Nikon D5000 got a little wet, worked and now doesn't

ScrapandSmock

My Nikon D5000 got a little wet Sunday night. It was wrapped in a thick towel and our boat got splashed by a huge wave on the way back to our cabin. As soon as we got back to the cabin my dh took the lens off and the battery out (he forgot about the memory card). We let it air dry over night (didn't think about putting it in a bag of rice). Got up yesterday morning, put it back together and it worked, took a picture, looked at the pictures from the previous night. A couple hours later picked up the camera to use it again and it doesn't work. I called Nikon and they said for me to take it to a camera store and try a new battery, the battery may have gone bad. Does anyone have any suggestions? I think it is coincidental that it didn't work after it had been working. I bought the camera March 23, 2010. :cry

ziggy53

Do be sure that the camera is "completely" dry before activating the camera. This may require several days in a non-climate controlled environment. To speed up the process use a hair dryer on a very low temperature for a couple of hours at least. The camera should never be more than
warm to the touch.

The battery is just the first thing to try and you should have a spare battery anyway. You might also try a different memory card. If the new battery (and/or card) does not fix the problem then you probably should return the camera to Nikon Service for potential repairs.

You don't mention if this was salt water or "fresh" water that splashed the camera. Salt water is much more damaging. If it was salt water then the camera really needs to be checked to make sure that no water got into the insides. If salt water gets into a camera the is a good chance that the camera is a loss. Even if you should get it cleaned the corrosion effects tend to continue and the camera may (likely) fail over time.

A camera is a very good item to store in a "dry box" on a boat when not in use.

ScrapandSmock

It was fresh water, lake water. Thanks for the info. I wrapped it in paper towels this morning and put it in a zip loc bag of rice. I haven't bought a new battery for it yet, spare that is. I'll go to town later today and see if the new battery helps. I'm just sick to my stomach. We are investing in some dry storage bags to keep the camera in. We've never had this happen to us on the lake before and we've been there 10 summers now.

Zerodog

I put a cell phone that I washed in the washing machine in the oven for a few hours to dry it. I set it to 110 degrees and let it hang out. It fired right up and worked fine after that.

Watch out that you don't get rice inside your camera. That will cause lots of hell.

skysailor

I dropped a cell phone off the back of my sailboat. Same thing....after it dried out, it came back to life! As Ziggy points out...if it's not "on" it has a much better chance of survival!

ScrapandSmock

Update
I ended up sending my camera back to Nikon. I got an email and there was not any water damage to the camera, it ended up being the power button that was broken and is covered under warranty.

ziggy53

ScrapandSmock wrote: »

I ended up sending my camera back to Nikon. I got an email and there was not any water damage to the camera, it ended up being the power button that was broken and is covered under warranty.

Whew.