[krp]

Today I was taking a picture on the edge of a creek. My tripod wasn't in the most stable position. There was water rushing around the legs and it was resting on slippery rocks. I looked away for 2 seconds, and then SPLASH! I quickly reached down and pulled the camera up. I ended up bending a tripod leg which was caught under a rock. But the K-5 still works just fine. Even though the lens wasn't waterproof, no water got into the body. Now my only problem is drying out the lens. There are drops of water and fog inside the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 lens. I just bought a bag of rice and I have some desiccant packs. Has anybody else dried out a lens this way? I'm hoping it won't take too long since I would like to use the lens Monday night.

[drypenn]

Great to hear that the K5 survived even with a non-WR lens.

Try using a hair dryer set into low speed every now and then to speed up evaporation. Also a bag of silica desiccant (lots of them) should come in handy. Just put desiccants inside an airtight container along with the camera and the lens.

Good luck!

[Deedee]

I second it.

Try using a hair dryer set into low speed every now and then to speed up evaporation.

Good luck!

[SoftwareArtifex]

Rice doesn't absorb much moisture, and used bags of silica are pretty much already saturated just from sitting around. Try finding calcium chloride and seal it in a big freezer bag with the lens. The calcium chloride is so hydroscopic it will absorb enough moisture from the air to dissolve itself.

[Hiroshi]

Just a thought... Has anyone tried using a vacuum sealer (for food) to remove the moist air inside the lens, then using a desiccant as suggested in the above posts?

[Schraubstock]

and used bags of silica are pretty much already saturated just from sitting around

Put them in a micro wave oven for a few seconds and they will be ready for more action,

[SoftwareArtifex]

Or a toaster oven at a couple hundred degrees for a while. They're still not that great for drying out already-wet things though.

[Action Jackson]

Don't forget to zoom the lens in and out a few times along with the suggestions. Helped with one of my rained on manual lens.

[nanhi]

Today I was taking a picture on the edge of a creek. My tripod wasn't in the most stable position. There was water rushing around the legs and it was resting on slippery rocks. I looked away for 2 seconds, and then SPLASH! I quickly reached down and pulled the camera up. I ended up bending a tripod leg which was caught under a rock. But the K-5 still works just fine. Even though the lens wasn't waterproof, no water got into the body. Now my only problem is drying out the lens. There are drops of water and fog inside the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 lens. I just bought a bag of rice and I have some desiccant packs. Has anybody else dried out a lens this way? I'm hoping it won't take too long since I would like to use the lens Monday night.

Hi KRP, sorry for the accident, but these things do happen. Try soft rubber shoes for the tripod legs next time. You already have had some good advice. A 40 watt bulb over the lens and camera with a fan wafting air softly over them should help once you are done with the silica gel and other stuff. Please don't hurry it. Even a little moisture will blow the mother board in the lens and the camera. Do separate the camera and the lens.
Good Luck and Regards.

[krp]

After spending the night in a bag of rice and silica gel packets, the lens didn't look much better; it only smelled like rice. Since I had nothing to lose I thought I would just open it up and dry it out. It wasn't too hard to reach the internal lens elements. I used a microfiber cloth, rocket blower, and a lens cleaning solution when needed. Finally it was mostly dry except for a few drops near the aperture blades. I didn't feel confident taking it apart any further. So I just pointed a fan at it for a couple hours. I stuck the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 on the camera and it appears to work just fine. I guess I got pretty lucky . Now I'll always make sure my tripod is secure before letting go.

[steve500]

Geez, glad the camera is okay. As for the lens, glad it's okay too. I wish the lenses were more easy to work on. My every-day plain Jane favorite pentax 18-250 has built quite a bit of dust in the internals and I'm quite frightened to take it apart and clean it. Pentax told me to mail it to them to "see" if they were able to still work on that lens or not for a cleaning and replacement most-outer segment. Hmm.