Water fell over D810, now is dry but there is rice inside?

rss25

Water fell over my D810 last friday. I left it the whole weekend soak in rice, yesterday it was working fine again with all functions as normal. I did try to turn it on and off before but it was not communicating right with the lens and displaying the "ERR". But now it seems to be fine, since its taking and saving photos as if nothing happened.

However there is rice inside the camera now. Advices? Does anybody know if rice inside the body affects the camera at all? Or if someone has experience this before, how much does it cost (approximately) to send it for a clean up to Nikon?

Msmoto

The rice will not just fall out? Have you tried using a good hand blower, http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=259157&gclid=Cj0KEQjwvuuqBRDG95yR6tmfg9oBEiQAjE3RQIgRyGV8LSEuJJaAC6_b9gQHEmQuOADOSGQ846D9skUaAo9F8P8HAQ&Q=&is=REG&A=details

But, do not attempt anything more powerful as far as air stream as things can be damaged.

manhattanboy

Just curious, but has anyone shot the D810 in the rain without a cover? Seems like as long as the lens is good, a fair amount of water resistance would be there, probably with the MIC being the first thing to get damaged.

heartyfisher

Man I got game of thrones on my brain... ignore me .....

sevencrossing

Man I got game of thrones on my brain... ignore me .....

:-? :-\" :O

kenadams

Have you tried removing the rice with something thin and long? Like chopsticks?

funtagraph

Just boil it before...

manhattanboy

Just boil it before...

I think you meant steam it :P

Worst comes to worse have Nikon service it saying you think something is loose inside...let them figure it out that it is a grain of rice from Japan...

Rx4Photo

I've shot my D800 in the rain. It was a one opportunity model shoot and I didn't want to cut it short yet I was not prepared for this weather. Got to the point where water was accumulating and beading up all over the camera and lenses. I'd shoot a few frames, wipe it down, cover it with towel, give a few directions, then uncover it and shoot a few more frames. After it all, I dried it well, let everything air dry and to this day it still performs like new.

As for this rice, how handy are you with a toothpick or paperclip? Personally I'd go nuts knowing there's still rice inside - try to finesse it out somehow.

spraynpray

I wouldn't press the shutter button even one more time before it was stripped and cleaned by a Nikon Repair Centre if it were mine. A hard grain of rice getting in the way of moving parts is going to cause expensive damage that you will have to pay for. This is a no brainer @rss25, give them a call for a rough price to strip and clean if it helps, but it has to be done so just send it off.

spraynpray

Just thinking on about this post: 'Water fell over D810' - if there was a lens fitted at the time and water only 'fell over it', you probably didn't need to do that rice thing anyway. My D750 has weather sealing (and I really baby it) but I wouldn't have worried overly about it being heavily splashed, especially if there were a pro (weather sealed) lens attached to it.

@rss25: To give context to this thread, can you tell us how much water fell over it and what exactly happened?

Rx4Photo

Another thought. Rice will expand and get sticky on hydration but typically contracts on drying. Allow a few days before using the camera - keep in in a very dry area. Perhaps if you have a table fan that you can put on a low flow rate and keep it on the camera the rice might dry and contract enough for you to do something about it.

rss25

Just thinking on about this post: 'Water fell over D810' - if there was a lens fitted at the time and water only 'fell over it', you probably didn't need to do that rice thing anyway. My D750 has weather sealing (and I really baby it) but I wouldn't have worried overly about it being heavily splashed, especially if there were a pro (weather sealed) lens attached to it.

@rss25: To give context to this thread, can you tell us how much water fell over it and what exactly happened?

I think I will definitely take it to Nikon for them to check if the rice inside is dangerous for the camera. I did try to fish some rice out through the audio hole @Rx4Photo ... but there is literally rice inside, in places I cannot reach. I think the rubber covers from the HDMI, USB ports was not all the way closed when the water fell so I let them open when I soaked the camera in the rice. Maybe when I moved the rice or something, it went through those small holes.

@spraynpray , sure I can tell you what happened (even though I am embarrassed)... I was on my way to a small photo gig at an art gallery and it was raining a lot. Because it was late I decided I wouldn't take a lot of gear and chose to put my camera (with a lens attached to it), my wallet and a water bottle in the same bag. Surprise. yes. The water cap was not all the way closed and probably slowly poured out as I was walking. Everything inside was wet. The bottle 0,5L and filled half way and spilled all over the lens, camera, wallet, phone... I was not really thinking when I tried to turn it on, I just wanted to make it work. I dried it as good as I could with paper towels and changed the lens. The other lens I was carrying was dry.

