Shutter speed dial

[jamesmartin]

Currently in flinders ranges. Camera got a bit wet now my shutter speed dial (one on top) don't work. Anyone had this happen before & is it a costly/big thing to get fixed?

[ameerat42]

Eek!

Is this the Canon? How wet did it get? On other equipment I have had success
playing the air from a hair dryer set to Low/Med over the object. Don't get it too
close. It might "dry it out". Set it on just "blow" overnight. If no luck...

Hopefully AK or Tannin or so will shed some light.

[jamesmartin]

Yes the canon. It didn't go for a swim lol but got a long drizzle on it so a bit wet

[arthurking83]

Just a quick comment(hopefully quick!)

you're referring to the rotating dial that (by default) controls the shutter speed that you use your forefinger to adjust?
This should be the situation when your in Tv mode.
But if you're in Av mode(aperture priority) then the dial controls the aperture, not the shutter.

There should be a way to vary the control dial used to adjust either of the two above too .. somewhere in the menu system(look for custom controls, or something).

Basically you want to confirm that the water ingress affected an external hardware item, like the dial itself, and not some internal hardware item .. like a logic board, or shutter speed doodad dongle inside the camera.

So in Av mode, does the dial still control Aperture settings?
I'm guessing that it probably wont, and if this is so, then for sure some moisture has got onto an electrical track or contact and it just don't work, till it either dries out(like Am said some warm air will help) .. or if you try something else.

But, if you switch to Av mode and the dial now does adjust the aperture, then you have a more serious issue .. deeper internally than just the contacts under the dial.

If the air/heat/warm method doesn't work for 'ya, there is one other option to try .. won't cost too much .. maybe $10-15 or so.

So with the assumption that the dial doesn't operate shutter or aperture in the respective mode necessary, and the hair dryer/air method doesnt' fix it, go to almost any hardware/tool/auto parts shop, and look for a can of Contact Cleaner, or Electrical Contact Cleaner ... may also be called CO(as in Carbon Monoxide) spray .. or something like that.
Places like Repco, or Jaycar or some hardware places like Bunnings sell the stuff.
Not sure what shopping you have access too, but most car parts places, sell this stuff.
Has to be this Contact cleaner stuff and NOT!!!! .... a normal water displacement spray like standard WD40 or similar.
ie. no oil!
Contact cleaner is a specific alcohol type product. Note here tho that there is a WD40(branded) Contact cleaner product available too. This specific product is safe to use .. and isn't the std WD40 spray(I think with a red tin)
This can will say Contact cleaner fast drying and other such detail on the front of the can.
If unsure, ask someone that you want Contact Cleaner or Electronic cleaner.
Dont need much.
if you do find some, better if the can comes with a straw, small tube you use to concentrate the spray.

If you get this stuff, make sure in a well vented area(it smells bad), and concentrate th spray at the gaps around the dial.
This is the stuff that dries out water and cleans any residual corrosion off the tracks that the dial needs to operate.

I'd say that you've probably got the camera wet at some earlier point as well, and in those situations it didn't cause an issue because it was 'early days'.
By that I mean, the water itself shouldn't cause an electrical issue, water itself is a conductor, but once it dried, it then causes some corrosion, very light corrosion, but none the less some surface issues on the copper contacts.
Then(ie. now) the additional moisture has impacted on the tenuous electrical contact from previous moisture ingress and subsequent corrosion.

The crux of this last section is, any time you get even just small amounts of moisture in gaps like that dial, the device may well still work, but the damage is being done unseen.
Additional similar events just add to the issue, and it eventually causes non working.
So if you can get it working again with some CO cleaner sprayed at the dial, then give it a very small spray again in the future to be sure it doesn't become affected by surface corrosion again.

[gcflora]

This is the canon 5dsr? Is it not weatherproof like the 5dMkII? I've had my 5dmkII pretty much soaking wet from rain more than once without problems. I'd take the battery out and leave it for a few days before trying again. It does seem odd that little bit of moisture would cause any kind of failure (if it's weather-resistant like the 5dmkII) so are you sure you haven't accidentally changed a setting (as suggested above)?

[Geoff79]

As above, do make sure you give it a few days to air/dry out properly. Both my 40D and 70D have been subject to soakings every now and then from both fresh and salt water. Both cameras have had various functions disabled at the time, but after a good airing out, both have come good in time.

Sorry, I know it’s a simple and lame tip, but it’s worked for me.

