Just dropped lens into five feet of water, should I get the wet suit and snorkel?

[Jody_S]

DO NOT attempt to dry the shutter. Cells, yes. Pack the shutter IN WATER to send for repair (tupperware). But yes, very salvageable.

[winterclock]

Dry it out as much as you can as soon as you can, leaving it wet only invites rust.

[ic-racer]

It was a cold morning and the lens slipped out of my hands and disappeared into 5 feet of cold, but fresh mountain water. Please advise as to weather I should try to salvage it. I'm sure I could find it, but what should I do to prevent damage? Thanks.

I dropped an 8x10 lens in Copal #3 in water when the lensboard fell off the front of my Century. I can say that the Copal #3 bubbles 3 times when submerged.
I was close to home so, within 15min I had it disassembled. I opened up the shutter and cleaned the mud and then dropped the whole shutter in naptha and then took the front and rear cells apart and dried all the elements. I re-lubed the shutter and re-assembled in less than an hour. No way to tell it was ever under water.
In the case of your lens...has it been 15 minutes yet?

[Jim Fuller]

Thanks for all the help. I went back to the disaster scene with my snorkel and found it about three feet down. I've rinsed it with clean water, taken the lens cells off and am adding greater percentages of Isopropyl alcohol to the mix. I should start drying it out soon, unless I get more votes to pack and send it off wet. Good news--the lens cells look unscratched. Thanks you all for your ideas.

Jim

[goamules]

The idea of sending it to someone immersed in water, while perhaps doable, is way over the top. This isn't a 300 year old viking relic from the bottom of the sea. It's a mechanical device, like a carburetor or wristwatch. Dry it out by gently blowing canned air into it, while working under a hot light. I'd guess getting it up to about 100 degrees, like it would around here in the sun (or there under a lamp overnight) should do it. When dry, it would probably work again, but it will need lube from all this, that's what the technicians are for....unless you want to try that too.

Sending it to a camera tech in a water bottle will just give them a laugh, then they'll do the above.

[Frank Petronio]

Probably doesn't hurt to keep it in a jar of clean water. Might well see if the glass is scratched first?

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

When I did this years ago, Steve Grimes recommended that I give the whole thing a good rinse in distilled water, drip dry, send it to him in a plastic baggy, and let him know to open it right away.

[Amedeus]

Off topic here but yes, there was water in either camera and lens, sensor got wet and all that good stuff, D3 started firing automatically till I got the battery out. The warm air drying process took about 24 hours in case of the D3, less for the D2x as that one was not as long under water and there was less water in the unit.

As for the on topic matter ... rinsing in clean water is not a bad idea if your equipment has been in muck. Leaving it wet or submerged is not a good idea imho as this is only inviting oxidation ... doesn't take much ...

Rudi - that is encouraging to hear regarding Nikon D3's. I own a paid of D700's which I believe are weather sealed to a similar extent as the D3.

[Frank Petronio]

You guys who recovered wet lenses and cameras... what are your eBay IDs?

[Amedeus]

You guys who recovered wet lenses and cameras... what are your eBay IDs?

you're funny

Still shooting with my D3, D2x and the 28-70mm F2.8 ;-)