lucky and don't do it again :D
 
CJS said:
Might some home insurance cover this sort of accident?
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accident? I happily shoot pictures in the rain but I would never put a water bottle in my camera bag!
 
awp said:
accident? I happily shoot pictures in the rain but I would never put a water bottle in my camera bag!
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oh don't... :( i'm such a muppet...i don't need reminding :bang:
It wasn't in my camera bag - due to luggage restrictions i'd put it in my handbaggage and foregone the rest of my paraphernalia, it was plus 30 degrees, i was hot, tired and lugging giant backpack and handluggage 2km to the marina...need i say more....

lesson learned good and proper!
 
Had a similar experience with my wife's 450D, it got soaked whilst stored inside a camera bag when we got caught in a storm of biblical proportions.

After a few days drying out, the LCD cleared, the error messages went away and normal operation resumed. 12 months later, it's still working perfectly, with no signs of the "baptism".

On that basis, if your camera is ok after drying out, I doubt there's any benefit in sending it for repair/checking.

Chris
 
It just had a bit of a hangover :) Fresh water dunking and not constantly pestering it to see if it's working again all help.
 
The important thing with electronics is to try and resist the urge to switch them on whilst they are still soaking wet.

You did the right thing by letting everything dry out over several days. Fingers crossed you shouldn't have any further problems if everything now appears to be working OK.
 
Dazzler said:
Well the probable Canon advice will be to take it into one of their service centres.
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they would say that. big bucks in it for them
if its all working fine id probally just leave it for now
it will play on your mind for weeks, you will be forever checking for faults, you will feel such an idiot for a while. then all will be forgotten
trust me ive been there, had many an accident with my old 30d and L series lenses
even got a 10-22 that's held together with tape . (another accident)
now i just get on and dont think about it anymore
 
A camera repairer once told me that if my camera got drowned the trick is to put it in a bucket of alcohol as this displaces the water and then evaporates in seconds. Trouble is I never seem to have a bucket of the stuff laying around.
 
swanseamale47 said:
A camera repairer once told me that if my camera got drowned the trick is to put it in a bucket of alcohol as this displaces the water and then evaporates in seconds. Trouble is I never seem to have a bucket of the stuff laying around.
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he probably meant stick your head in a bucket of alcohol and drown your sorrows.
 
swanseamale47 said:
A camera repairer once told me that if my camera got drowned the trick is to put it in a bucket of alcohol as this displaces the water and then evaporates in seconds. Trouble is I never seem to have a bucket of the stuff laying around.
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pure alcohol though (isopropyl) not a bottle of jack daniels finest :beer: though not sure I'd be ok doing that.
another method to dry electronics quickly is to put it in a confined airtight space with salt (obviously not having the salt touch the item)



As others have said, you did the right thing leaving it off to dry, I'd say chances of corrosion are slim, the heat - even if small - generated by the electronics would evaporate the water long before it has the chance to oxidise, unless the water got trapped in a sealed compartment but in which case it wouldn't get in anyway because it would be sealed :bonk:
The main problem you would have is with electrical conductive damage shorting out circuits etc. but you left it to dry long enough and turned it all on and it works perfect, no harm done imo.

and if you're still worried:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkWePqTfD14

;) I've seen plenty of people washing motherboards with no problems
 
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