Nikon D70 dropped in water

I dropped my one month old D70 in the water when I went for

canoying. When I powered on after 2 days of drying in the fan, I got

no response in the LCDs. I came to know the Camera is completely

dead. Local dealer has estimated $420.00 for replacing the PCB and

servicing. I sent it to NIKON for service. They said the camera

can't be serviced to the factory standard and sent it back to me. I

am totally confused how to repair my camera. Its just one month old

and not yet gotten mail-in-rebate.

 

Has anybody this type of experience? Any suggestion is welcome.

This is probably not the answer you want to hear (or read), but the simple answer is called replace, especially if we are talking about salt water. IMO it is not a good idea to spend another $420 on it. There is too much electronics inside the D70 to get it properly fixed. It really doesn't matter whether it is one month, one year or two years old.

Just claim your insurance on it and trash the camera. Salt water is never good for a camera, especially one that's filled with electronics.

If you dropped the D70 with its power ON in the water, it's more likely a very small chance for some electronics parts or power supply circuitry inside being survived, then you must send it in for service. Otherwise, you might still have a chance to 'fix' it as opening up the back to be able to expose the most PCB parts for complete drying as there must be some water still retained inside everywhere even you used a fan dried it out.

If its salt water and it got inside, make a book end out

of it. If fresh water, dry the camera out for days before putting

a battery back in it. The last thing you want is a battery in an

electronic camera when its wet inside. Moisture inside a

camera with a built-in flash carries extra risk. There is

something inside an AF camera that ramps up the voltage for the

focus motor and this carries extra risk. If after extended drying

your camera works great. If not I would not have it repaired.<br>

<br>

A friend who is a camera repairman says its all but

impossible to get all the salt out of a camera. It get in nooks

& crannies and it just keeps corroding. It can wick its way

up wires and destroy the circuit board the wires attach to. This

can happen with corrosion in a battery chamber also. With an

electronic camera its not worth repairing once salt water

is actually inside.<br>

<br>

Im very sorry this happened.<br>

<br>

Dave Hartman.

correct advice. claim insurance. or buy new.

Last summer my wife left her brand-new cell phone out in a thunderstorm, which completely killed it- no LCD display, no nothing. I took the battery out and rigged up a clamp-style shop light with a parabolic reflector (which I bought from Home Depot for about $5) with a 75 watt bulb. I aimed the light toward the ceiling, and I strapped the cell phone to the open end of the reflector and left it to dry out for about 36 hours in the radiant and convective heat provided by the lamp. The phone came completely back to life, color LCD, sound, everything. Maybe this will work for you; it's worth a try. Good luck.

Is everyone else seeing a google ad for camera rain covers at the bottom of this thread?

That's just mean. :(

 

I'm really sorry to hear about your mishap Monimaran. I can't offer much other than

sympathy.

shot some turtles in the waters here locally, and it was salt water...totaled my 70-300 due to it being in my waistpack which i held on my arm...freak wave hit me and then tripped on a rock underwater...auwe!!

If it will make you feel better, I dropped my Gossen Digital F light meter in a creek this weekend .. replacement cost about $250 .. can't believe I've done that .. I'm very careful with equipment, but accidents do happen to all of us.

 

And it was my favorite meter for field use .. next time, I'll wear the damn thing instead of tucking it inside my coat pocket. Live and learn ..

I have a friend who fell in the water with his D70. His insurance replaced the camera. Then he fell in the water again, with his new D70. His insurance replaced the camera. Both times the camera was history when it touched water. Now if you dropped a mechanical camera in the water, I assume it would just require a cleaning. ;*)

very sorry to hear. To make things worse, keep in mind that even if it should come to life when dried up, and especially if it was salt water, the residual minerals would slowly corrode EVERY metal part inside (aluminium, copper...) and it would result in an endless series of trips to the repair shop.

Nikon made a line of cameras called Nikonos. I hear this camera/lenses/accesories are very useful for water sport activities like Kayaking, White water rafting and even Canooing.

 

May be you want to consider this as a replacement choice for the dead D70.

My Ricoh SLR and lenses were pretty much killed by a swim in the Guadalupe River during a canoe trip 20 years ago. I didn't take the guide's advice to store my gear in a well sealed military surplus ammo box rather than my plastic cooler, which could float. As it turned out, it floated alright, but the lid popped off.

 

Oddly, the most electronics-dependent device, a flash, survived and remains useful to this day. Toughest flash I've ever had. It even survived a loud pop and puff of smoke after using it with some of the first AA lithium batteries on the market several years ago.

