Anyone had luck Recovering a water damaged Lens?

DevC

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I've recently dropped my Nikon 50mm 1.8D lens into a stream of fresh water. Saddened by this (granted i tried to save it in super slow motion as hard as possible but it did want to go for a swim), i decided to try and rush to the nearest grocery store (1 hour away) and put it in a ziplock back with rice.


Can this lens be possibly saved? Or is it done for good/ will never be good as it is before the swim. Want to hear some personal experiences. I understand it is. only 100 bucks, but money is money, and this lens was a gift + i had many good memories shooting with it.
 
I've never had luck with electronics and water, no experience with photography gear as I'm way too cautious around water.

Sorry to hear about this, good luck.
 
I've never had luck with electronics and water, no experience with photography gear as I'm way too cautious around water.

Sorry to hear about this, good luck.


It twas a unfortunate situation. Did not realize bag was left open and the little bugger of a lens decided to roll down for a swim :(
 
Yep.
Had a Nikon 55-200 lens. It did the same thing, snuck out of my bag and took a short stroll down the embankment. I saw it JUST before it reached the edge of the quarry water, and grabbed it…about a second too late! Completely submerged, in some really pretty nasty water.

Took it out, shook as much water out as I could, went back to the car and got some paper towels. Dried it, shook it out again, dried some more, shook it out some more. Did that til no more water was really coming out of it, then turned it upside down on some towels for the trip home to let it drain some more.

At home, I put it in a large ziploc bag with rice, setting it gently on top, so I didn't also end up with teeny bits of rice grain in the lens! Let it stay in the bag for about a day and a half, tempting as it was to take it out and check it.

Put it on the camera, and voila! It worked! About two days later, it started acting funky though--sometimes the camera would acknowledge it, and others times it wouldn't. Sometimes, just taking it off and putting it back on would help the camera recognize it but not always. I thought that was it--even went ahead and ordered another (cheap) zoom lens. But then I tried it again about a week later, and it was working like a charm, and never seemed to have an issue again.

That was Memorial Day of 2012, so over 2 years ago. I ended up giving the lens to a friend's daughter (who is a poor college student)--she still uses it, quite frequently, and has had no problems with it whatsoever.

There's hope!
 
Woohoo there is hope! I just put it in the bag. It didn't fall too far into the lake. The lake had sald water in it. I tried recvoering it asap. I would like to say it was 3/4th submerged for less than half a second.. I put it in last night, and will be working till late tonight. I plan on trying to open this bag up in 24hrs. Will provide updates.
 
Update: took the lens out of the rice bag. Doesn't seem bad. I can hear a grain of rice stuck somewhere in the lens although...


Put it in and took some sample pics...can't notice anything wrong...do you guys see anything?


I may of just been extremely lucky
 
Good for you! I bet the rice would be pretty easy to get out, if that's all that's wrong.
 
As long as the lens is being recognized by the camera, is focusing correctly, etc. you are probably good to go.
However, if I were you, I'd store the lens in the bag of rice (just put it on TOP of the rice, so you're not as likely to get the rice into the lens) when you're not using it for awhile, just to minimize the risk of any small bit of water left inside becoming a problem, maybe even causing a fungus or mold.
I stored mine in the bag for a couple of weeks.
 
Did you say it was salt water you dropped it in though? That could prove damaging long term couldn't it? (Im think corrosion later?)
 
Did you say it was salt water you dropped it in though? That could prove damaging long term couldn't it? (Im think corrosion later?)
His first post said it was a freshwater lake. I'm not really sure what he meant by the post after my first comment, but I don't THINK it was dropped in salt water.
 
His first post said it was a freshwater lake. I'm not really sure what he meant by the post after my first comment, but I don't THINK it was dropped in salt water.
Ok. I apparently missed that in the OP but saw the part after your post and just assumed...
 
I just put my electronics in dry rice and seal it off tightly for a day or two. The water hungry rice will absorb all moisture.
 
Just to clarify , because I personally probably confused the living hell out of everyone here by saying fresh/salt water. The lake had fresh water...not salt (it was actually a water resevoir for a nearby city). I'm sorry for all the confusion folks.
 
Salt water would have corroded it within a couple of hours. Back in the day, I had a pager drop into salt water (Chesapeake Bay). By the time I got home, a couple of hours later, and opened it up, there was already rust inside.

A agree with Sharon - if it's communicating with the camera, you are probably OK.
 
Salt water would have corroded it within a couple of hours. Back in the day, I had a pager drop into salt water (Chesapeake Bay). By the time I got home, a couple of hours later, and opened it up, there was already rust inside.

A agree with Sharon - if it's communicating with the camera, you are probably OK.


Woohoo, i feel lucky.


Time to do a lesson learned: Be more careful with gear near water. Keep everything closed and sturdy. Try to protect everything as much as possible and carry less equipment as necessary.
 

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