After setting up a picture perfect campsite on a small island last week, I grabbed for my S100 to take a photo and noticed it was gone. Retracing my steps with a sinking heart, I found the camera submerged where I had disembarked from my raft. I removed the battery and dried the camera as best I could. After the trip, it sat in a warm spot drying for a week. Yesterday, I put in a freshly charged battery and tried to power up. Nothing. Any suggestions? Worth sending in, or should I just replace it?

Put it in a container of rice for a few weeks, then try again. The rice will act as an absorbent to reduce humidity so water can migrate out. It may surprise you. Many an Iphone that got dunked has been saved that way. The important thing is not to power it on until sure that its dry.



I used to build trail cameras, I bought used cameras of certain kinds for parts when needed. I bought one once that had a water line in it about 1" from the bottom, it had sat with water for a long time. I got it for $10 because it was totally nonfunctioning. Turned out the only problem once I got it open was a corroded plug where the batteries power supply plugged into circuit board. Worked great after I cleaned it up.

Edited by livingontheroad on 10/21/2012 11:10:50 MDT.

Some manufacturer's have a blanket price for repairs. The fix whatever is wrong for a flat fee-- I've assumed just sending you a refurbished camera if it is anything complex. Sony did this years ago and you could sometimes get a nice item of the cost of the junk piece plus the fee. There was a factory repair station in town, which took the shipping fees out of the issue. That might be worth looking into.

The caveat of fixing a critical item is the degree of reliability afterwards. In the days of cameras with springs and gears, loose screws became the problem for pros who traveled constantly and subjected their gear to a lot of vibration--- inside and out. My point being is that you get to the top of a hill with a lifetime sunset and zzzzzzzzzzt.

It would be interesting to compare the use vs technology cycle in 2012 and 1972, wondering if we replace things due to becoming obsolete rather than worn out. I've been finding perfectly good 35mm SLR cameras in thrift stores for under $10 and the older digital point and shoots are right behind them. I got a Sony Cybershot DSC-W7 7.2MP camera in excellent condition with a memory card for $9.99 last week. No, I haven't seen a digital SLR for cheap... yet :)

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