Dropped A7R in freshwater for split-second - any advice?

[cotton]

Today before work I was hiking, slipped and fell into a creek and my Sony A7R w/ Metabones adaptor + Canon 24-70 f2.8 got dunked for a split second. I immediately turned the camera off, hiked out and headed home. I then did the following:

1. Removed battery

2. Removed SD card

3. opened doors, etc.

 

I left everything out to dry under a ceiling fan and headed back to work.

 

I was in a rush to get back to work and stupidly didn't open the LCD screen all the way. I also stupidly  put everything back in and turned the camera on when I got home to try it out. It was turning on, but acting really weird so I turned everything off and removed everything again and did some more research and finally decided to put the camera (with the sensor covered) in a bag of rice. 

 

In short, I'm asking if any other A7 owners have had this experience? I'm also curious if the mistakes that I made (turning the camera back on briefly, not putting in rice immediately) could prove to be fatal? 

 

Any thoughts or insight appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[IamJF]

Turning it on when not completely dry COULD be fatal - but it don't seems so in your case.

 

1st thing is always to remove battery when something gets wet! (OK, put it out the water first :-))

Open everything you can open (NOT the mount cause of dust) and grab a hair dryer. Let it cool down, give it a rest.

I never tried the rice, but for sure it will make no harm ;-)

 

Much luck!

[LiveShots]

smother it in rice

[Guest Peter Kelly]

I don't want to be the harbinger of doom, but if you prepare for the worst you may be pleasantly surprised.

 

However, the strong likelihood is that your accident will kill your camera, if not immediately, some time in the near future.

While you might get lucky and find that a prolonged drying out will leave you with a working camera, it seems certain that some water got into the electrics and, over time, corrosion will occur. Unfortunately, water, the contained salts, and electricity cause very quick corrosion, so I wouldn't bank on long term reliability.

 

I think the best course of action is as advised above, but give it plenty of time. Once you feel you can't wait any longer, try the camera again. Even if it works (in fact, especially if it works), I'd send it to Sony for cleaning and checking. They may well dismantle it and remove any residue before it becomes terminal. Of course, if it's faulty, then a journey to Sony is the only possibility, but I think the repair may not be economic; it would likely be better getting another off Ebay.

 

I do hope it works out for you, or that your house insurance might cover it in the worst case, but good luck.

[weinhous]

A few versions ago an iPhone was dropped into fresh water and quickly retrieved.

 

Upon being called to help, I quickly checked the specs to learn the maximum allowed environmental temperature for the iPhone (think that it was 130˚F).

 

Put a good thermometer into an oven and turned it on. When the oven reached just above that 130˚F, I turned it off, let it cool back to 130˚F and then put the iPhone in and closed the door. Did this cycle several times to dry the iPhone out.

 

The iPhone worked flawlessly for the next 1-1/2 years.

 

Throwing a dish of dry rice (or better yet an engineered desiccant:-) into the oven with the iPhone might have speeded the process.

[Pierre]

Rice, or desiccant, is the best you can do.

Wait several days to be sure all water have been absorbed, and turn it on again.

[cotton]

Thanks all. 

 

I did do the rice last night and plan to leave it immersed in the rice until at least Sunday night (that's 4 full days). 

 

I did find out that my renter's insurance *should* cover camera + lens w/ a $500 deductible so that's somewhat reassuring. 

 

I also called Sony and they told me that it was designed to handle situations like that (brief water submersion) and that I shouldn't have any issues in the future. 

 

@Peter Kelly, I appreciate your honest perspective but sincerely hope you're wrong. I'll be sure to post an update. Any other advice is always welcome. Cheers.

[duncanfoxphoto]

A brief immersion shouldn't kill it. There was a youtube video I watched quite a while ago on LinusTechTips where they left a laptop out in the rain overnight. The solution was to take it apart, dry it off for a week, and then boom, all better.

[DirkB]

There were a couple of good advices and I think you did a lot right, and I am certainly sure your camera will survive.

