first aid for lens dropped in water?

[Curt Palm]

I have a Nikon 150mm lens which I did one of those amazingly dumb things and let it and my camera fall into a creek when I was backpacking a couple of weeks ago. The lens was underwater for a couple of seconds and I now know firsthand that shutters are not waterproof.
I unscrewed the lens elements and dried them with a lens cloth and when I moved the shutter speed dial, it sounded bad, so I put the lens away and didn't use it the rest of the trip.
I took the lens to get a CLA as soon as I got home and it looks like the shutter will be OK.

Is there any thing I could/should have done to the shutter immediately after retrieving it from the water to increase its chance of survival?

[paulr]

i'd check with a technician before taking my advice ... but what i've heard is that the best thing is to leave it in the water. pack it out in a ziplock bag full of water. ideally replace the creek water with the cleanest water you can get your hands on.

the idea is that metal will corrode a lot more slowly when immersed than it will when you take it out and let it dry while exposed to the air.

[Walter Calahan]

Freshwater isn't necessarily a lens or shutter killer. Take it to a top-notch repair technician.

Saltwater is the kiss of death.

[Hiro]

leave it in the water.

I've heard that, too, particularly after the lens or camera swam in the salt water.

I think the situation is similar to what you do after shooting in the rain. In addition to what you did, the rice-in-a-sock method mentioned by Keith S. Walklet in the following thread may improve the prognosis:
http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ad.php?t=17584

[Donald Qualls]

As above -- if fresh water, it's not necessarily that bad, but if the original dunk was salt, the best you can do is to rinse the shutter several times in the cleanest fresh water you can get quickly (distilled is ideal) and then store it in a zipper bag of that same clean water, until an ASAP CLA. Even salt water won't destroy a mechanical shutter instantly, but it doesn't take long for corrosion to start, and it goes faster if there's a concentration differential (as when the water is evaporating). So, dilute the salt as much as possible, as quickly as possible, and then keep it immersed in the cleanest possible water to prevent formation of what corrosion chemists call "concentration cells" (which cause electrolysis without needing dissimilar metals).

If you have to do the CLA yourself, replacing the distilled water with progressively higher strengths of isopropyl alcohol (10% steps is conventional), until you reach at least 91%, followed by mixing the isopropyl with progressively higher concentrations of lighter fluid until you have the shutter immersed in pure lighter fluid, would be the method of getting it fully dried out without permitting concentration cell corrosion. Taken from there, the rest of the CLA would probably just amount to drying out the lighter fluid and relubricating the points that actually need lubrication, with the correct type oil or grease.

Now, if it's an electronic shutter with the battery in, five minutes in salt water will total it, and not much longer in fresh water. If an electronic device goes into a creek, pull the battery and then do the fresh water rinse and store, but it's far less likely to be salvageable...

[Ron Marshall]

As above, but if travelling, make sure the storage container is completely full of fresh water, otherwise shaking will oxygenate the water and increase corrosion.

[robc]

been there. done that. Only it was salt water in my case. The lens was fine. I flushed the shutter out with tap water when I got home and all seemed OK for a while. But then corrosion set in and those fine springs don't like that. The cocking return spring finally broke and the x-sync terminal doesn't work anymore. A later check revealed lots of inner corrosion. Have now replaced it as repair was likely to cost as much as new one.

So I guess that if you don't get it seen to immediately, then you can expect it to degrade over time although since it was fresh water, maybe not as qucikly as mine did.

[Daniel Geiger]

For the shutter, you may also try to remove the water by washing it two three times in high percentage ethanol/rubbing alcohol. Should not attack the paint, and should not dissolve grease either. Rubbing alcohol is about 95-97% ethanol and has some additives the prevents you from drinking it, but is booze-tax free. I think you can usually get 100% EtOH at the pharmacy, but you pay booze-tax.

Then you can let it air-dry, possibly in the sun/heat to speed things up. EtOH evaporates much faster than water.

Not sure I'd do that with the lenses because of the coatings.

Daniel

[Bruce Barlow]

Richard Ritter describes a method of drying out a shutter using Minute Rice and plastic bags in his DVD on CAmera Repair in the Field. Useful for fresh water. Salt water is another issue.

[John Bowen]

Yes, Richard Ritter's DVD on Camera Repair in the Field is worth it's weight in Gold! Every LF field photographer should own a copy.

Just my 2 cents,

John