Submerged Camera

I just returned from a wonderful trip to Cuba. The only part that wasn't so wonderful was when I slipped and ended up sliding down a sloping rock up to my chest in a pool of ferric oxide laden fresh (not salt) water. Here's a photo showing the guilty rock (naturally I blame the rock). It doesn't look like much: wet and almost flat. It's also very, very slippery and there were no handholds. Once I started slipping that was it. I was carrying my new Canon 1D Mark IV complete with 400 mm lens and 1.4 x extender. On my belt in a holster was a Canon SD 890 IS point-and-shoot. Somehow I managed to keep the DSLR above the water until someone could take it. The point-and-shoot was completely submerged until I was pulled out about a minute later (bruised and scratched up a bit but otherwise o.k.) In this case although I immediately removed the battery and SD card, four days later the SD 890 would only burp when I pushed the power button. Tonight (a week after submerging) I placed the camera next to a house heating vent where our cat likes to sleep (watching a cat is a sure way to find the warm spots in a house) and (surprisingly) I'm seeing some improvement (terrible picture quality but functionality has returned). Maybe it will eventually revive…..
I'm writing this little entry to ask if any of you have had similar experiences and how your equipment fared. It's not easy to say no to taking a trail but it's obviously something that I should have done this time.

I guess a good question is how much does the point and shoot cost? Next is how much it takes to send it in for repairs. Exactly what kind of "terrible picture quality" are you getting? Like is there still water/vapor on the sensor, water/vapor inside the lens assemblies, or is it from screwed up electronics due to shorting out transistors? Of course, as you know, there are many possibilities.

I had a Nikon go under water and it was toast...mostly because when my towboat flipped and sank, the camera was never recovered!!

Try to give us more details on the current output of the camera.

Troup

Thank you for your comment, Troup. Almost 3 years ago the camera cost $327 Can. but with a (useless for water damage) extended 4 yr. warranty, an extra battery and taxes the price ended up being $635 Can. Pictures on the display right now show a completely washed out view where the subject is barely discernible. That is better than yesterday when the subject was really not discernible. So, I'm hoping for the best as I continue to let it dry into its 8th day. I didn't include all of those details in the original posting because my intention for this post was to try to get some enjoyment from this experience by telling you all about it and to feel that I'm not alone in experiencing such things by learning of similar experiences from some of you. Of course if any of you know have a trick that works to rejeuvenate this camera, I'd love to hear it!
P.S.: I called my insurance company too. They say since it isn't what they consider a "valuable" (a watch for example) then there is a $500 deductible for my homeowners insurance that applies. Also, they would raise my premium by cancelling my "no claim discount" if I paid the deductible. I wonder if someone offers just camera insurance for a trip?

I had a dunking incident of my own a few years ago Steve which I'll relate to you in the hopes you may find it relevant. This involved an Olympus C8080 which somehow slipped out of my camera bag, bounced off a rock and fell to the bottom of a 4-foot deep pool of a mountain stream. I rushed in and fished it out and immediately pulled the battery and took it home and put it a close but safe distance from a portable space heater. I really didn't have much hope as the lens was full of water but with nothing to lose at that point I kept the heat on, periodically, for several days until at least the visible water in the lens assembly was gone. There were major water spots inside the glass though so I didn't think even if it ever worked again it would be any good. I thought about tossing it but decided to just store it in a dark corner for the time being. After a couple of months I tried turning it on and it actually did power up but the buttons and controls either didn't work or did things totally different from their proper function and I wasn't able to actually take any pictures. So back in the corner it went. Then after about 6 months from its dunking I pulled it out again and amazingly enough it started working sufficiently for me to take some pictures and they were actually of good quality, with no visible evidence of the water damage inside the lens. At this point though many of the controls still didn't work right and both the evf and lcd displays were dull and washed out. I kept using it once in awhile since then though and gradually all the controls became fully functional again and although the displays have never fully recovered obviously the sensor itself did and I still have the camera now over 4 years after the fact and still use it now and then for macro work which it is pretty good at. So I guess my experience, for whatever its worth, would seem to recommend just drying the camera out as thoroughly as you can and storing it a dry place for awhile and hope for the best.

Steve, sorry to hear about the dunk. I have my stuff insured with State Farm for a whole year for about 120 bucks - covers everything, including the laptop and trip, cards etc. The bonus is that it is all replacement with no deductible and it is a separate policy so it doesn't affect the house insurance. Check it out - when you get fed up with a camera, it can fall out of your canoe

yikes, Steve, that doesn't look like water I'd want to fall into. whenever I take a fall I usually respond with the "break the bone/save the optics" response, which so far has worked out pretty well (no broken bones).

I lost a point and shoot years ago, scrambling along the Olympic coast, trying to get around a headland as the tide came in. It fell in the ocean, only briefly, I pulled it out, but that was that.

Lindy has a great point about "renters" or "personal property" insurance. It can save a lot of money in the long run.

Sorry about your accident. Even if the optics dry reasonably, there will be water spotting, which will degrade the image resolution and there will be corrosion of the electronics. I've read tales of pros dropping cameras and lenses in water and keeping everything in the water (or rinsing multiple times with clean water) until they can get it to a repair shop, but once things start to dry there will be problems. A professional cleaning may slow down the corrosion, but unless the everything is rinsed with a water removing solvent before it dries corrosion of the electronics and mechanical parts will occur.

Steve

For what it's worth and I know it works put the camera in a bowl of rice (uncooked ) the rice will absorb the moisture very quickly. Good luck from then on.

Wonderful responses. Thank you all so much. Your comments included every aspect that I needed.