[JanS]

Drat, the Mr is in Alaska and the big thing I wanted was for him to get a ton of great photos in that beautiful scenery, so I sent our nearly new more expensive Canon Powershot G9 with him.
Well on day 2 they got caught in some rapids (they're rafting down the Yukon river) and he forgot the camera was in his pocket when he jumped into the river to get the raft out of the rocks. It was totally saturated....

Has anyone else had this happen? If so, do you think the camera and/or the memory card will be salvageable? He did get a couple days worth of shots, so I'd at least like to get those pics....
I did a search and some say that if you open it up right away and dry it out it may be okay, and others say it's toast. Waaaahhhh.... Unfortunately I didn't think to tell him to open it up to dry it out, and I doubt he was able to considering the circumstances anyway, so that's just going to add to the problem.

TIA.

 

[fshfanatic]

Take it to a camera repair place. They can dismantle it and clean it up. Not cheap, but it can be saved.

 

[JanS]

Really, you think they could salvage it?
Unfortunately we only have one camera place in town and the guy is about 90 years old and probably has never touched a digital, so we would probably have to go out of town to find one.

 

[fshfanatic]

They should be able to, however it wont be cheap. Dont try to turn it on. That will hose it.

 

[JanS]

Thanks again. I don't know if he tried to turn it on or not, so time will tell.

I'll have to check how much it would cost to have it fixed if it's that expensive. I noticed that the Rebel XT is now cheaper than the G9, and it comes with a decent Canon lens, so I might just go that route for my travel camera. My friend has one and it takes great pics, plus we have a ton of good lenses for our EOS 20D that would interchange with the Rebel, so that might be the way I go if this one is toast.

 

[isenblatter]

I had a recent issue like that with my work camera. It was pouring outside, and I mean big wet raindrops, I was taking some pictures of the recent flood that we've had, when we got a call of a couple kids in the creek in an overturned canoe. I managed to empty all of my pockets except for the camera. Well 3 of us jumped in, long story short, everyone safe sans one Nikon camera. Upon doing an inventory of everything left on the bank I realized the camera was soaked.
So this morning I finally decided to do something about the camera as it was mostly externally dry. First I had let it sit for about 24 hours after the initial soaking, longer would probably make sure it was ok. First I opened up the battery compartment and removed the now green tipped batteries, bad corrosion, threw them away. Next I opened the space for my SD memory card, I pulled it out, and downloaded the pictures into my computer, SD Memory Card safe. I then took my camera and some Q Tips and removed all the remaining visible water. Put 2 more batteries in and turned it on. I crossed my fingers... power on, but a fuzzy lcd screen, my guess is water trapped inside. I grabbed the hair dryer, put heat on low and moved air over it for about 20 minutes, turned power back on, screen works fine, card works fine, takes pictures. Give it a try.
Lesson learned, don't take cameras near water. And they call me a professional...

 

[JanS]

Thanks for those tips isenblatter; that's very encouraging to hear.
We took the battery and card out last night when he got home, and have it drying as we speak, so I'll try those extra steps you mentioned.
I tried the memory card and thankfully that was fine.
Here's one shot.

BTW, how nice of you to go help out with the overturned canoe, and I'm glad to hear everyone was okay. Are you in TX where the flooding is?

 

[isenblatter]

No I'm a police officer in NorthWest Indiana where we have the Little Calumet River which is one foot above flood stage. We are now on mandatory 12 hour shifts for the next 2 weeks with no days off. 12 on, 12 off. for me that means from 6p-6a. The river is expected to peak tomorrow night which will be just over 18 feet, 2 feet above all the bridges. I -94 which is one of the major expressways of the Chicagoland area is closed from the Illinois state line to Lake Station, Indiana because of the flooding.

 

[JanS]

Wow, that has to be extremely tiring to work that many days and hours in a row.

I can't even imagine how the traffic must be if one of the major expressways is closed.

 

[kiwik]

SD cards are surprisingly durable. mine survived the washer AND the drier.

 

[JanS]

SD cards are surprisingly durable. mine survived the washer AND the drier.

Wow, that is amazing!

Well, I finally tried it out yesterday after letting it dry for nearly a week and it works like it did on day one. Yay! hoto:

 

[isenblatter]

How has the camera fared though?

 

[JanS]

I haven't played with it much yet, but as for it's condition, you'd never know anything happened by looking at it.

I've only snapped one test shot so far, but that came out clear as a bell.