[jamesmartin]

Just a quick comment(hopefully quick!)

you're referring to the rotating dial that (by default) controls the shutter speed that you use your forefinger to adjust?
This should be the situation when your in Tv mode.
But if you're in Av mode(aperture priority) then the dial controls the aperture, not the shutter.

There should be a way to vary the control dial used to adjust either of the two above too .. somewhere in the menu system(look for custom controls, or something).

Basically you want to confirm that the water ingress affected an external hardware item, like the dial itself, and not some internal hardware item .. like a logic board, or shutter speed doodad dongle inside the camera.

So in Av mode, does the dial still control Aperture settings?
I'm guessing that it probably wont, and if this is so, then for sure some moisture has got onto an electrical track or contact and it just don't work, till it either dries out(like Am said some warm air will help) .. or if you try something else.

But, if you switch to Av mode and the dial now does adjust the aperture, then you have a more serious issue .. deeper internally than just the contacts under the dial.

If the air/heat/warm method doesn't work for 'ya, there is one other option to try .. won't cost too much .. maybe $10-15 or so.

So with the assumption that the dial doesn't operate shutter or aperture in the respective mode necessary, and the hair dryer/air method doesnt' fix it, go to almost any hardware/tool/auto parts shop, and look for a can of Contact Cleaner, or Electrical Contact Cleaner ... may also be called CO(as in Carbon Monoxide) spray .. or something like that.
Places like Repco, or Jaycar or some hardware places like Bunnings sell the stuff.
Not sure what shopping you have access too, but most car parts places, sell this stuff.
Has to be this Contact cleaner stuff and NOT!!!! .... a normal water displacement spray like standard WD40 or similar.
ie. no oil!
Contact cleaner is a specific alcohol type product. Note here tho that there is a WD40(branded) Contact cleaner product available too. This specific product is safe to use .. and isn't the std WD40 spray(I think with a red tin)
This can will say Contact cleaner fast drying and other such detail on the front of the can.
If unsure, ask someone that you want Contact Cleaner or Electronic cleaner.
Dont need much.
if you do find some, better if the can comes with a straw, small tube you use to concentrate the spray.

If you get this stuff, make sure in a well vented area(it smells bad), and concentrate th spray at the gaps around the dial.
This is the stuff that dries out water and cleans any residual corrosion off the tracks that the dial needs to operate.

I'd say that you've probably got the camera wet at some earlier point as well, and in those situations it didn't cause an issue because it was 'early days'.
By that I mean, the water itself shouldn't cause an electrical issue, water itself is a conductor, but once it dried, it then causes some corrosion, very light corrosion, but none the less some surface issues on the copper contacts.
Then(ie. now) the additional moisture has impacted on the tenuous electrical contact from previous moisture ingress and subsequent corrosion.

The crux of this last section is, any time you get even just small amounts of moisture in gaps like that dial, the device may well still work, but the damage is being done unseen.
Additional similar events just add to the issue, and it eventually causes non working.
So if you can get it working again with some CO cleaner sprayed at the dial, then give it a very small spray again in the future to be sure it doesn't become affected by surface corrosion again.

Thanks for the detailed response Arthur. Yes when I changed to av mode it wouldn't adjust the aperture etc so just the dial itself has been affected. It's working now that it's dried out (later that evening it started to work again). Some other good info there if it ever occurs again so Cheers!!

- - - Updated - - -

This is the canon 5dsr? Is it not weatherproof like the 5dMkII? I've had my 5dmkII pretty much soaking wet from rain more than once without problems. I'd take the battery out and leave it for a few days before trying again. It does seem odd that little bit of moisture would cause any kind of failure (if it's weather-resistant like the 5dmkII) so are you sure you haven't accidentally changed a setting (as suggested above)?

Hey Craig. Yes it is weather proof but I guess to a certain degree, it regularly gets hit with sea spray etc & on this occasion while it was only drizzling by the end it was dripping wet so I can't really blame the camera but myself

- - - Updated - - -

As above, do make sure you give it a few days to air/dry out properly. Both my 40D and 70D have been subject to soakings every now and then from both fresh and salt water. Both cameras have had various functions disabled at the time, but after a good airing out, both have come good in time.

Sorry, I know it’s a simple and lame tip, but it’s worked for me.

Seems like your spot on lol

[ameerat42]

You could look the part with...
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...gEMAQ..i&w=450

or with...

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...act=mrc&uact=8

even perhaps with...

