Water and the R3

[tonal1]

Hi, I just did something unimaginably stupid. In my haste, I threw my Leica R3 MOT into a bag with no body cap, and then tossed in a "sealed" bottle of water on top. Drip, drip, drip. I then notice the bottom the bag is wet, and I look inside to see water has dripped right down the poor cameras gullet, shutter saturated. No batteries were installed at the time. I soaked up any obvious water and then opened the camera up and took off the bottom plate and let it air out. I cycled the shutter several times to get more water out. The shutter and mirror are sticking now, as is to be expected.

I know water damage is usual terminal, but I have some hope as this was tap water and there was no battery installed.

Q: Should I repair it? If so, by whom?

I would prefer not to DAG prices on an R3.


Thanks!

 

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

I don't know much about the R4 but being fresh water you might be surprised. At least it wasn't actually immersed and it wasn't powered up.

I would try to dry it out first and take it from there. As we have a wood heater at home, if I had this problem I would be sitting it by the hearth to get it warm and dry (but not toasty!) for a day or three. Obviously, you'd want the lens off the camera and the back open. Any other covers eg. battery hatch that can come off the camera, take them off.

You could use a hair dryer to assist, but with great care. Some gentle warm air flow, from 50 centimetres or so, is unlikely to harm anything, but don't be blasting hot air at high speed with one, let alone with the nozzle close to the camera. That would likely do more harm than good. And don't blow any air directly into the shutter or mirror box either, again, I don't know much about the R4, but many focal plane shutter curtains would not appreciate that treatment at all.

If it is any consolation, not long after I started doing a bit of DIY repair, word got out around my circle of friends and all manner of old cameras started turning up. One of them was a Pentax P30 that had gone swimming in a river (fresh water). Not just a splash, it went right in.

Well, of course I expected the whole thing, lens and all, to be scrap but much to my surprise, after sitting around for over five years after its swim without sending it in for cleaning, a fresh battery had it working beautifully. Granted, the meter was a bit erratic (sometimes it was bang on, sometimes a stop or two out, but that was probably just some residual corrosion somewhere in the circuit that could have been cleaned off because when it was reading right it was bang on. That one I ended up giving back to my friend - I felt guilty keeping it, because I'd done basically nothing to it...

Sorry for the long post, the moral is be of good cheer, all may not be lost. Yes servicing may be required, but see how you get on first, and just ensure it is thoroughly dry before you think about powering it back up.
Regards,
Brett

 

[pgk]

I've seen a Canon 1D lock up due to water penetration after being soaked by rain with condensation showing behind the lcd. After sitting on a radiator overnight it was as right as rain (no pun intended) so even digital cameras can survive water penetration.

With freshwater the best thing to do is to open the camera up as much as possible (remove the back, battery cover, front cap and any covers) and put it somewhere warm and dry for as long as possible - I'd probably leave it for several days - and operate the controls periodically so that water is dispelled from them.

I once flooded a Nikon F801 at 20m depth - it was FULL of seawater. The camera itself was destroyed as it had 4 fresh batteries in it which caused lots of visible circuit board damage. The 60mm micro Nikkor attached to it was rinsed out in freshwater several times and then put to soak in a bucket of fresh water for a day or so. It was then dried on a radiator and shipped off to Nikon who got it working again very economically - unfortunately several months later internal corrosion meant another repair and I suspect a lot was replaced - it had flooded in salt water though which is very destructive compared to freshwater.

With freshwater you may well be ok provided that you dry it out as thoroughly as is possible before putting batteries back in.

 

[tonal1]

Thanks for the above replies. I spoke with DAG, and he basically recommended not sinking money into an R3. To paraphrase: "crows nest of wires" due to early electronics implementation.

The camera having been dried out, I took it to a local shop. An overhaul having been ruled out, they cleaned up some residue on the shutter, oiled a few points, and voila! Working~ camera, at least for the time being.

I see an R6 in my near future...

 

[dave lackey]

Thanks for the above replies. I spoke with DAG, and he basically recommended not sinking money into an R3. To paraphrase: "crows nest of wires" due to early electronics implementation.

The camera having been dried out, I took it to a local shop. An overhaul having been ruled out, they cleaned up some residue on the shutter, oiled a few points, and voila! Working~ camera, at least for the time being.

I see an R6 in my near future...

Excellent! Glad you are still using it because the R glass is fantastic. I agree with DAG, an overhaul will cost more than a mint R4-6 body because the bodies are so cheap! Bought my R4 for $250 six months ago and it is not only a joy to use but a great camera as well. IMO, R bodies received a bad rap they never got over.:angel: