GH1 survives red wine test

G

GMC

Well-known member
Just wanted to let you know, the GH1 is not sealed at all against liquid. Unfortunately yesterday someone spilled a glass of red wine over my (two weeks old) GH1 on the table. When I took the lens off, I had wine flowing out from the inside...

After proper cleaning (as far as possible) and letting it dry for some hours I switched it on again and it works!!! Almost unbelievable. Time will tell if some internal corrosion takes place.... hopefully until then the body can be purchased separately.

Hence, be extremely carefull - the body is obviously NOT sealed or is providing any kind of protection against liquid at all. Which is a bit disappointing.

best regards,

Gunther
 
GMC said:
When I took the lens off, I had wine flowing out from the inside...

best regards,

Gunther
Click to expand...


How would wine get into the senors area behind a mounted lens with tighter tolerances then a strand of human hair to the point that it was "flowing out" after removal. Did you dump it into a bucket of wine for ten minutes. This sounds like one of those urban legends for god sakes!


The good news is, the GH1 is such a fine constructed piece of equipment that it survived. Nothing to be disappointed about.... This is a positive report!


.
 
Well, maybe "Gunther's" legend and not urban legend ;-) ...

That's the disappointing part - the GH1 got spilled from the top and back and obviously the liquid immediately crept into the body via dials on the back and top (ON / OFF and mode dial (they were completely wetted)). It's true that the tolerances between body and lens are tight, but that does not mean anything - its a known fact that liquid creeps into tight gaps from itself due to surface tension - the gap between lens and body was completely wet. I was lucky that the sensor itself didn't see any liquid.

Hence, those dials are obviously not protected.

Take care ... I hope my GH1 still survives for a long time ...

Gunther
 
Meh... you should have tried with something a bit stronger, like Tequila, or Vodka... let me know when you are done goofing around and do some REAL testing. :)

Hope your camera is OK dude. It might live for a long time.

I would certainly recommend trying to dry it for much MUCH longer than a few hours. If you can get a bunch of cilica packets and put it in a bag under the sun... or something of the sort that you feel comfortable with. And as soon as possible. Getting rid of all the liquid can be tricky and it can take long, especially in humid climates.
 
It's clear the camera is not weather-sealed. There are no rubber seals to be found. The buttons don't feel like they're gasketed either.
 
I'd be worried by the fact that it was wine and not water. Water leaves no residuals once it dries, but wine will probably leave sticky stains inside the camera. You were lucky the wine didn't get to the sensor... I don't really know how that's possible since the gap between the lens and the body was filled and this particular camera doesn't even have a mirror to cover it. Anyway I guess you've already tested it and found no problem.
 
I like to soak a gh1 in wine for 1 hour,

sautee in a hot skillet,

serve with side, of old super 8mm stock, and broccoli

and season to taste. :2vrolijk_08:
 
I guess we can make this the GH1 Abuse Thread - mine has just survived being put back into a small well-padded camera bag while still recording, and then taken on a slow journey home. A quick glance at the resulting rather dark video seems to say it ran for 1 hour 45 minutes, without the battery running down or the 8GB card filling up (and there was already some rather more interesting stuff on the card).

The GH1 was describable as "distinctly warm" rather than hot as such.

Perhaps it should have a feature that turns it off automatically after five minutes of totally dark video... :(

My other moment of idiocy was to record some video with the camera held sideways in portrait mode, the SLR design making me forget I wasn't using it for a photo.
 
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My other moment of idiocy was to record some video with the camera held sideways in portrait mode, the SLR design making me forget I wasn't using it for a photo.
Click to expand...
Heh, having rotated it back upright in the NLE it actually comes out rather well as an 'effect' - certainly no disaster. Perhaps these hybrid devices will encourage more 'portrait' videography! 9:16 is the new 16:9.
 
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