Salt water on MkII? Cleaning?

No it wasn't drenched.. but it got a reasonable soaking from the spray of the boat.

If it were plain water I would no concern at all. But the salt concernes me..

So.. is there a preferred substance for cleaning the outside of the camera and lenses to prevent salt corrosion?

Should I be worried and just send it to Canon?

Thanks.

CDS that baby is toast. You may have another 3-4 weeks out of it before the salt begins to take affect. I feel sorry for you tho and being the nice guy that I am, I will take it off your hands for parts. Some of it may be salvagable but, I will give you $100 as is.

Seriously tho, I would call Canon. Are you CPS? That will expedite any repairs or cleaning necessary.

I would just wipe it down several times with a damp cloth. That should remove most of the salt residue. I would pay particular attention to any external metal parts.

Cheers

Ian

Ditto that.

Thanks for the tips.

I did not send it to Canon this time.. yet.

Wiped it down a few times (as well as two lenses) and will see what happens.


The more I thought about it. the less I was worried really. It is sealed... and think about it,.. our "body sweat" contains the same percentage of salt? No?

Thankfully I'm not a "sweater" ... but some people's cameras must be exposed to some level of salt daily?

I will of course figure out some reason to send it to Canon for service before the warranty expires!

CyberDyneSystems wrote:
Thankfully I'm not a "sweater" ...

.....I will of course figure out some reason to send it to Canon for service before the warranty expires!

As to your first statement: Neither am I. I'm more of a 'tank top.'

As to the second: You did that with your 10D, too, didn't you? I suppose you could always blow your nose on the sensor like I did. Canon cleaned it for me while I waited.

CyberDyneSystems wrote:
...
I will of course figure out some reason to send it to Canon for service before the warranty expires!

If they do find water corrosion, it won't be a warranty issue. Also, if they are not looking for water damage, they may not see it and the camera may come back with the damaged boards still intact waiting to die on you at some later date... If you send it in, let them know what happened. Until inspection by Canon, I wouldn't trust the camera again to function 100% for any entire shoot (since if you did rely on it fully, the camera would choose THAT day to breath it's last.) Trust it less in damp weather since water in the air can moisten any residual corrosion and get it corroding again...

And next time we're bringing trash bags and gallon Zip-Locs, right?

CDS was a sad sight in the boat - he looked kinda lost and forlorn because he just knew that salt water is A Bad Thing to spray on a camera and lens.

And he was wet. With a sad, wet puppy look on his face.


That was one of those "learned a lot days" we all have. Bring trash bags. Leave the cooler - it's heavy - and just bring bottles of frozen water. Don't bring an 11-pound tripod if you're not going to use it. Don't drop a ball-head into the sand. Bring dry socks. Put on sunblock several times during the course of the day.

Yep. We learned a lot.

You aren't kidding.

Here's another "afterthought"

Now mind you.. at no time on our breif boat ride was there any cause for alarm at all.. but growing up on the ocean I know how quickly weather can change....

Last weekend was my fisrt time out with my new "Photo-journalist Vest"

It was a great help.. I carried no baggage.. just two big cameras, tripod and the PJ vest STUFFED with gear.

Really I carried way too much in the vest.. lenses, t-cons batteries etc.. I ended up using perhaps a third of what was packed. (that's normal of course)

Here was the afterthough.

I am a VERY strong swimmer... but .. if I had found myself in the water.. I'd have sunk like a rock with that vest on

Anyway.. I'm not too concerend about the 1D.. it is weather sealed. We sahll see. but I'm confident that there will be no long term effects.

And yes.. bothe the Vest and my camera bags.. get Plastic Bags!

Ziploc and big trash bags!

If I keep going shooting with CDS my vest will be filled with plastic bags and first aid supplies and sunblock and poison-ivy cream and...


Seriously, though, if you haven't already done so, grab a trash bag and ziplog and put them in your photo bag now. Right now.

You might want to try a good cleaning with distilled water. Because the camera is sealed you should be able to use water fairly liberally.

I work in a salt water/air environment and have had experience with cleaning salt water contamination off of various electronic devices.

The rule of thumb is to soak (not required in this case, I'm sure!!! ) the contaminated piece in a tub of distilled water to absorb any salt and soluable contaminents. This is followed by an rinse with distilled water, one more bath, a final rinse and and an air dry (to keep any foreign debris from towels etc. off the electronics).

This is very drastic for your situation, but I would suggest lightly rinsing with the distilled water to remove any last vestige of salt. Perhaps a spray bottle to apply a light misting of distilled water and allowing it to sit for 5 or ten minutes before removing.

hope this is helpful

Being in the Navy and dealing with high dollar equiment on the ship with salt water here is my suggestion to you.

Start out with a few good lint free cloths and tap water. You don't need any of that fancy stuff. The key is a few good cloths. Dampen the cloth and wipe in one direction and only use it ONCE! This is where alot of people make the mistake. They wipe with the same cloth and in a circular motion... It drags the salt causing it to scratch or putting it in places it wasn't... Do this several times till you think it is all gone.

NEXT, get your self some high quality denaturened alcohol. Not the stuff you find in the first-aid pack eaither. This is important because alot of alcohols have impurities in them and will leave residues. Use this with rubber swabs or your cloths to clean up any areas where the salt was.

NOW, since salt is dissolved in water and we know cameras are not water proof, there is a good chance that you might find salt deposits IN your camera. you may have to do the same thing on the inside. Now, do you want to do that?? Who knows... Personally, I would sent it to a CRS to get cleaned if it got inside...