Expensive Repair

Mark Williams

Mark Williams

Veteran
Thought this might be of interest to some of you. I was filming a waterfall yesterday and accidently got the lens area of my hpx170 wet. There was condensate inside the lens. I dryed the camera off with a towel , openned all access covers, removed the battery and P2 card and placed it in floorboard of my truck with the heat going full blast. Three hours latter I arrived at K&M Electronics in Atlanta which is an authorized Panasonic repair facility. They immediately disassembled the camera to dry it out. Today I got good news and bad news. The good news is that everything behind the lens is ok. The bad news is the lens must be replaced. The total cost of the repair is $1,745 and the lens replacement is backordered for 2 weeks.
Lesson learned is sometimes getting "the money shot" isn't worth it.
 
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The water droplets are inside the lens not just on the outside glass. The lens assembly is a sealed unit but appearantly not "weather" sealed. I was informed that it cannot be taken apart, cleaned and reassembled.
 
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and placed it in floorboard of my truck with the heat going full blast.
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i dont think that was a good idea at all. that in itself may have caused the problem...
 
FWIW i dont think HEAT is ever an advisable way to address water issues. airflow is what you want.
 
I would have waited a day or so to see if the water drops may have evaporated without any intervention.

PS...if it was a 10K money shot...might still have been worth it :)
 
I was informed that it cannot be taken apart, cleaned and reassembled.
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Damn that's harsh.

Make sure you get your old lens back to experiment with. I'm 100% sure it can be taken apart and cleaned - reassembled probably depends on your skill set.

Off the top I'm thinking if water got in that easy, then deionized water with a little photoflo should too - or alcohol - or acetone - opps there goes the lens coating . . . but you get the idea.

Seriously though -
accidently got the lens area of my hpx170 wet
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. Are we talking heavy mist from the falls or 20 seconds underwater for that money shot?
 
Mark Williams said:
The water droplets are inside the lens not just on the outside glass. The lens assembly is a sealed unit but appearantly not "weather" sealed. I was informed that it cannot be taken apart, cleaned and reassembled.
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Thats a bold-face lie, it can be taken apart, dried out and disassembled, the only thing they are not sure of, is how well it will work afterward, so they opt out to order the entire lens-block (1,100). Then they re-calibrate the lens to the camera body. If you see any of my dis-assembly guides or google scrib-d for the Panny Service manual, you'll see this too. If the lens was over 5k in price, then they'd prob have a method. It may also need to be re-lubricated and motors need to be checked for AF and ZOOM.

P.S. turning water into water vapor is a bad idea, like defrosting things in a microwave vs. just leaving them out to thaw. creates condensation which goes everywhere, you're lucky it did not hit the rest of the electronics.
 
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