Follow up- Lens gone swimming

[ampoy31]

i originally posted this thread about a month ago. i had dropped a

70-200 2.8 in a body of freshwater. i sent it to canon irvine and

they said it is beyond economical repair sent to CRIS Camera in

tempe and was told the same thing. so being totally bummed out, i

decided to mount the lens on a eos1 body. i tested the AF

capability. it focused quickly as before. tested the aperture

blades using the DOF preview button at each increment, and it seemed

to be working fine. with the exception of a hard-to-turn zoom ring

and foggy elements, everything else on the surface seems to work

fine. its obvious that im not financially able to replace this lens,

nor am i a pro who has access to any good resources. i simply want

to have the glass cleaned and zoom mechanism fixed. can i get

anybody's advice in this situation? canon says it needs a million

replacement parts. it does not seem that way to me. should i, or

even, can i get this lens cleaned up and use it despite the obvious

and not so obvious damages already done to it? otherwise it will

just be displayed on my book rack as a remembrance. anybody's

comment is welcomed.

 

thx

[charles barcellona www.bl]

Its pretty much a fact that NONE of the EF lenses can be repaired economically, except for superficial damage

[eos 10 fan]

Try these folks:

 

http://www.horizon-electronics.com

 

--

[NK Guy]

>canon says it needs a million replacement parts. it does not seem that way to me.

 

Are you a lens expert, out of curiosity? Do you know what is required to "simply"

clean a lens internals?

 

Canon's repair service, while not a charity, isn't out to get you financially.

[ron c sunshine coast,qld,a]

Just look around for a normal camera repair shop.If you want they will clean the insides/glass for you and it will work fine...for awhile.Maybe you'll get lucky and the electronics are indeed ok....

[ajpn]

You can always sell it. I can guarantee it would go in a NY minute on eBay and for more than just a few bucks. Why? Because it's not impossible to fix anything unless it is smashed. Was this thing completely submerged for like minutes or did it just take a dip?

[fxdonny]

Why it is not economical? IMO, the main reason for this is because of the high labor cost here in the US. You wouldn't want to be paid $0.50 or say $1.00 an hour fixing other people's lenses, would you?

If you are planning to travel abroad anytime soon, or even have a friend in say China, HK, or may be Mexico (who knows?), you might consider sending it to them. I believe the cost of repairing lens is much cheaper there.

 

Just another thought.....

[gerry_szarek]

If the problem is only fogging, one possible solution is to put the unit in a warm box that is "closed" with some silica jell packets (go to your local gun store), the inside of the box should be about 100F (~30C), this will drive the humidity down to zero and eventually the water will be pulled out of the lens. Note this could take months.

 

Good Luck.

[stu_rosenbaum1]

It's probably too late to suggest this, but I give all my lenses swimming lessons before I put them to regular use, to avoid a mishap like yours. Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

On a serious note, I would try and bring it to a reputable repair shop and see what they can do with it. As far as selling it on eBay in a "NY minute" as another poster suggested, be fair, and at least let the bidders know of its condition.

[eosbob]

Have you checked to see if your insurance will cover the loss? I have specific insurance to cover theft, loss or damage regardless if it is my fault or not. The coverage runs about $250 a year for about $15,000 worth of gear. Your homeowners or renters insurance may cover you after a deductible.

[bob_katz1]

I've had a similar experience with one of my Canon EF lenses. I dropped it on a rock, and it bounced into the water. When it hit the rock, the little window covering the distance scale broke off, so the lens literally filled up with water. I drained the water out, put it on my camera (just out of curiosity), and the darn thing still worked.

 

The problem with water damage is that the internal electrical components are not waterproof, and they will corrode and fail fairly rapidly (especially so if exposed to salt water). So, while it is possible you ccould disassemble the lens and sufficiently clean the glass surfaces, there would be no guarantee the lens would last more than a few weeks before an electrical component failed. I suspect that's why such cases are treated as "uneconomical to repair".

[ajpn]

I wasn't suggesting he misrepresent the lens and sell it on eBay. I see lenses with damage sell all the time.

[chris_hawkins]

I'd check the owners manual to find the maximum recommended temperature and place it in an oven at that temperature for 1 day. You don't need silica gel. Maybe you will get lucky and the fogging will clear. I've got no idea regarding the zoom issue.

[theoldmoose]

I'd like to separate the electrical from the mechanical considerations for a second.

 

First, if the lens was dunked in fresh water, unless power was being applied to the lens circuitry at the time (such as internal battery, or heaven forbid, it was still attached to the camera 8-), the electrical circuitry should not suffer *any* damage, period.

