Can my D7100 be saved?

pkk

Hello All,
First the sad story because this may be all we get here-a learning experience. I got caught in a downpour with my D7100 unprotected. I should have run into a store to get a plastic bag but my car wasn't much further and I was subconsciously relying on the "weatherproof" coating on the camera. Mistake. I did not turn the camera on & by the time I got home I could see moisture in the top window. So I opened up all the holes, took everything out including the lens and placed it in a sunny warm window for 2 days. It seemed to have cleared up so I put the battery in and took a few pictures. The camera seemed fine. But gradually over time the viewfinder has gotten very dim and the meter is wildly off. The autofocus still works though, even in continuous mode. It still takes good pictures. The camera works quite well in live view also. So it's not quite a paperweight. But I have some slim hope because the viewfinder is strictly optical not electronic. I thought I would consult the forum before giving up. I would pay $150 or so to repair it but not much more.

Thanks in advance for any wisdom.

Pkk

mhedges

My guess is your mirror is out of alignment. I'm not sure what else could make the viewfinder dark like that.

Are the LCD displays in the viewfinder working ok?

pkk

Yes the LCD displays look normal. I'm open to any ideas but just getting wet doesn't seem like it would misalign the mirror. Does anyone know where the meter ricks up its reading? Some SLRs the meter is in the light path going through the mirror.

CaMeRaQuEsT

A misaligned mirror will affect AF. The VF has an OLED/LCD layer that needs to be powered and working correctly to let light through (try to look through the VF of a correctly working D7100 with no battery installed, you'll see a very dark and soft image, probably close to what yours is showing), so it is very likely that its electrical contacts got wet from the vapor of all that water boiling from the 2 days of exposure to the sun (that's why the rice trick usually works better) and are not passing current correctly. This will of course also affect metering as the sensors scan the image projected by the lens into the Fresnel screen. Nikon probably won't touch your camera, as they usually refuse service to water damaged gear, but an independent camera service should be able to take down your camera and clean all the affected parts and put it back to 100% working order. It would be a shame to write it off as everything else is working properly.

pkk

Well that is encouraging. It would sure be nice to get it working correctly again.

Pistnbroke

Whatever you say the sooner you can get it to a repairer for an estimate the better as if its got corrosion this can only get worse.

pkk

Does anyone have a recommendation on who to use?

NSXTypeR

You can try sending it back to Nikon. That being said, I don't know what the repair process is.

If you want to do a last ditch effort to save it, you can try sticking it in a tub of rice and see if it pulls out the moisture.