A little WD-40 & Rice did the trick!
JonaBeth Russell
Registered Users Posts: 1,065 Major grins
Three days ago, during a spectacular hike up the west Maui mountains, we were surprised by a soaking rainfall. Not torrential downpour, just a nice light soaking rain...for an hour or so.
I've religiously trusted the weather sealing on my old 7D with roughly 100,000 shutters. It's always treated me well, and I've put it through much much worse than that light rain for an hour. To my surprise, however, it was suffering water entry in a bad way. With a battery in the compartment, the camera would not turn off, and was stuck in video mode. This was not cool.
Additionally, my Tokina ultra wide lens got lightly coated and began to go haywire also. It was completely dead to my backup camera...not awesome.
Now, allow me to own my mistake here. I should've brought a rain bag and been more diligent, but chose to blindly trust in the weather sealing on the camera and luck toward a dry hike. I gambled, I lost. Moving forward into the solution...
I put the camera and lens in their own separate bags of rice overnight. The next day (late morning), I used found that the camera would now respond to other settings changes, which was a step forward, so more rice time was needed. I had hope.
Later that evening, I got the camera to turn off. SWEET! But while on, still stuck in video. So, I grabbed a can of WD-40 and soaked every dial and button on the back and top of the camera. Tossed it back into the rice and waited til the next morning. Did the same thing for the lens, spraying a very SMALL amount of WD-40 around the contacts, allowing it to seep into the circuit board area below.
On the next day (2 days past the rain event) the camera was working great. Still has a slow start-up time, and I'll send it for evaluation, but at least now it's usable. I shot two sessions yesterday afternoon with success.
The lens took more time and fiddling but finally became intermittently responsive, then completely responsive and works great.
This was a good lesson in preparation AND problem solving at home.
I've religiously trusted the weather sealing on my old 7D with roughly 100,000 shutters. It's always treated me well, and I've put it through much much worse than that light rain for an hour. To my surprise, however, it was suffering water entry in a bad way. With a battery in the compartment, the camera would not turn off, and was stuck in video mode. This was not cool.
Additionally, my Tokina ultra wide lens got lightly coated and began to go haywire also. It was completely dead to my backup camera...not awesome.
Now, allow me to own my mistake here. I should've brought a rain bag and been more diligent, but chose to blindly trust in the weather sealing on the camera and luck toward a dry hike. I gambled, I lost. Moving forward into the solution...
I put the camera and lens in their own separate bags of rice overnight. The next day (late morning), I used found that the camera would now respond to other settings changes, which was a step forward, so more rice time was needed. I had hope.
Later that evening, I got the camera to turn off. SWEET! But while on, still stuck in video. So, I grabbed a can of WD-40 and soaked every dial and button on the back and top of the camera. Tossed it back into the rice and waited til the next morning. Did the same thing for the lens, spraying a very SMALL amount of WD-40 around the contacts, allowing it to seep into the circuit board area below.
On the next day (2 days past the rain event) the camera was working great. Still has a slow start-up time, and I'll send it for evaluation, but at least now it's usable. I shot two sessions yesterday afternoon with success.
The lens took more time and fiddling but finally became intermittently responsive, then completely responsive and works great.
This was a good lesson in preparation AND problem solving at home.
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Comments
Not sure that I recommend spraying any part of contacts and buttons with regular WD-40 oil since it is capable of insulating contacts, so they no longer conduct electricity, and may soften some weather seals. It can also soften some paints.
There is a "WD-40 Specialist Electrical Contact Cleaner Spray" which I have never tested or researched, but the manufacturer says is "Safe to use on plastic, rubber and metal". It apparently leaves no oily residue like the original spray oil.
http://wd40specialist.com/products/contact-cleaner/
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
I have no need for it now, but "WD-40 Specialist Electrical Contact Cleaner Spray" is Not in Canada from what I can find
http://www.datsphotography.ca
I have several cans for GRC Electrical contact cleaner that I use for cleaning computer and other electrical parts. It is completely safe for use in electronics, and works well for removing dirt and grease around electrical parts. Its ok at removing water, though I find it works more by the pressure of the material out of the can blowing the water away than by absorbing or removing water. You should be able to find similar products in Canada or other parts of the world, just search for electrical contact cleaner.