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...act=mrc&uact=8

[arthurking83]

..... It's working now that it's dried out (later that evening it started to work again). Some other good info there if it ever occurs again so Cheers!!

.....

Just to be sure you've understood.
The damage has now been done.
The electrical contacts have been oxidized to the point that any effect(like water, or lots of usage) make them more susceptible to stop working again.

The last issue was that the added moisture made the contact more fragile(electrically, not mechanically).

So, even if you're careful now and don't allow moisture on the camera again, just the usage could cause it to stop working again.

Think of it this way: water/moisture will follow a random path. if the moisture got in again and it only followed the path of the track, moisture being conductive to a certain degree, the dial will still work.
As long as the electrical path is maintained, the dial will work.
But as the moisture doesn't follow a set path, and will just go anywhere(ie. random) it most likely is shorting the contact path to ground(hence not working).
If the moisture happened to touch some other part, you may find that the dial may operate some other setting instead. (without knowing the layout of the insides, no way to tell what).

So the damage is done, the issue .. ie. real issue, is that the insides that allow the electrical signal to work have almost certainly been affected by oxidation/rust.

I'd still either:
1/. do the spray thing. The spray will clean off the oxidation. The Contact cleaner is fine for plastics, just don't know how it may affect the leatherette covering if there is any close by on the outside.
2/. take it to a service place to get them to open it up and clean it up.

Long term(hard to specify an exact time frame) .. leaving it is the worst thing to do.

I can't imagine that you'd sell such a camera in the next year or two, but assuming you don't, and you use it on a very regular basis, and use that dial "all the time" .. I'm quite sure that within two years it will stop working.
So option 3/. would be if you could assign another dial to operate the most used variable, be that shutter or aperture or whatever.

Note too: my experience with this electrical issue is limited to some electronics gear, zero cameras tho, but more so auto electrical gear, switches and plugs and suchlike .. but they all operate in the same manner re the oxidation issue.

If you want to visualise what I'm referring too and how water ingress affects electronics, there's a guy on Youtube named Louis Rossman who does videos, mainly on repairing Apple hardware(he's actually very interesting, even if the topic itself isn't).

But, through many of his videos, a major theme is that when the gear comes in for repair, the customer insists that they haven't spilled anything on the gear, or got it wet or whatever.
This may have been true in an immediate sense, that the stuff stopped working, but they didn't spill any moisture compound on it.
But over time, say months or a year previously! ... they did!(almost always). But they thought nothing of it, and the oxidation slowly gets worse, till one day .. later ... the thing stops.

Same happens in the auto world. Water is the worst car killer, and all cars nowadays are electronically controlled in more ways than what they should be. Such as park brake application!
That last one makes zero sense to me, that the park brake should be made electronically! But they are, and many are fitted low on the centre console, exactly where a spilled drink will randomly flow down too.
Clean up the console area and it appears that the spill has been dealt with.
But much later, the park brake no longer works because the switch got contaminated a long time back.
I'd love to meet the moron engineer that thought that the park brake needed to be made electronic, when for over a hundred years the 'ye olde worlde' cabled types worked perfectly for decades without any problem.
The added complication is that many of these electronic park brakes HAVE to work for the car to start, and if not, no start from the car! .. makes it even worse.

Anyhow ... just my advice .. don't leave it(too long).

[jamesmartin]

Just to be sure you've understood.
The damage has now been done.
The electrical contacts have been oxidized to the point that any effect(like water, or lots of usage) make them more susceptible to stop working again.

The last issue was that the added moisture made the contact more fragile(electrically, not mechanically).

So, even if you're careful now and don't allow moisture on the camera again, just the usage could cause it to stop working again.

Think of it this way: water/moisture will follow a random path. if the moisture got in again and it only followed the path of the track, moisture being conductive to a certain degree, the dial will still work.
As long as the electrical path is maintained, the dial will work.
But as the moisture doesn't follow a set path, and will just go anywhere(ie. random) it most likely is shorting the contact path to ground(hence not working).
If the moisture happened to touch some other part, you may find that the dial may operate some other setting instead. (without knowing the layout of the insides, no way to tell what).

So the damage is done, the issue .. ie. real issue, is that the insides that allow the electrical signal to work have almost certainly been affected by oxidation/rust.

I'd still either:
1/. do the spray thing. The spray will clean off the oxidation. The Contact cleaner is fine for plastics, just don't know how it may affect the leatherette covering if there is any close by on the outside.
2/. take it to a service place to get them to open it up and clean it up.