 

Peter Kelly is not completely wrong, but he misses to consider that corrosion would need continual humidity.

So I consider his post as we call it in Germany kind of "black-painting" :-)

 

So as long as your camera dries completely and gets back to work without any flaws, it should be fine.

When reactivating your camera watch carefully for any flickering, responsivness of buttons, etc.

If there is no bad operating you should be ok.

[Guest Peter Kelly]

 

I also called Sony and they told me that it was designed to handle situations like that (brief water submersion) and that I shouldn't have any issues in the future. 

 

@Peter Kelly, I appreciate your honest perspective but sincerely hope you're wrong. I'll be sure to post an update. Any other advice is always welcome. Cheers.

 

I will say that I was being a devil's advocate, so to speak. As I mentioned, prepare for the worst and anything better is an excellent bonus!

 

However, I am a little perplexed by the comment directly from Sony. If you have that recorded in any written form, KEEP IT! Copy it, back it up, just don't destroy it, as it may prove invaluable.

The reason I say this is because Sony quietly dropped any mention of water resistance from their sales literature and have, on several occasions, refused a repair under warranty because of water damage.

They did this even when the user had not been in rain, or dropped the camera into water, but merely either very humid areas, or coming in out of the very cold.

 

If you have them stating that these cameras should handle such a case, it is gold dust, and you could use it to support your position if you do need a repair (not sure if you have warranty left).

 

Even if it doesn't come in handy this time, it might help in the future!

[cotton]

@DirkB there was a bit of flickering the second time I turned it on, but that was prior to rice treatment (where it still is) and I immediately turned it off when that happened. Hoping I didn't act a fool and kill the thing. 

 

@Peter Kelly, I know you were playing devil's advocate and appreciate that! I always joke that the secret to happiness is low expectations. 

 

The Sony representative did not give this to me in writing - it was stated over the phone. I can see about getting a written transcript or call them again and ask for that in writing but I have a hunch they would change their tune if I asked for it in writing. I'm going to wait it out with the rice and see what happens in a few days and go from there. 

 

I purchased the camera off of Craigslist this past winter so it's likely not under warranty anymore. 

[joshinthecity]

I've used rice on a phone before.

Totally worked...

[tomapaul]

I walked for 20min in rain with my A7II, metabones and sigma 24mm. LCD died (it turns on but image is black...as if it's on power saving). Everything else is ok.

Opened it...noticed corrosion marks on lcd pcb (not too much but...I guess it's enough).

Dried it completely... Put it back but it's still dead. Thank GOD for tham EVF ))

[Boo]

I was shooting with a professional tog in May last year and one of his assistants dropped my first A7r into a rock pool (salt water) and it was retrieved relatively quickly but not startlingly so.

 

Anyway I disappeared back to the hotel and pulled battery card, etc; out and applied hair drier into every crack and crevice I could find. Kept that up for and hour of so and the put everything back and gave it a try. Worked ok(ish) so again pulled everything out and left it like that for the rest of the day and went back out shooting with another body.

 

From that night on it went back to working as it should. 

 

3 months later and out in the desert near Broken Hill I was on the roof rack of the 4x4 and passed it down to my wife so I could get down. She dropped in to the dust from 2m, still ok.

 

Another month goes by and I'm using 2 bodies uprear Kakadu and my wife (again) walks past, just as I put this body down to use the other with a 70-200 on it, and tripped on it flicking it in to the Kathryn River. Quickly retrieved and seemed ok after another bout with the hair drier, but I couldn't get it to read, or even acknowledge and SD card. Figured it might have dirt in there so I found an old 1g SD card in the bottom of the bag. Tipped some methylated Spirits over the card and then inserted it into the camera. After a couple of goes it all started working well.

 

I would either use the hair dryer or (preferably and) a desiccant. The Rice is a waste of time

[Colorado]

I have just one thing to add. If using rice or desiccant the camera must be sealed in a small container or bag with the drying agent, otherwise the moisture in the air will be absorbed into the media and it will serve no benefit.