Holy hell. I don't know how I'd handle that.. I love each and every one of my lenses.. NEARLY as much as I love my daughters. So very sorry. Keep us posted?
Holy hell. I don't know how I'd handle that.. I love each and every one of my lenses.. NEARLY as much as I love my daughters. So very sorry. Keep us posted?
Adobe, give us courage to edit what photos must be altered, serenity to delete what cannot be helped, and the insight to know the one from the other.
Canon EOS 7D - Canon EF-s 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM - Canon 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro - PCB Einsteins & PW Triggers
Man, does that suck. Sorry for your loss! I think of all the times I lean out over the marsh shooting birds... FOrtunately, I've managed to keep both my daughters and my lenses from falling in.
In another thread, I related a story about how I also inadvertantly pushed the lens release button, for me it was as the camera was hanging from a shoulder strap. The strap was attached to a tripod collar, so it was the 5DII the fell - onto dry ground. Fortunately, the only problem I encountered was that I needed to redo all my AFMA settings - they all shifted by 8-10 units more negative. Hopefully, you'll be as lucky!
I can tell you that electronics are pretty tough - we've had an iPhone Bluetooth Headset stay out on the driveway overnight in the rain right in a puddle, put cell phones through the washing machine, etc., with no lasting ill effects. Not Florida swamp water, though.
If you find the lens with alligator chomp marks, take lots of pictures and publicize it - maybe it will go viral and some nice camera shop will give you a new lens for good PR...
Nick....awful story. And you made the right decision; it isn't worth risking a leg, arm or worse for a lens. One is replaceable, the others are not. Replacing swamp water with distilled water makes sense, but first on my list would be calling Canon themselves and see if they have guidance. I've never had something repaired, but this seems like a good place to start (http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consum...onsumer_repair or 866-510-1335).
Good luck this morning and let us all know how it turns out.
Well, after about 20 minutes of fighting with it with two fishing nets, I managed to get my lens out of the mud and water. So I came home and put it in clean water. Then I called Canon, and to my surprise they told me it was better to just dry it out the best I could before I sent it in. Reason being was that if they received a lens still full of water they would probably just call it totaled right away.
And since it is a photography forum, here's a picture of it in the sink once it got back home.
Oh, and does anyone know if UV filters will have any lasting effects after being underwater all night? Mine looks fine but I don't know if the water could hurt it at all.
So last night I also emailed canon since it was after hours and so I could not call them in hopes that I would get an email back...I just recieved a response and this is what it said.
"It's very doubtful that we can repair it within reasonable cost. In addition to having to replace all electronic components and many structural components, we usually have to replace lens groups (elements built together as a unit), as water gets between the elements and we can't replace the individual elements in a group. It becomes very expensive very quickly. Submerging it in distilled water will not help at all. It is almost certainly 'BER' (beyond economic repair). "
not very encouraging, but I will be sending it in anyway.
Nick,
The filter is most likely a surface coating on the glass (as opposed to a glass with particular optical properties). It "should" be fine if there's no mechanical damage to the surface film.
It's sad that Canon won't touch the lens if it's got water in-between the lens elements. Getting the water out from tiny gaps without leaving (much of) a residue is tricky. However, if their cleaning process isn't going to separate the groups to clean each lens then I can't guess the impact on image quality that will be left. Let me know if you want to try. You'll need a small water pump (preferably impeller-style and new), an aquarium air pump, some distilled water, some methanol, some dionized water, and finally some sort of dessicant (I prefer Dririte). Not all of these supplies are easily purchased at your local drug store. However, as I said, it'll take a week or two but you may be able to dry out the lens well enough to actually get the Canon folks to service it at that point (if it's not actually functional).
Nick, it will cost you $15,000 to repair or replace the lens... Actually, it won't be that bad.
Hope that helped.
I have a tear in my eye...that is a sad story. Hopefully once it dries it will at least work for a little while. I have heard placing electronic devises in zip lock bags with rice will absorb all the moisture out of the electronic devise, but have never tried it. I know it worked on my wifes phone one time. I think you have to put it in the refrigerator also if I'm not mistaken. If you have nothing to loose, give this a try at least to get the moisture out. Again I have never tried this and just read about it. Maybe someone else here has given it a shot. Good luck!
OUCH!!! Sorry to hear about the lens. Glad to hear you fished it out. Canon's reply doesn't sound optimistic. Are there independant repair shops in your area?
Glass lenses won't be affected by water. Some materials used industrially as coatings on glass can absorb water and will take up to a week to fully dry out. Can't say for sure whether any Canon coatings come under this heading or not as they are not exactly forthcoming with information as to their formulations. Any dirt left in the mechanisms will be the death of precise alignment and smooth operation. Looking through a copy of the parts manual for the lens some of the guides for the zoom and focus barrels are sorted into tolerance classes of 0.01 mm (0.0004"). Tried to upload it as an attachment so you could see what you're dealing with but the file size exceeds the limit. The title of the document is
EF 100-400mm 1:4.5-5.6L IS USMREF.NO.C21-9961
It is available online from some sites for no charge although some sites will try to make you pay for it. A Google search should find it for you if you wish to look it over.
Hope things work out for you with the lens.
Jeff
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