Contax TVS III got wet and it doesn't work anymore

Hi! I was out somewhere when it rained heavily. Unfortunately, I forgot that I put my Contax TVSIII on the front pocket of my backpack. When I pulled it out, it has a "00" blinking on the LCD screen and when I try to turn it on, it doesn't open. I tried changing the battery but it's still the same. Is my camera forever dead? Or is there anyway to fix it?

I guess you could treat it like a wet phone, but with no guarantee of success. Take the battery out. Dry it as well as you can with a towel, then pack it in dry rice and leave it alone for a couple of days at least.

I guess you could treat it like a wet phone, but with no guarantee of success. Take the battery out. Dry it as well as you can with a towel, then pack it in dry rice and leave it alone for a couple of days at least.

 

- Does that rice thing ever work?

A ziplock bag with a big sachet of activated silica-gel, maybe. Or even a low bake over a radiator. But rice!?

 

I've never noticed a vast increase in weight or bulk in an opened packet of rice, which might be expected if it was deliquescent enough to dry anything out. Maybe cornflakes or cream-crackers would work better; they get pretty soggy if you leave 'em out of the packet for a while.

 

Just found this link.

Keep the battery out of it, with water present, the battery could cause electrolysis even with the camera switched off

 

As soon as possible, use a hair dryer to evaporate the moisture in the camera, not too hot

 

It might be ruined already beyond repair but that water must come out quick. When you're sure the camera is completely dry, try the battery again but if there's no life from the camera, take the battery out and get a professional to disassemble the camera to see if they can find what was damaged

The trick is to evacuate moisture completely from the camera’s innards. Open up the battery compartment and remove any bottom plate that’s screwed Into place. Try a low oven around 100F with camera on a rack on an oven-proof plate. Crack the oven door and keep close watch on the temp.until the camera is warm.Try a hair dryer aimed into any areas opened up by removing the battery and/or bottom plate if you’re spooked by the short stay in the oven. Don’t rush it since dehumidifying it will probably take a few hours. I’ve brought soggy phones back to life doing this. Don’t think higher temps will speed it up. Otherwise, it’s an almost 20 year old camera that likely can’t be fixed. Forget the rice trick.

I am with Joe on this one. Get the water out as fast as you can. I’m not sure rice is any kind of answer, and you might be tempted to leave it surrounded in rice for ages, while the water sits there in the innards, doing its damndest to ruin your precious. I wouldn’t use cornflakes or cream-crackers either, too many crumbs to get into the workings. I suspect the rice thing has come about due to ‘regression to the norm’. Some people do it, and get a positive result. It doesn’t mean the rice did the trick, just that the ‘thing’ dried out normally and started to function again despite the rice. Much like warts really. You take some pill or homeopathic remedy, and miraculously, they disappear, making you think it was the remedy that did the trick. Well, they always eventually go away on their own anyway.

 

I would go down the gentle hairdryer route, get the base off if you can, to allow air circulation, and then stand it on a radiator (on a towel) and Pray. Much like the above mentioned medicine, praying won’t help, but you’ll feel better.

 

I dropped a Nikon 700-300 into a rock pool on holiday in France a few years ago. It was completely dead after spending maybe 30 seconds half submerged in salty water looking at the Gobies, following a 4ft drop from a ruck-sack. I had no way of getting the thing apart, even had I been brave enough, and being on holiday in the summer, no warm radiators or the like to help dry it out. I used my daughter’s travel hairdryer on warm, and left it propped towards the lens for several hours. It was still dead. After I got it home, I tried it again, and it worked after a fashion, but the autofocus hunted constantly, and the VR was doing the hokey-cokey (in-out-in-out). After a bit more time, it settled down, was useable but temperamental for a few months, and then recovered fully. Been good as gold ever since. So don’t give up on it too soon.

Get the water out as fast as you can.

 

This is crucial.

 

Be very patient and you might be lucky and get it to recover. It can take a long time to get it completely dry

The rice thing worked very well on a flip phone. Had the phone for two years after recovery.

Thinking about putting up deer meat in the vacuum sealer I have, just prompted me to do a quick search.

Sealing the meat always results in moisture migration.

 

 

Edited December 21, 2018 by Moving On

Yes, lowering the vapour pressure effectively lowers the boiling-point of water to room temperature.

 

I'm not sure if one of those cheap luggage-compressor bags that you connect to a domestic vacuum-cleaner would create a hard enough vacuum, but probably a lot more likely to work than a bag of rice.

 

Whatever. It's been at least 3 clear days now since the original post, and quite likely too late to implement further recovery measures. Besides, the camera has moving mechanical parts and motors, which increases the likelihood of water damage over a purely electronic phone.

 

FWIW, I just googled that Contax. Jeez! The prices asked are truly unbelievably ridiculous for a plastic point'n'shoot of that standard.

Parts availability (at least for Contax RTS SLRs) is pretty thin these days if you do have to try to get it fixed. I'm not even sure who I'd try to repair it. I love the old Contax/Yashica/Kyocera brand but they weren't triumphs of reliability. Great cameras though, had a Contax T2 myself for a while. Good luck and keep us informed on what happens.