Freak accident happened to me and my camera equipment

Well, to make a long story short. I was sitting in a chair on a concrete dock on the Colorado River in Parker, AZ Saturday night doing a little night time photography with my 8 month old Canon 60D and 2 week old Canon EF 17-55mm F2.8 lens. I had my tripod set up near the corner of the dock as I sat in a chair (made in China) that I've had for about 8 months. Well I was leaning back in the chair and the back of it gave out and I fell back and my leg kicked up, kicking my tripod over, B+W new lens filter I just bought (cracked that) nailed the dock hard and there went in my camera and lens into the river while still connected to the tripod. I got back up on my feet as fast as I could to find the tripod legs sticking up out of the water about 2 feet and heading down to the bottom of the river fast. I reached over the end of the dock and I barely grabbed it before it sank to the bottom. The camera and lens was under water for about 10 seconds completely submerged. Pulled it out of the water and rushed to remove the camera from the tripod mount to remove the battery. I then got a beach towel and wiped down everything as fast as I could. I got a electric inner tube blower and used it to try and blow out what ever water got into the lens and camera and did this for nearly 1hr. Next day put everything out in the sun to dry for a few hrs. Monday powered on the camera and it powers up but then just shuts off. Also sometimes shows a dead battery icon on the top display when that battery is fully charged. Lens is messed up. Doesn't focus on auto anymore and has problem communicating when connected to my T2i. Also all kinds of water spots I can see inside the lens. Well I have learned a valuable lesson and this happening, and this has just made me sick. I have spent well over $1800 on this set up. I am bummed bummed out!!!!
Today I shipped my 60D and lens to Canon keeping my fingers crossed they can fix both. I know it's going to cost me a crap load of money now but it is what it is. Just wanted to share this with everyone here. So far cost me $67 just to ship it to canon in Irvine, CA from Lake Havasu City, AZ OUCH! Here we go! I'll report back soon once I get some info back from Canon repair.

Gee, that's really tough luck. I'm afraid that you've wasted your money shipping it to Canon as they won't touch any equipment with water damage and will just return it to you marked unrepairable. Better start looking at new cameras. Good reason to upgrade.

Sorry to hear that. I hope Canon can fix it for you. Did you tell them what happened before you sent it in?

yes I did, filled out everything I needed to on their website last night before sending it in. There were many boxes to check about the problem with the camera/lens and water damage was one of them. Maybe they do that now. Well see in a few days I guess.

Do you have any kind of insurance? My home insurance covers stuff like this.

sorry but powering up a camera just 2 days after full immersion is just far too soon...

hopefully you have some insurance that covers at least part of this, Canon won't do anything with it, I'm sure. What a shame, such a crummy thing to happen.

Won't be much, but you can at least use the camera via the loyalty program when you buy something new or refurb from Canon direct. But I've never heard of them even touching something with water damage. Kind of odd that they have a checkmark for it w/o automatically telling you so though.

Sirrith wrote in post #17145380
Do you have any kind of insurance? My home insurance covers stuff like this.

yes I have home owners insurance going to give them a call right now

I don't think that "general" home insurance will cover your loss, unless perhaps the house caught on fire and 'contents' is covered.

On my homeowners insurance, I have a specific policy rider that lists each piece of camera gear, serial number, purchase price (copy of receipt), and photograph. It costs about $10/$1000 valuation per year. If my gear gets stolen while I'm out and about, or lost in a river, etc, it's covered. If it's in the house if it burns down, it's covered in addition to the 'contents' valuation.

My EOS 10 once drowned in soft drink. It was in the same bag as a sealed bottle with soft drink, but the bottle developed a leak.
My home insurance covered that, to the estimated current value of the camera at that time.

My 500D got damaged by the water too. Canon was willing to repair it for a cost. $400 for the complete recovery. Decided to pull it out and bought the 70D. Sorry.

rrblint wrote in post #17145336
Gee, that's really tough luck. I'm afraid that you've wasted your money shipping it to Canon as they won't touch any equipment with water damage and will just return it to you marked unrepairable. Better start looking at new cameras. Good reason to upgrade.

That's not true. I've had a camera deemed water damaged repaired by Canon. What they'll do is contact you after looking at it. They'll state that since it's water damaged, it's not covered by the warranty. They'll give you the price estimate of the repairs for you to confirm or elect to send the camera back.

A friend of mine dunked a 580 EX II flash and Canon fixed it. I think it depends on whether any of the electronics have corroded. If there is corrosion they will probably send it back without repairing it.

Larry Weinman wrote in post #17145848
If there is corrosion they will probably send it back without repairing it.

My camera that got repaired had a spot of corrosion. I think the standard protocol they have is looking at the camera and then estimate the cost of repairs. They may send it back if the cost of repairs is more then the value of the camera itself. But normally they'll tell you how much the repair is and let you decide if you'd like to pay for the repair or to get the damaged camera back.

If you bought it with your VISA card, you get an extra year warranty, so that may help you out.

I always laugh at pushy salesmen that try to sell me "An extra year insurance, even if you drop it for only $119", when I get that free from VISA.