Humidity caused corrosion on A7S I & II

[maxfancher]

Hi there,

 

I had a shoot in Florida two weeks ago and shot with my A7S I and A7S II.  The weather wasn't terribly humid but definitely more humid than where I am in California.  On the first day of the shoot, towards the end of the day the LCD and the viewfinder on my A7SII both went black.  The camera was still functioning as I was recording through the HDMI to external recorders but the LCD wasn't so we obviously couldn't make changes to the camera.  

 

The following day, my A7SI had the same thing happen where the LCD and viewfinder both went black as well.  I had no idea what was going on but since the same identical problem happened to the two bodies, I was thinking maybe it had something to do with the humidity.  

 

I got back after the shoot and sent both in for repair.  The A7SII is under warranty and the A7SI is not.  Precision Camera sent the A7SII back to me which I received today with a note saying that they are "returning unit unrepaired. unit is 'beyond economical repair' due to corrosion".  They A7SI is still getting looked at.

 

I called Sony and they said they would escalate the situation and have someone call me back.  A quick search on the web revealed others with a similar problem although most of the ones I found were situations where they dripped liquid on the LCD.  

 

Here's the Question:  I'm just writing to find out if anyone had this problem before and if so, if you had any success dealing with Sony to replace or repair their cameras?  I did not expose either camera to liquid and only to mild humidity so I'm bummed at the idea that this would not be covered by warranty.  Feels like we should be able to use these cameras in mildly humid conditions.  Again, these conditions were not extreme.

 

Would love to hear your thoughts.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

max

[Emptymind]

I very much doubt it is humidity. I live in Miami Beach and shoot with A7S2 and A7R2. Going from cold AC to outside always causes condensation. I also just came back from a month in the Philippines and Vietnam shooting video on the A7S2 where the humidity was very high. I had to wipe the cameras with a towel to remove condensation all the time. No problems with either camera but I do take precautions against moisture getting into the insides.

As far as my experience - 30 yrs as a pro photographer, I have never had a camera break down due to humidity.

[maxfancher]

Thanks for the reply Emptymind! It's great to hear that you've shot in more extreme conditions with the A7S2 and haven't had this problem.

 

The first day of the shoot was on the beach in St Augustine. It was in the low to mid 80's that day and not terribly humid. Neither of the cameras came in direct contact with water. There was an afternoon breeze that was blowing onshore so the air definitely had more salt in it. And that's all I can think of. We were shooting video and the LCD screens were opened which does expose the openings where the ribbon enters the body. The hdmi port was being used so the side was opened for that port. But again, the cameras were never exposed to water and never had visible condensation on them. One LCD failed fhe first day and the second failed the following day where we were shooting inland.

 

So, the warranty doesn't cover corrosion damage because they assume I exposed the camera to water. The thing is, I didn't. The only thing the cameras were exposed to was normal weather.

 

You can google it and find others with similar experiences too.

[Guest all8]

For electronics, a maritime environment is actually extreme, so probably your time at the beach was the cause. I've used my a7ii at the beach on several occasions, with windy and misty conditions, however I used a leather half case which does offer reasonable protection/coverage of the various openings. It was clear, looking at the UV filter, that the camera was getting "wet" even though it was not exposed to water.

 

Still, I would not be overly impressed by the situation. Sony changes a lot of money for the more expensive A7 models, they should put a little more effort into the detailing.

[Overflow]

I have an A7s with one year of mainly beach use, with no problem.  I also love recording on heavy wind and storm, where the camera is constantly sprayed with sea water so I have to wipe the lens for every shot.  

 

I just carefully clean the camera case after those sessions.

 

Ah, here we have 70-90% moisture from november to may.

 

No issues after one year.

[maxfancher]

Thanks for the replies guys! So, this day we shot wasn't so windy that there was actual sea spray getting on the cameras. Our filters/lenses weren't getting wet at all.

 

If it happened to only one of the cameras it would be one thing, but because it happened to both, it has to be the weather me thinks. The repair place is claiming corrosion do to exposure to liquid. my crew and I have shot in way more extreme conditions and this wasn't a shoot where we would expect our cameras to fail.

 

I'm glad some of you haven't experienced this problem, but if this had happened to you, I'm guessing you'd be thinking there must be some problem with the A7S weather proofing. That's all I can come up with.

[Golem]

.............. my crew and I have shot in way more extreme conditions

and this wasn't a shoot where we would expect our cameras to fail.

 

..............

   

Is it possible that those previous risky conditions has ALMOST

done in the cameras, and both failed at the next provocations,

only a day apart from each other ? How numerous and severe

were those previous exploits ?  

 

Also, when screens go black, thaz not usually a failure of any

circuitry or internal components, whether by corrosion or just

a faulty board. Black screens are almost always an effect of

the screen itself. It's how they react to extreme heat. Normal

viewing then resumes when the device is returned to a cooler

environment.

  

BTW, since it didn't fail yet it accompanies your Sonys on the

job, is your external recorder known to have superior weather

sealing ? And does it feature an LCD panel that did NOT go

black in the same hot environment ?

[maxfancher]

So the previous extreme conditions were with other cameras. Not these two. The LCD failed but also the image in the viewfinders went black so there was no way to control the camera settings. The image came through the hdmi port just fine.

 

We have a ton of other gear that didn't fail... Atomos Shoguns, DJI Ronin, etc. The shoguns worked fine. Unless they're corroding inside and haven't shown the signs yet.

[Golem]

The EVF is just a tiny LCD so it is equally vulnerable to heat.

  

I can't imagine deathly corrosion from such a limited exposure,

but just the screen blackouts kinda hints that this is prolly NOT  

the right camera for your environment, even if it were immune

to internal corrosion. If you can't view and can't set controls ....

[Wesley]

What kind of lenses? Rubber gasket? Lens change by the beach? Exposed ports?

[Guest all8]

Condensation occurs when warm moist air interacts with a cooler surface, typically.

 

Is it therefore possible that a camera which is recording video, where the processor assembly is getting hot, could create a micro climate in that area, where any small amount of warm moist air entering the camera would become momentarily heated, and then condense on nearby cooler surfaces?

 

 

It might be possible to disassemble the camera, and clean/remove the corrosion. Its probably occurred on a connector or near a heat sink (i.e. processor/sensor assembly).

[Austerror]

Or maybe someone in the team dropped a cup of water on the camera bag and didn't tell anyone?

[ebbyamir]

Literally the exact same thing happened to my A7r ii recently. I was on a round-the-world trip (something I was very excited to have a functional camera for).

 

One day in Bali, while shooting a beach sunset, the LCD started flickering in all sorts of weird RGB patterns. Over the coming months it would either continue the weird glitchy pattern or go blank completely.

 

I'm guessing this is due to humidity, but the sad thing is that day was significantly less humid than a typical summer day back home in NY. So I really question the build quality of these cameras.

 

My unit is currently with Precision camera and I'm receiving mixed messages from them. So far they mentioned corrosion. From what I understand, they check for corrosion on the external screws. For a camera advertised as splash/rain-proof and targeted toward nature photographers who will have the bodies rubbing up on tripods in rainy conditions OF COURSE THE SCREWS WILL BE CORRODED.

 

Anyway, I'm very unimpressed so far. I couldn't recored video for 3 months of my trip. I'm hoping they decide to fix it. Any suggestions are appreciated.