The camera didn't take photos, the shutter was not really responding. There was a red light illuminating everything in the viewfinder, no live-view, no menu, but it was turning on. Not off, unless I took the battery out. The aperture and shutter speeds were jumping without me touching them. At that point I bought a bag of rice and let everything soak in it for about 3 days.

The camera turns on now, everything is working as normal. And like I said, I tried to fish out as much rice as I could but I can still hear it when I shake the camera. And there is also one rice (just one) inside the lens.

spraynpray

@rss25: OK, thanks for the explanation, no need to be embarrassed, everybody has accidents at some time.

For sure and without delay, I would get the body to Nikon because at the moment, the only cost is to strip, clean and service the camera. If you try anything else, the rice is could end up doing expensive damage which will mean you get to pay for the strip and clean, plus other items possibly making the strip and clean seem very cheap so I were you, I would count my blessings that the camera still works and send it in without further shutter actuations. Sounds like a game of Russian Roulette with a money gun otherwise. I may sound to be scaremongering, but that is because I am not qualified to say it is safe to use your camera or lens now (which is true of all of us here too).

ThomasHorton

I hope you can get this fixed.

But I am confused, how did the rice get into the camera in the first place?

spraynpray

The damp camera was submerged in dry rice for it to act as a desiccant.

rss25

@spraynpray Definitely, thanks a lot for the feedback. I also hope it will only be a clean up matter from now on.
I will not turn it on again until they check it properly.

@ThomasHorton I put the camera directly in 2kg rice with everything open (there was water inside the rubber covers from the side ports: hdmi, usb..). I could take rice out from the memory compartment but probably when I was covering the camera with the rice and I let it move around, the rice entered through the audio hole into the inside compartment of the camera. I think the only way now to take it out would be by taking it to Nikon and let them dismantle it and take it out.

heartyfisher

Can I say you didn't need to put the rice directly onto the camera. All you needed to do was put the rice in an air tight container and the camera and lense in the container as well. No need for them to be in physical contact. ie. you could have wrapped your equipment in cloth and/or the rice in a separate piece of cloth.

Msmoto

@rss25

Welcome to NRF. I suspect you are not the only one on the Forum who has done something like this. We need water.

Thanks for your sharing. I think I agree, having a Nikon authorized repair shop go over everything may be your best advice.

Ironheart

If by the "audio hole" you mean the jack where you would plug a mic in, it is not possible for a solid object to go past the end of the socket. If you look at how these things are attached on the motherboard, there is an internal cover there. The audio jack is on the upper right hand corner. You could have a bit jammed in there, I would stab it at an angle with a needle and drag it out, remove the battery first of course...

Rx4Photo

Must admit though, this rice thing is amazing. Couple of years ago I had an LG cellphone in my pocket and accidentally fell into a swimming pool - hit bottom. Once out I opened up the phone, buried it in rice in a bag for a couple of days. The thing worked like nothing had ever happened after that.

spraynpray

Must admit though, this rice thing is amazing. Couple of years ago I had an LG cellphone in my pocket and accidentally fell into a swimming pool - hit bottom. Once out I opened up the phone, buried it in rice in a bag for a couple of days. The thing worked like nothing had ever happened after that.

Yee-ikes, that is amazing.

Vipmediastar_JZ

I had a USB drive go thru the washing machine and the dryer and it still works fine afterwards. No rice was needed. If all eclectronics could handle that much water accidents it would be great.

Sorry to hear about your experience.

snakebunk

I think there is a risk that you can get rust on the electronical parts. Even if it works now it may stop working later. So keep it dry and get it to an expert as soon as possible. Open it up as much as possible and don't use it. I am no expert but it is what I would do.

ThomasHorton

I thought that if you put it the camera in rice that you made sure that everything was buttoned up. If water can get in while buttoned up, it can get out.

If I felt the need to put the camera in rice, I would probably put the camera in a paper bag first. But I have to admit that I never needed to do this. (knocking on head).

I hope this turns out well for you.

Msmoto

Another methond...place damp camera in sealed bag, place in sun, open bag and dry out every hour or so. Eventually it all drys up. Did this with a cell phone which went swimming and the phone worked for two years after that.

But, I was told the important thing is when the camera/phone, etc. gets wet, remove the battery before all else. Then attempt to dry it out.