 

Our dSLRs should be so tough.

Water and non-Nikonos cameras don't mix! If it was salt water, you have a bookend and that's it. End of story. It's -possible- to completely dry the camera out using the heat lamp technique, assuming you don't melt it in the process. This is all assuming no corrosive agents in the water. If you're able to completely and I mean completely dry everything out, then maybe. There's probably moisture behind the sensor, inside the flash, in your lens...everywhere. I ruined a camera years ago in a bay and learned my lesson, as Lex did. Use waterproof bags/boxes design for that. Canoed with a digital snappy with a waterproof bag in the ocean. No problem! Didn't open the bag until on-shore, though. Insurance is salvation here. Think of salt water as lava to your camera. One touch and poof! Think of regular water as acid. One touch and maybe not poof but probably.

Contrary to previous advice, I would call nikon back.

 

I did almost the exact same thing as you, except in a kayak. ;-). Waited a couple days, things were still fogged, camera was dead.

 

Except I sent it in to nikon and they took it. It was full board replacement etc.; they described to me that they replaced basically everything but the body shell. This cost about $500. Much less than a new camera. (It also took something like 10 weeks.)

 

C'mon, nikon can make a d70 from scratch but can't service an existing one, whatever its condition? Call them and tell them a friend had his replaced under the same circumstances. Beg. Or, maybe the local dealer has another option.

 

The other advice is, no matter how tempting, don't take an electronic camera (or lens for that matter, my 18-70 kit lens was ruined too) in a canoe.

Andy, in your case was it fresh (lake, river) water or salt (sea) water? I don't know Monimaran's camera was in salt water or not, but that can make a huge difference.

 

I go canoying with a camera too, but it is usually my backup and I consider it "disposible."

Shun summed it up. Fresh water: Okay. Salt water: Bad.

 

You don't have anything to lose in seeing if Nikon will repair it.

 

I would never take my D70 on the water. A few years ago, I

dropped my F301 into the cold waters of the White River. It took a

day or so to dry out, but still works.

 

My F301, by the way was and still is my "disposable" camera.

If you EVER EVER EVER drop a camera in salt water - the very first thing you need to do is retrieve it immediately and store it in DISTILLED (preferably) or fresh water until you can get it to a camera repair shop uless it is relatively simple and you can disassemble it and bake it yourself (200 deg. or less) yourself. This is an old camera repairman's trick I heard of. Obviously, with plastic body models - this complicates things. But generally, wash the HELL out of it with fresh water.

Which is why the Nikon F2 is still a viable camera. Had one with a non-metered head take a swim while portaging (actually me and the camera took a swim). I dried the camera out on a rock. Loaded fresh film and shot the entire trip with it.

 

Never have had a problem.

Bugger....I'd cry. Seen one point and shoot digital come back to life after a few days of drying. It got pulled apart straight away though, and it was fresh water.

<BR>...Sorry to hear the mishap! consider it this way though, it could have been a lot worse if you ended in the water along with whoever was in the canoe with you! As pointed out in most of the responses, digital SLR's have extremely complicated circuitry behind the lenses...if dropped or dripped, they're dead at best. :(

<br>NN

In general, when something electronic gets wet, you want to:

1) remove all power sources (batteries)

2) flush thoroughly with distilled water (you want to remove all minerals which can create high impedance electrical paths

3) dry thoroughly...even if it takes you a week to do so

 

Before you get 100% flustered, you should know that many electronic circuit boards are washed in water during manufacturing...the problem comes in when YOU do it with power applied and with a (potentially) conductive fluid (non-deionized water).

 

Sorry to hear of your misfortune...

 

George

What if it was tap water from a water balloon? The camera turns on and displays things on the small display on top of the camera. The LCD on the back does not display at all. The camera sounds as if it is taking a picture when the shutter release is pressed, but no photos are recorded

<p>Last fall I was on a photography workshop and I dropped my Canon DSLR in water as well. It was fresh water. I too tried a few things to dry it out but what eventually worked was opening up the camera, placing it on a cookie sheet and sticking it in the over on the lowest setting for about a minute and a half. Once I did this, I put a battery back in and it turned on. The camera seems to function properly until I put on a lens, then it gives me a sensor error. I keep hearing that I need to replace the camera too, but the way I see it, I can play and try to clean it all out because I have nothing to lose anyway. But, I have since upgraded to a new camera. I wish you good luck. Please, if anyone has made their camera function properly afterward, let me know. I would love to have my old camera as a back up for fishing trips.</p>