I am not afraid to take my cameras into a less than perfect situation - so I knew this day would some day happen.
We were canoeing tripping in Algonquin Park over the weekend. A part of the trip involves periodically lifting the canoe over beaver dams. At one the boat's contents all got wet, albeit with clean fresh water.
The camera, a Minolta X-700 saw the most water, as it was in the top of a pop top padded 'everready' camera bag. It had a 35-70 zoom on it that saw a fair bit of water as well.
I was able to quickly (within a few minutes of retrieving other itmes that were floating away) rewind the film in the camera before it had a chance to swell too much. Subsequently prying it out of the cassette in the darkroom last nightwas a challenge. It presently is on a stainless steel reel, in daylight tank, sans cap on the light trap,drying off before I try to process it.
The 2 lenses in a separate padded zipped closed lens case lenses varied in thier degree of wetting. The macro 50mm showed some wetness around the edge of the rear cap, but was dry inside. The 25mm showed a bit of wetting around the rear lens cap, and as mist that formed under the sktlight filter.
Once we made camp in the early afternoon, all filters and front and rear caps were taken off of the lenses. The lenses were set with apertures open wide, and balanced on a log to have the sun shine striaght through them. The zoom was periodically zoomed in and out, and any moisture evident on the barrel was wiped away with a dry towel. All lenses were periodically moved from minimum to maximum focus distance, and any moisture evident on a barrel was wiped away.
The camera back was not openned until two days hence, as I was unsure how much film was left that would not fit inside the cassette. Its batteries were removed.
Presently the lenses, camera, with back removed, and film in a daylight tank sut inside a sealed 5 gallon pail that has a tight fitting gasket as a part of its lid closure system. Inside this pail is a freshly openned glass jar of dessicant (like the kind you use in the sub-tropics to keep fungus at bay from closed cabinets of gear). I intend to check on it daily, and exchange this dessicant until it stops showing satutation (little indicators beads in it go pink).
I presume the camera is likely fried, but am hoping to salvage the film and lenses.
I know a waterprooof camera bag is an option, but it rather detracts from getting good images as they serindipitously appear, like as you come around a point, to see otters playing or transition around a curve and come face to face at 20' with a moose drinking at the rivers edge.
The idle camera gear always goes into a heavy duty zip lock freezer bag when we are approching moving water, as this is where spills are most likely
Does anyone have any other ideas as to how I should be recovering from this situation better?
We were canoeing tripping in Algonquin Park over the weekend. A part of the trip involves periodically lifting the canoe over beaver dams. At one the boat's contents all got wet, albeit with clean fresh water.
The camera, a Minolta X-700 saw the most water, as it was in the top of a pop top padded 'everready' camera bag. It had a 35-70 zoom on it that saw a fair bit of water as well.
I was able to quickly (within a few minutes of retrieving other itmes that were floating away) rewind the film in the camera before it had a chance to swell too much. Subsequently prying it out of the cassette in the darkroom last nightwas a challenge. It presently is on a stainless steel reel, in daylight tank, sans cap on the light trap,drying off before I try to process it.
The 2 lenses in a separate padded zipped closed lens case lenses varied in thier degree of wetting. The macro 50mm showed some wetness around the edge of the rear cap, but was dry inside. The 25mm showed a bit of wetting around the rear lens cap, and as mist that formed under the sktlight filter.
Once we made camp in the early afternoon, all filters and front and rear caps were taken off of the lenses. The lenses were set with apertures open wide, and balanced on a log to have the sun shine striaght through them. The zoom was periodically zoomed in and out, and any moisture evident on the barrel was wiped away with a dry towel. All lenses were periodically moved from minimum to maximum focus distance, and any moisture evident on a barrel was wiped away.
The camera back was not openned until two days hence, as I was unsure how much film was left that would not fit inside the cassette. Its batteries were removed.
Presently the lenses, camera, with back removed, and film in a daylight tank sut inside a sealed 5 gallon pail that has a tight fitting gasket as a part of its lid closure system. Inside this pail is a freshly openned glass jar of dessicant (like the kind you use in the sub-tropics to keep fungus at bay from closed cabinets of gear). I intend to check on it daily, and exchange this dessicant until it stops showing satutation (little indicators beads in it go pink).
I presume the camera is likely fried, but am hoping to salvage the film and lenses.
I know a waterprooof camera bag is an option, but it rather detracts from getting good images as they serindipitously appear, like as you come around a point, to see otters playing or transition around a curve and come face to face at 20' with a moose drinking at the rivers edge.
The idle camera gear always goes into a heavy duty zip lock freezer bag when we are approching moving water, as this is where spills are most likely
Does anyone have any other ideas as to how I should be recovering from this situation better?
