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D300 Dodges Disaster
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I was out shooting under the full moon wednesday when nature decided to rear up and bitch-slap me and my D300...
I was shooting with a small group (which I never do). I set up the camera + 85mm f/1.8D in front of a line of small boulders that marked the high tide line. Tide was up, being just after sunset, and I had the camera at about waist height on the Bogen. The camera setup was about 6 feet from the water's edge, but about 1.5 feet above the water and with the line of boulders between. I was chatting with a buddy about 10 feet away from the camera when I saw a huge swell rolling in, much bigger than the small waves that had been breaking.
I started back toward the camera, just in case it needed stabilizing from water washing over the 'pod legs. To my horror, as soon as the swell hit the boulders, it broke violently and surged up over head height! I broke into a sprint to get to the camera and caught it as the brunt of the wave was knocking the tripod over. I was drenched head to toe - literally, hair sopping wet, shirt and jeans soaked through. The camera caught it even worse than I did.
I immediately headed for higher ground where I took out the battery and tried to dry the camera gear off as best I could. It didn't work as all the cloth on me was soaking too. Back at the car I wanted to rinse the camera off with some bottled water, but all we had was Mintwater - water with mint extract. I thought mint extract was more desirable than salt, though, and poured half a bottle over the camera. I then spent about 15 minutes with a dry t-shirt drying off every nook and cranny I could.
Back at home I used a giottos rocket blower to get the last of the water out of the crevices. I removed the lens, and was relieved to see that no water had made it past the mount. I opened the battery and card slots and left the camera sit for about 18 hours.
Nervously putting the battery back in, I turned the power on, and...
Fine. No trouble. Camera's fine, lens is fine! Like a huge weight off my chest! I do think I'll stop procrastinating and go get that personal articles insurance now, though! As an added benefit, my camera now has a nice minty smell, too : )
The D300 is one tough bugger!
T
Originally posted at 1:31PM, 21 June 2008 PDT
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Toby Keller / Burnblue edited this topic 60 months ago.
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Woh - not good. Glad it worked out ok. First the bike, now this.... You'd better watch out BB - you know these things happen in 3's... :D
Posted 60 months ago.
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That was truly a horror story.
Posted 60 months ago.
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Oy oy oy... that's a bit too close for comfort. Glad that it all turned out well (w/ a minty smell to boot).
Price to pay for some of the fantastic beach shots that you take, BB.
Posted 60 months ago.
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pictures pictures please.. nobody took an action shot of you making the save?
Posted 60 months ago.
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Excellent save! I can definitely imagine the mad dash and leap for the camera. And now your D300 has a hint of minty freshness, LOL. Not a bad ending to a potentially really BAD night. :)
Posted 60 months ago.
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Wow!
Posted 60 months ago.
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Wow, I do a lot of saltwater fishing and know how bad saltwater can be on ANY component!! This is a great testimony and makes me glad I bought a well sealed D300 :)
Posted 60 months ago.
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"huge swell" ship wake possibly?
Sounds like a lucky escape :-)
Posted 60 months ago.
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@Lusername - could well have been a ship wake - there's a bunch out and about this week thanks to the solstice celebrations.
Posted 60 months ago.
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The problem is long term...i.e. Corrosion from the salt water.
I would have whiped her down with a rag and fresh water just to be on the safe side.
Posted 60 months ago.
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err perhaps its me but i thought the D300 was water proof to an extent, I shot in rain, hail, snow, and have had waves wash over it on 4 occasions and its been fine
is it not up to that then???
Posted 60 months ago.
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amazing!
Posted 60 months ago.
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@shadysheepie - I think the main concern was that it was salt water rather than fresh water. Salt left behind by the salt water drying is very corrosive.
Posted 60 months ago.
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shady, it's water-resistant , but not water-proof .
And like TK said, salt water's a different beast than fresh water. Might not want to let it take any more salt water baths if you can help it.
Posted 60 months ago.
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shady are you retarded?when did you ever hear it was water proof?good god,poor thing...
Posted 60 months ago.
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