Long term(hard to specify an exact time frame) .. leaving it is the worst thing to do.

I can't imagine that you'd sell such a camera in the next year or two, but assuming you don't, and you use it on a very regular basis, and use that dial "all the time" .. I'm quite sure that within two years it will stop working.
So option 3/. would be if you could assign another dial to operate the most used variable, be that shutter or aperture or whatever.

Note too: my experience with this electrical issue is limited to some electronics gear, zero cameras tho, but more so auto electrical gear, switches and plugs and suchlike .. but they all operate in the same manner re the oxidation issue.

If you want to visualise what I'm referring too and how water ingress affects electronics, there's a guy on Youtube named Louis Rossman who does videos, mainly on repairing Apple hardware(he's actually very interesting, even if the topic itself isn't).

But, through many of his videos, a major theme is that when the gear comes in for repair, the customer insists that they haven't spilled anything on the gear, or got it wet or whatever.
This may have been true in an immediate sense, that the stuff stopped working, but they didn't spill any moisture compound on it.
But over time, say months or a year previously! ... they did!(almost always). But they thought nothing of it, and the oxidation slowly gets worse, till one day .. later ... the thing stops.

Same happens in the auto world. Water is the worst car killer, and all cars nowadays are electronically controlled in more ways than what they should be. Such as park brake application!
That last one makes zero sense to me, that the park brake should be made electronically! But they are, and many are fitted low on the centre console, exactly where a spilled drink will randomly flow down too.
Clean up the console area and it appears that the spill has been dealt with.
But much later, the park brake no longer works because the switch got contaminated a long time back.
I'd love to meet the moron engineer that thought that the park brake needed to be made electronic, when for over a hundred years the 'ye olde worlde' cabled types worked perfectly for decades without any problem.
The added complication is that many of these electronic park brakes HAVE to work for the car to start, and if not, no start from the car! .. makes it even worse.

Anyhow ... just my advice .. don't leave it(too long).

Thanks mate, my main concern was for this trip then when I get home I'll have someone look at it!

- - - Updated - - -

You could look the part with...
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...gEMAQ..i&w=450

or with...

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...act=mrc&uact=8

even perhaps with...

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...act=mrc&uact=8

Haha, I would get some strange looks

[jamesmartin]

Just to be sure you've understood.
The damage has now been done.
The electrical contacts have been oxidized to the point that any effect(like water, or lots of usage) make them more susceptible to stop working again.

The last issue was that the added moisture made the contact more fragile(electrically, not mechanically).

So, even if you're careful now and don't allow moisture on the camera again, just the usage could cause it to stop working again.

Think of it this way: water/moisture will follow a random path. if the moisture got in again and it only followed the path of the track, moisture being conductive to a certain degree, the dial will still work.
As long as the electrical path is maintained, the dial will work.
But as the moisture doesn't follow a set path, and will just go anywhere(ie. random) it most likely is shorting the contact path to ground(hence not working).
If the moisture happened to touch some other part, you may find that the dial may operate some other setting instead. (without knowing the layout of the insides, no way to tell what).

So the damage is done, the issue .. ie. real issue, is that the insides that allow the electrical signal to work have almost certainly been affected by oxidation/rust.

I'd still either:
1/. do the spray thing. The spray will clean off the oxidation. The Contact cleaner is fine for plastics, just don't know how it may affect the leatherette covering if there is any close by on the outside.
2/. take it to a service place to get them to open it up and clean it up.

Long term(hard to specify an exact time frame) .. leaving it is the worst thing to do.

I can't imagine that you'd sell such a camera in the next year or two, but assuming you don't, and you use it on a very regular basis, and use that dial "all the time" .. I'm quite sure that within two years it will stop working.
So option 3/. would be if you could assign another dial to operate the most used variable, be that shutter or aperture or whatever.

Note too: my experience with this electrical issue is limited to some electronics gear, zero cameras tho, but more so auto electrical gear, switches and plugs and suchlike .. but they all operate in the same manner re the oxidation issue.

If you want to visualise what I'm referring too and how water ingress affects electronics, there's a guy on Youtube named Louis Rossman who does videos, mainly on repairing Apple hardware(he's actually very interesting, even if the topic itself isn't).

But, through many of his videos, a major theme is that when the gear comes in for repair, the customer insists that they haven't spilled anything on the gear, or got it wet or whatever.
This may have been true in an immediate sense, that the stuff stopped working, but they didn't spill any moisture compound on it.
But over time, say months or a year previously! ... they did!(almost always). But they thought nothing of it, and the oxidation slowly gets worse, till one day .. later ... the thing stops.