 

I say this from long experience with the electronics fabrication industry. Heck, at one board assembly house I worked at, we used to put our assembled boards in a household *dishwasher*, for Pete's sake, to rinse off all the water-soluable flux left from the solder flow operation.

 

The point is, that for the most part, electronic components are water proof, mainly because they need to be able to go through things like that during manufacturing. If they can't, most board assembly houses avoid spec'ing them, because it requires too much costly hand work. Salt water may be a different issue, but if you follow the guidelines given below for the mechanics of a submerged unit, you should be OK.

 

Now, to the mechanics. Unfortunately, in a lens with a bunch of moving parts, there are bound to be a number of metal pieces, in various states of 'rustproof' to probably downright 'look at me cross-eyed and I'll rust up solid on you'. I recall reading up on the subject of 'dunked' cameras a few years ago, and it went something along the lines of: "If you dunk a camera, *don't* turn it on, remove the batteries immediately, and *PUT IT IN A BUCKET OF FRESH WATER AND KEEP IT THERE UNTIL YOU GET IT TO A COMPETENT REPAIR FACILITY*."

 

Now, why would someone do something that on the face of it looks really silly? Because, Oxygen, in the presence of moisture, is the real culprit, here, when it comes to corroding and rusting mechanics. The theory is to deny the wet stuff any real access to that corrosive element, Oxygen, by keeping the unfortunate item submerged until it can be taken someplace that thoroughly (quickly -- the quicker the better, as long as you don't melt anything) dries out the unit, disassembles if if necessary, to get at all the hidden stuff, and can then properly re-lube/re-plate the mechanics.

 

Now, whether or not you may wish to pay the 'freight' for such a repair, is an entirely different question. The worst thing, though, is to snatch it out of the water, and do nothing, or worse, to stick on the camera and power it up. Applying power to wet circuitry can do some pretty wicked things, especially considering the impulse current that modern rechargeable batteries can womp up. I have a Compaq laptop here that got a few gallons of water dumped on it during a fire at my wife's office. If would have been find, except that it had three (3) power sources, all of which served to fry the motherboard in the unit: The main battery, the wall charger, and the lithium backup battery. In all cases, the internal traces in the board were fried, and in the case of the main battery, the battery case melted and the board ruptured around the battery contact area. At least the battery didn't outright explode. After looking for some time for a replacement motherboard for that unit on Ebay that didn't cost almost as much as buying a new laptop, I finally used the hard drive out of it in an Xs-Drive-II, as an image vault for my digital cameras.

 

Oh, and while we are on the subject of insurance (well, we were 8-), most homeowner's insurance has high enough deductibles these days that it may not be worthwhile risking a policy cancellation to collect a few hundred at most for a lens loss. That is because of an industry practice known as 'redlining', where if you file more than three losses in three years totalling more than a few thousand dollars, the company has the right to drop you. Once that has happened, good luck finding another insurer that will take you, at any price. 'Marine floater' policies, once popular for expensive equipment/jewels/furs, etc., seemed to have all but disappeared from most underwriter's lists. If you dunk a lens, and don't have a special 'floater' policy (no pun intended 8-), I'd think twice before claiming it on your homeowner's policy. Better to leave that for when some nut torches the building that contains your wife's office, and she loses all her stuff there...

[stu_rosenbaum1]

Anthony Peterson,

 

Sorry. Wasn't trying to imply that you were telling Gideon to be dishonest.

 

Just wanted to make sure all the facts get stated in a potential ad. I've seen too many deceptive ads on eBay, that's all.

 

Didn't mean for my comment to come across that you were one of the guilty ones.

[ron c sunshine coast,qld,a]

I agree it would sell easily on ebay,even when fully,honestly described.<BR>Also i have to agree with that electronics are't in immediate mortal danger when dunked,so long as they aren't powered up of course.what i would like to see is that you get SOMEONE to pull it apart SOON so as to stop any corrosion happening!!

<BR>The electronics may be completely savable.The mechanical and other metal parts of the lens will be easily saved/fixed *IF* any corrosion is stopped right now.As time goes on you can still fix/clean metal parts but it can get very difficult to disassemble everything.

As for the glass.Any fully sealed plastic mounted element groups (if this expensive lens has any) may be fine or may need replacing if they did let water in.Any elements held by metal parts (prob all in this lens) are in the same danger as all other metal parts-do something about it SOON.

<BR>On second thoughts selling it on ebay may take to long by the time it gets to the new owner.At the very least get someone-even a cheap fix all shop if nessesary-to take it apart and coat everything with a good all purpose anti corrosion spray,THEN decide what to do next.

<BR>If in doubt just pump lots spray inside it and airmail it to me.I'm serious-i fix lenses and would be happy to help you out rather than see it die for no good reason!

If interested,just email me