Does my D700 have any hope from water damage?

Wesley

My D700 got dipped by an ocean wave. It was hanging upside down by a Blackrapid strap. I turned it off & on shortly after and saw the top LCD glitch out (oops). Looks like water got up to where the camera & grip meets. I was using one battery in the grip. Don't see any corrosion inside the grip and camera body battery compartment. The viewfinder is brown tinted.

Did I fry my circuits? Is there any hope or if Nikon can repair if needed?

PB_PM

Salt water and electronics = deader than the door nail. Any circuit boards that have water damage will have to be replaced. Could be a very costly repair, but at least get some estimates.

sevencrossing

As PB_PM says, Salt water and electronics don't mix. Don't even think about a repair . Time for a D800

TriShooter

Good repair shop with a flat fee of $250, or less, like KEH will either fix the camera for that price, and advise you the exact cost of repair if there will be additional cost before proceeding farther.

I have of Fuji cameras surviving an ocean dunk. I have personal knowledge of older communication gear like the old Collins KWM-2 series being under salt water, recovered, hosed down with "distilled" water, and working flawlessly; but, that was back in the days before we started using this far cheaper transistorized equipment.

ptrmcky

I would leave it to dry for a few days then see if it turns on. I know you can fix phones with water damage by dunking them into isopropanol and leaving them to dry. It will wash out any moisture and possibly take some of the salt with it.

I bought a D3100 when it came out and a few weeks later it ended up in a very mineral rich river. Left it to dry and it worked fine, but some of the salts had crystalised on the sensor. I managed to take it apart and clean the sensor. Don't really use it anymore, but it does still work.

NSXTypeR

First thing to do after getting gear soaked is not to turn it on. Even if it did survive the soaking by turning it on you short it out anyway. Next time that happens, leave it off and take out the battery.

You may not want to dip it in alcohol because it may dissolve certain plastics.

Your best bet is to dump rice on it and dry it a few days with some desiccant.

If that doesn't work try sending it in for repair.

Best of luck, I love the D700.

sevencrossing

Remember salt is deliquescent. Even if the camera is dried out and starts to work again, Unless every trace of salt is completely removed ( virtually impossible) . There is a very high chance of a future failure and unreliability.

spraynpray

sevencrossing summed it up in one. I expect you would do less harm by taking the lens off, opening the covers and flushing it under a freshwater tap before helping it to dry with rice in my opinion.

Parke1953

@Wesley,The brown tint in the viewfinder suggests smoke. If you want to keep it send it in for repair to Nikon or do as TriShooter suggested. sevencrossing is correct any salt inside the camera will suck in moisture from the air and start to corrode parts inside.

Wesley

Cleaning it with freshwater sounds so strange but I can try it.

Should I use Nikon or an independent shop for repair? I'm in Florida.

Also would a flagship DSLR survive this scenario?

Parke1953

You could clean it out with clean water and then put it in a vacuum box to remove all the water if you can find someone with one or build your own. The brown tint though i think does suggest something went poof, so cleaning may not help. Take it somewhere or send it in if you want to keep it. You maybe able to part it out. Have no idea what kind of money that might bring. Others may know what you can get parting it out. Good luck. D700 is still a great camera.

Ironheart

Send it into Nikon ASAP. If there is any chance of saving the body it will be by complete disassembly and thourough cleaning before any major corrosion sets in. Time is the enemy. Nikon will give an estimate and let you decide.

Golf007sd

@Wesley: Flagship DSLR's have weather sealing...but they are not water proof.

I do not recommend doing this to your D-SLR regardless of the results.

Symphotic

I have direct experience with camera equipment in salt water. They don't play nicely together.
Yes, you can send it to repair, but saltwater is conductive and electricity has already crossed circuits where it was not intended. Also, the battery in a D700 has a lot of charge and that has gone through the camera circuitry unimpeded.
Because my job is electronics around salt water, and this sort of thing does happen, some of the more successful approaches we have tried include soaking the systems in deionized water, changing the water a few times, then drying out and desiccating with silica gel, but that only ever works if you have not put current through the wetted system. Once current has gone through the circuitry, it cannot be repaired. Replacing boards on a D700 will likely be considered beyond economic repair by Nikon. So the chance of repair is rather low. I'm inclined to think Nikon will say it's a goner, but maybe an independent repair shop can do something.
A better option is to buy a D800 (cheap now). One of my customers, who was the world's number 1 D700 fan-boy, loves the D800 we supplied him, so I don't expect you will regret it.

As an aside, I see you have a 24 1.4 G. This is a lens that loves to be mounted on a D800.

Pistnbroke

Insure it ..wait 6months and claim....EPLS