john_mc_gowan Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 <p>A friend of mine has a Canon 5D Mk3 and lately it won't switch on intermittently. He sent it for repair and was told it had water inside the base of the camera. He is positive he has not had it in water, never used it during rain and is wondering how this could happen. Now in the past few months he has been to Nepal and India where he has climbed the mountains and vied the usual scenic sites. Anyone ever experience moisture making its way into a 5D at all.<br> All replies welcome.<br> Cheers,<br> John </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobatkins Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 <p>Presumably it was from condensation if it's never seen rain or water. Either bringing a cold camera into warm, moist air or maybe taking a camera from moist warm air into cold. In the first case the moisture condenses out of the air onto the cold camera. In the second case warm moist air inside the camera results in condensation when it cools. You may get similar effects from large changes in altitude and humidity along with temperature.</p> <p>While the camera is supposed to be sealed against dust and moisture, it's not hermetically sealed against air (dry or humid).</p> <p>It's surprising that it condensed out enough water to cause a problem and that the condensed water didn't evaporate, but I guess under the right (wrong) conditions it's possible.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_mc_gowan Posted February 27, 2015 Author Share Posted February 27, 2015 <p>Thank you for your response Bob</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Ian Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 <p>I would actually guess the semi sealing of the body exacerbated the situation, preventing air flow from equalizing the difference in humidity. ie. once it got in, it stayed in and (as Bob alludes) the condensation probably initially occurred due to a temperature difference between the camera and the shooting environment - although the moisture was already present at the time. Usually the only way to get it back out is to desicate the body (put it in a container of desicant, leave it for a week) - unless you tear it apart of course...</p> <p>Hopefully the only damage was the switch! Given the nature of the failure, it's possible it doesn't/didn't need to be replaced (though at this point why not?), and simply drying it out properly would have restored proper function.</p> <p>I am a little surprised that if there was that much water inside that it did not make itself evident through internal display condensation...</p> <p> </p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_mc_gowan Posted February 27, 2015 Author Share Posted February 27, 2015 <p>Thank you Marcus</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savagesax Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 First, I have to agree with the posts above. Well the camera is labeled as water resistant. So there is some problem here in my opinion, with the body not being sealed properly. I must say that it is not a water proofed camera of course. Thats a no brainer! When you undergo high humidity your concern of course is condensation, but I would think that this camera should be able to repel any of these issues. The camera is water resistant. Note the the 5D Mark 2 is not water resistant. I think my concern here would be that the camera may have been mishandled. Bumbed, dropped, something like that, causing one of the seals to leak slightly. Although the 5D Mark 3 camera is water resistant, it's not built like a tank, such as the 1Ds series cameras. I have the 1Ds Mk 3 cameras and I haven't had any problems with moisture, even shooting in a light rainfall, sprinkles. One of the cameras has been dropped off of a tripod. It didn't even suffer a scratch! I have one 5D Mark 3 camera and I won't use it in the rain. I don't trust it. It's so light in weight! I'd rather use the Canon tanks, like the 1Ds Mk 3 cameras. You can buy these for a good price used, for about the same price as a new 5D Mark 3. A lot of photographers still use the 1Ds Mark 2 cameras. These cameras don't break down. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_mc_gowan Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 <p>Thank you Bob Bernardo for your response. My friend assures me that this camera was never dropped or mishandled by him and he is the only user. Camera is out of warranty so he is not looking to claim. Thanks again.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hjoseph7 Posted March 3, 2015 Share Posted March 3, 2015 <p>Scary that's all I can say...</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidhay Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 <p>I had a Canon AE1 sitting safely in the bottom of my rucksack while hiking. There were some showers of rain but I didn't take the camera while it was raining. When I got back, the bottom of the camera had water in it which had percolated down the side of the top flap and settled in the bottom of the rucksack. The data-back was a write-off and the film was ruined but the camera was still usable.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
savagesax Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Very strange that this happened, even though it's out of warranty the seals should have held up way past the warranty period. Very frustrating too, because Canon repairs are expensive and they can be on the slow side taking about a few weeks to get serviced. Kind of sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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