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GH2 in sea water...
  • gizmogizmo

    Today I acidentaly dropped my GH2 in the sea water. As soon as I was able to reach the camera I turned it off, pulled battery out and also SD card. Immediately rinsed camera with fresh water and left it on the plastic bag with fresh water until I got home. Than rinsed it again and left overnight in the fresh water. Tomorrow I will leave it one the sun to dry out and I hope it will work. Other big problem is that SD card is seen by the computer but can't read anything from it. Actually it see card as a drive but it doesn't see content on the card. It is VERY important to save few videos that I could't reshoot. Card was also rinsed with fresh water and left in the bag with raw rice to dry it out. Maybe it wasn't enough to dry out for a few hours in the rice? Help please...

  • 17 Replies sorted by
  • DazzaDazza

    Rice needs more than a few hours to dry out electronics. I would leave it in there a week, if you're sure you flushed all the salt out of it. You should not try to use any electronic device that has any trace of water on it, as you run the risk causing more damage to it

  • jamjam

    Sorry to hear. Very likely toast, I fear...Which raises the question of water resistant housings (not uber expensive diving rigs). I had a Sony Hi8 camera that had a very nice and affordable water tight housing for use under such conditions.

  • jamjam

    Forgot to mention - Sandisk has a repair utility available for SD cards you might try if further drying doesn't work.

  • gizmogizmo

    After SD was whole night in rice I can see folders but still can't open them. I hope data will be accessible since there are few very important videos.

  • svartsvart

    You did the right thing by trying to flush it with fresh water. Salt water will eat up the circuits really fast. I'd get a couple gallons of distilled water, open the camera up, then use a toothbrush to scrub the boards pretty well using the distilled water. Follow up with some acetone on the PCBs only (this helps get the water out from under the ICs and off the board and helps speed drying). The PCBs can soak up a small amount of water so put the camera somewhere warm (125F) overnight at least.

    I used to work with cameras that went in sewer pipes and we'd have flooded cameras when seals broke and such. Most of the time if you can get the nasty water out, the camera can be saved. PURE water doesn't conduct, it's the minerals and impurities inside of it that do. In any case, I'd still make very sure it's dry so that the traces don't continue corroding.

  • rubberbanditorubberbandito

    my gh2 got dosed by sprinklers and the microphones were shot. not a real big deal if you use external mics/recorders but still it sucked. but strangely enough a few weeks later the mics worked again. it took a long time to dry

  • gizmogizmo

    As the last option I opened SD card and cleaned and dried it. Now all my videos are readable and I hope that our service guys could do something with GH2.

  • bitcrusherbitcrusher

    If the camera is still in water then submerging it in a bath of isopropyl alcohol before drying is very helpful. I would do that 2 times in a fresh alcohol bath. Take a hair dryer and then get your camera warm. After your camera seems dry put it in Tupperware full of rice for a few days.

    Oh ya make sure that the alcohol is at least 95% pure. Most is 75% -it will not help

    Then go to eBay and buy a new camera because I am willing to bet your camera is toast. : (

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Then go to eBay and buy a new camera because I am willing to bet your camera is toast.

    But you will have a bunch of 95% alcohol left, so can cope with it.

    Smart suggestion :-)

  • RobertoRoberto

    There could be a memory battery inside the camera, too. Let's hope you're lucky. But at least it's clean.

  • jpbturbojpbturbo

    "But you will have a bunch of 95% alcohol left, so can cope with it.

    Smart suggestion :-)"

    Isopropyl is not so good. I had somebody spike my drink with some isopropyl one time at a party. I threw up for a few hours and the next morning it burned when I peed the rest of it out.

  • beavisbeavis

    Dicapac WP-H10. It suits GH2 with 14-42 lens absolutely great. photos: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1041&message=37640196

  • brianlucebrianluce

    $10 says that camera is history.

    Even SCUBA corrodes away and it's made for use in sea water.

    The good news is GH2's are cheap.

  • gizmogizmo

    @beavis I have this Dicapac but fir this shooting it was not possible to use it. Actually GH2 was on the oktokopter and both funished in the sea :( I have spare oktokopter to continue with my work assignment but I don't have spare GH2 and can't find it to buy on Costa Rica. I bought Sony Nex5 and I hope it will be good enough compared to GH2.

  • RobertoRoberto

    @gizmo Well, any news of your GH2?

  • BenibubeBenibube

    I think in 2014 I will buy me a GH3. 4 month later some friends will have to invite me to the Sahara dessert in northern Africa. What happens if sand enters my GH3 ?

    Should I sell it at Ebay, or buy me some bottles of alcohol ? ......so what, any idea ???????

  • gizmogizmo

    @roberto Unfortunately my GH2 is dead. Salt water with battery in camera is recepy for quick and painfull death of most of tiny copper traces on electronic board.

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