Sand in the D90

[BarryG]

Bad news.

The camera was dropped on the beach this afternoon and got slightly wet, but very sandy.

I've managed to remove most of the visible sand, but the button on the back that allow you to go through the menu (up, down, left, right) has some sand behind it. It will do up, down and right - but it will only do left with a very hard push - which I don't really want to do.

Anyone got any ideas?

 

[inTempus]

I would probably send it to Nikon for a proper cleaning... especially if this is your primary camera. But that's just me.

If you're going to shoot in hostile environments like sand, you might want to bite the bullet and buy a D300 (used they are pretty reasonable right now with the 300S being out).

With my 1D I will stick it under the beach shower to get the gunk off before letting it dry and putting it away. I've had fellow photographers cringe when they saw me stick my camera under running water... and they were even more amazed when it continued to work. Of course you need to have the proper lens attached or face certain ruin.

What not to do: Don't use high pressure air (either canned or that from a shop air compressor) to try and blow the sand out. You'll likely only blow it further into the camera. Use a small, soft brush to see what you can get off and see if you can't free the button up. Also, make sure you don't get any sand into your body through the lens mount. Clean that sucker good, remove the lens with the body face down then carefully inspect everything.

Good luck!

 

[Derrel]

After the brush, try the crisp corners of new $1 bills, or folded corners of currency. Hold the camera upside down, so any sand will fall out, and insert the corner of the bill or folded bill into crevices a small amount, then pull the bill downward. The corners of business cards or stiff, heavyweight paper will also work. This is an excellent method for removing sand and grit in between the barrel and the focusing rings on the front end of many lens designs...insert the card and sort of work it toward your position and downward, and it will catch and pull out sand and grit. This is an old method I have used for over 20 years.

Bummer to drop a camera into sand...

 

[cnutco]

Ouch! I would send it back to Nikon Too...

Good luck

 

[D-B-J]

ouch. I would send it to Nikon for fear of messing it up more.

 

[BarryG]

Thanks the advice guys.

One further question. Is there a chance that once the sand has been freed it could come into contact with the sensor? I'm talking about the sand behind the button - is that closed behind there or does it all go into where the sensor is?

 

[Dominantly]

Yeah I would have it professionally done. In the mean time I would break out my Kirby and see if I could get the sand out without sucking the black off the camera.

 

[BarryG]

That's a good shout actually, I'll see what the Hoover makes of it.

Cheers fella.