It'll be fine. Get the shutter to a professional and let them deal with it. The lens cells are easy to dry out.
I sent a lens back to panavision one time packed in a 5-gallon bucket of bottled water. It had taken a dip in salt water, so I put it in the bucket and ran fresh water through it until I thought the salinity was essentially zero. I got the same lens (they're serial numbered) on a job some time later and would have never known it took a dip.
What about taking the lens cells out, dousing the shutter internally with about half a can of WD-40, letting it drip dry overnight, and then mailing it off to a repairman? The idea of water sitting on steel gives me the willies.
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
Ouch! WD40 is a nightmare to remove from a shutter. The whole 'leave it in water' issue is about preventing rust from starting on the blades, especially. If you use flat water, such as a bottle of distilled, and fill to the brim in a container or properly-tied baggie, there isn't enough oxygen in the water to allow corrosion to begin, even if it's left for some time. Rust is an oxidation process. Any attempt to dry the shutter that doesn't completely remove the water from all the blades, shutter and aperture, will soon be followed by rust, which is a real pain in the ass to clean and can make the shutter part unrecoverable. The suggestion of an alcohol rinse is an appropriate way to dry the shutter without leaving water on the blades to start the rusting process, but it must be repeated several times, all the while blowing it out with compressed air. In fact, the shutter might be recoverable with no further action.Originally Posted by Two23
I've had basic college chemistry. OK, I can see where the WD would be tough to remove. What about carbon tet or lighter fluid? Pure alcohol might work too, and would quickly evaporate.
Kent in SD
In contento ed allegria
Notte e di vogliam passar!
I've never personally dropped a lens in a stream, so I've never had to do this. I hear alcohol is perfect, but yes it does have to be pure. I use both lighter fluid and an electronics wash spray that is alcohol-based, but with no water (the label on the can is a little scary). The alcohol spray dries much faster than the lighter fluid, but I'm leery of using too often because I don't like to get it on my hands or breathe in the fumes when I blow it out.
I have resurrected shutters on 35mm rangefinders that have gotten wet, they never run the same once they've started to rust. I've also salvaged apertures on barrel lenses that were flooded and badly rusted, that's much easier because they can be left oily or covered in grease. They just look really ugly and can't be left in the heat or the oil will migrate.
[QUOTE=Two23;940483]I've had basic college chemistry. OK, I can see where the WD would be tough to remove. What about carbon tet or lighter fluid? Pure alcohol might work too, and would quickly evaporate.
Kent, carbon tet is highly toxic. It, and lighter fluid, wont mix well with water, so wont help remove it. Concentrated alcohols, i use neat isopropanol, work best, and are the safest options
Tim
Where do you live? I'll go in and get it, that's a nice lens.
If you do get it out, uncscrew the cells and put the shutter in a jar full of drygas from the local convenience store - get 2 or three containers of drygas and wash all the water out with several changes of drygas (isopropyl alcohol). Then drive off the drygas with a hairdryer and send the shutter off for a CLA.
If water has gotten inside the lens cells, send those off too. Even if the cells are dry inside, they should probably be properly disassembled and cleaned to make sure the threaded parts do not corrode and freeze.
One man's Mede is another man's Persian.
When my friend dropped a Zeiss lens into the creek this past Aug he aired it out in the sun
and watched the fogging slowly but not completely dissipate. I told him how to make a little dessication chamber when we got out of the mtns. But he was impatient and decided
to use the lens anyway. And yesterday he called to tell me he had actually printed some
shots, one being a portrait of me using my view camera. I'm interested to see exactly how
the "soft focus" (soggy focus) image came out. Maybe Jim Galli has some competition.
Do NOT let it dry. Rinse with distilled water instead. (A quick dip in alcohol may also help it dry out but may affect other things like rubber)
Then you can let it dry before taking it to have the shutter mechanism checked/lubed. The lens elements should be fine.
What makes water cause problems with metals is that it provides an electrolyte for corrosion. It's the salts in water that do this, as I dimly recall from chemistry. Distilled water has no salts, so a thorough rinsing in distilled water will prevent a lot of the corrosion and nearly all of the deposits that might be left behind by evaporation.
Were it me, I would rinse thoroughly in distilled water, put the shutter (no need for drying it, it seems to me) and lens cells in separate plastic bags, and ship it off to a repair tech with some advance warning so that he'll know it's coming. Distilled water is dead--it won't grow mold unless the mold is already there. It's a lot easier to dry it when it's at least partially disassembled. Any drying with the use of alcohol will also dissolve any lubricant, so it has to go to the repair tech in any case.
Do not ever, ever apply WD-40 to anything photographic. (Or to anything else, for that matter.) Much ruination has resulted from that product.
Rick "who always rinsed his Nikonos off in distilled water to wash away any dissolved salts before allowing it to dry" Denney
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