I dropped my camera in the lake. Now what?

[Wasatch Rebel]

So I had my digital camera in my pocket, and leaned over to wash my hands after cleaning a fish and the camera fell into the lake. I snatched it out as quickly as possible, but I don't know if it's any good. I haven't tried to turn it on for fear of shorting something, so I took out the batteries so that wouldn't inadvertently happen. But what should I do now? Is it just an expensive paper weight?

[stefan]

so, from my experience and from others i've heard (most recently, tanya) it's best to let it dry completely. DON'T turn it on until it's totally dry. and then try to see if it still works.

if it doesn't, i'll let someone else give you advice

[theking648]

I'm guessing it was off when it hit the water... which is good. like stefan said don't put any power to it. stick it in a bag of rice for about a day or two. then it should be fine.

[Sombeech]

open it up as much as you can, open the battery compartment, memory card, take all that stuff out.

Let it dry for a couple of days.

Unless the water was really filthy and leaves a film, your camera should fire right back up.

[Wasatch Rebel]

Thanks for all the tips. It looks like I've been doing all the right things so far--except for I didn't open up all the little doors and compartments until today, which is 24 hours later. I did take the batteries out yesterday, the day it happened. And I hadn't tried the rice yet, but you're the second person who's told me to do that, so I just barely put it in a bag. The only question I had in my mind about that was whether or not to put it in the rice with the compartments opened. I decided no, because some rice grains might get into some difficult to extract places.

Unless the water was really filthy and leaves a film, your camera should fire right back up.

It was mostly clear being a Uinta lake and all--however, it was near the shore where there was a lot of plants growing in the water.

[cookiecutter]

We've dropped plenty of electronics in water, even flushed one down the toilet once and I've always done those things as mentioned above. All has turned out good. So good luck to you, I'm betting your alright.

[psl53]

Been there done that ........ Fresh water no problem Salt Water you're screwed.
Peter

[DOSS]

if you are worried about water spots ect on the hardware next time this happens pour a boat load of distilled water through the thing.. did this to a laptop that had Mt Dew spilled in it while it was running and let it dry and the thing still works to this day :)

I do like the rice idea though

[Ih8grvty]

We've dropped plenty of electronics in water, even flushed one down the toilet once and I've always done those things as mentioned above. All has turned out good. So good luck to you, I'm betting your alright.

I have to agree with this, its been repeated in my home many times.
One single exception.
One time I was high as a mother f......a kite I mean.
my cell phone rang, I grabbed it off my waist put it to my ear and proceeded to drop it in a cup of coffee.
pulled it out, took the battery out, let it dry for 3 days, it was toast. had nothing to lose, washed it out in water, let it dry again and it sorta worked.
I could not hang up on a call, and the # button did not work.
Everything else did, so I used it for a couple months before replacing it :D

With a camera, I have dropped a few in the water fishing, one in a river crossing hiking and it took me a few minutes to drop my pack and wade out in the water and find it. I have no pics form that trip, but a few days later after it dried, it ran fine, just not in time to take any pics on the actual back packing trip.
I would not confine my camera to a paper weight just yet.

[Wasatch Rebel]

Just to finish this off---it seems to be working fine now after following all the suggestions. Thanks again!

[LOAH]

Wow, you're lucky! Nice job getting everything dried out.

I fried my old camera (Fuji Finepix A350) while rinsing off fish in the sink. It was off, but I didn't notice that it was in the sink until I was done with the fish.

I opened everything, let it dry for a few days, and never got it turned on again.

Now I've got a waterproof camera and couldn't be paired with a better fit.

[jman]

Glad its "workin" for ya,
but just wanted to throw out this idea as I have dropped my Canon S5 IS camera in utah lake. I poured distilled water to get all the crap out (there was even water behind the lenses screen), and then opened all compartments and put the camera in a big bag full of Denatured Alcohol (key component) and let it soak for about 30 seconds shaking the camera vigorously in it. After that, pullled it out and placed it in the burning hot sun and cool breeze to air dry. After about 2 days of drying out - turned it back on and it worked flawlessly. Still does and that was a year ago. Still no problems today, not even a spec on the back of the lenses thanks to the denatured alcohol.