Flooded Housing - Nikon D800

dwilliams · Mar 10, 2014

I had my first camera flood (hopefully my last) on a recent trip resulting in my Nikon D800 and its 14-24mm becoming seemingly nothing more than paperweights. :shakehead:

I contact a reputable camera repair place and they assure me that neither the camera nor lens are salvageable.

Now I'm wondering whether there is any value left in the body of the camera if it were to be gutted and rebuilt.

Outside of this I guess I'm purchasing a new camera and lens. Fortunately I've had the housing checked and its fine and they have fitted a vacuum system that should help me avoid future floods.

tdchandl · Mar 10, 2014

Dang dang dang....I would be interested in one thing... What housing and dome are you using as the 14-24 is a hard match. Sorry for the loss good soldier down.

dwilliams · Mar 11, 2014

Thanks for the commiserations. I console myself with the knowlege that at least I'm in a position that I can afford to replace the camera and lens.

The housing is a Nauticam and the port is an 8 1/2 inch acrylic. Haven't had any problems with the port although I find the 14-24mm to be a little soft on the edges when shooting at 14mm.

The flooding was a large part my own fault. Re-opened the housing on the dive deck to change a battery I should have checked well before before the dive and obviously did a poor job of checking the main o-ring. Then to compound my error I didn't even check in the rinse bucket after resealing the housing.

Too much complacency after many dives without an issue.

Ah well - expensive lesson learned.

James R · Mar 11, 2014

I have seen a few higher-end Nikon bodies on ebay being sold for parts after a flood, but it's not common (fortunately). Can't hurt to try it, I guess. I have flooded two cameras, so I know about 5% of your pain. Fortunately, they were smaller/cheaper Canon compacts and not my Nikon DSLR!

I highly recommend adding the Nauticam or Backscatter vacuum system and Nauticam vacuum pressure loss alarm electronics to your housing!

Larry C · Mar 13, 2014

Flooding sucks. Generally, people seem to pay a hundred or two dollars for a "parts" camera on e-bay. Might be more for a high end model. They never tell you what happened to it, just that it's for parts only.

mjh · Mar 13, 2014

Of course you can try selling it and if it was fresh water you may be or future buyers would be ok. But with saltwater the salt crystals remain a problem. Parts may work for a while but in the end they fail. Sadly once you have a saltwater flood that gets into the body/electronics they are beyond repair. They can be re-tasked http://cheesycam.com/mugs-canon-l-lens-mugs/

jcclink · Mar 31, 2014

Was your loss insured? If not, something to consider.

Scuba-dan · Mar 31, 2014

That is why I only use the GoPro for my diving. At least if it floods, then i am only out of a couple of 100 dollars.

But i am sorry for you, cause I know those Nikons are not cheap. I hope you have insurance to help you recover that cost.

PatW · Mar 31, 2014

Shoot, losing a camera and a lens to a flood really hurts. It especially hurts when you blame yourself. You have my sympathies.

Chuck Tribolet · Mar 31, 2014

The real problem with salt water is electrolysis. Today's camera batteries have a LOT of power and salt water is not too bad of a conductor. It wasn't bad back in the days of the Nikonos V with just a couple of button cells and could be field-stripped.

Those lens mugs aren't made from real lenses.

Chuck

Flooded Housing - Nikon D800

Please register or login

dwilliams

Registered

tdchandl

Registered

dwilliams

Registered

James R

Contributor

Larry C

Contributor

mjh

Contributor

jcclink

Contributor

Scuba-dan

Contributor

PatW

Contributor

Chuck Tribolet

Contributor

Similar threads