Same happens in the auto world. Water is the worst car killer, and all cars nowadays are electronically controlled in more ways than what they should be. Such as park brake application!
That last one makes zero sense to me, that the park brake should be made electronically! But they are, and many are fitted low on the centre console, exactly where a spilled drink will randomly flow down too.
Clean up the console area and it appears that the spill has been dealt with.
But much later, the park brake no longer works because the switch got contaminated a long time back.
I'd love to meet the moron engineer that thought that the park brake needed to be made electronic, when for over a hundred years the 'ye olde worlde' cabled types worked perfectly for decades without any problem.
The added complication is that many of these electronic park brakes HAVE to work for the car to start, and if not, no start from the car! .. makes it even worse.

Anyhow ... just my advice .. don't leave it(too long).

Thanks again Arthur!!

I sent the camera to canon when I got back home. After dismantling it they found evidence of corrosion on top/rear cover & white corrosive residue inside cameras frame.
The whole process was easy & quick so I'm happy I followed your advice

[arthurking83]

Yeah, the corrosion stuff is typical, and predictable.

If you do find yourself in a similar situation at any point in the future, the handiest non tool-ish tool you can have for your camera, especially in sea affected environments is this Contact Cleaner spray.

Had you given it a shot of contact cleaner, I reckon(guessing) that they would have either not seen the corrosion/residue that they found, or that it may have been cleaned off and it could have settled somewhere else in the camera body.

it's not overly expensive, and all it does is clean electrical contacts from detritus.
Basically any stuff that stops electricity doing it's work .. dust is another issue too.

So after a few sessions out in the dubious environments, you just give the camera a small squirt of contact cleaner under the dials and anywhere that looks like moisture can get in.
And the contact cleaner basically does it's work .. It seeps it's way to where it's usually needed.

The stuff leaves no residue, dries instantly and cleans, but as it's a solvent, it's not good for hands/skin (on a regular basis) .. if you get any on you, you won't die or get cancer, but if you do it every day for years ... umm .. maybe!
The main issue with it's use is that it may dry up the leatherette cover on the camera.
So it's best to find a can of contact cleaner that has a straw attachment so you spray in concentrated bursts under the dials, or in small gaps and so on and so forth.

Other use for contact cleaner is say for the camera body to lens contacts. BUT!!!! .. you wouldn't so much spray the cleaner directly onto the contacts, you'd spray a small amount onto some hard surface to create a very small puddle of it.
Then you'd dip a cotton bud, or whatever to wet the item used to swab onto the body/lens contacts.
Camera body and lens contacts are usually gold plated, so don't rust per se. But again detritus, dust, sand, salt ... whatever! .. can cause some mis communicated exchanges between camera and lens, and folks see this as "my lens is broken" or "my camera is playing up".

[jamesmartin]

Yeah, the corrosion stuff is typical, and predictable.

If you do find yourself in a similar situation at any point in the future, the handiest non tool-ish tool you can have for your camera, especially in sea affected environments is this Contact Cleaner spray.

Had you given it a shot of contact cleaner, I reckon(guessing) that they would have either not seen the corrosion/residue that they found, or that it may have been cleaned off and it could have settled somewhere else in the camera body.

it's not overly expensive, and all it does is clean electrical contacts from detritus.
Basically any stuff that stops electricity doing it's work .. dust is another issue too.

So after a few sessions out in the dubious environments, you just give the camera a small squirt of contact cleaner under the dials and anywhere that looks like moisture can get in.
And the contact cleaner basically does it's work .. It seeps it's way to where it's usually needed.

The stuff leaves no residue, dries instantly and cleans, but as it's a solvent, it's not good for hands/skin (on a regular basis) .. if you get any on you, you won't die or get cancer, but if you do it every day for years ... umm .. maybe!
The main issue with it's use is that it may dry up the leatherette cover on the camera.
So it's best to find a can of contact cleaner that has a straw attachment so you spray in concentrated bursts under the dials, or in small gaps and so on and so forth.

Other use for contact cleaner is say for the camera body to lens contacts. BUT!!!! .. you wouldn't so much spray the cleaner directly onto the contacts, you'd spray a small amount onto some hard surface to create a very small puddle of it.
Then you'd dip a cotton bud, or whatever to wet the item used to swab onto the body/lens contacts.
Camera body and lens contacts are usually gold plated, so don't rust per se. But again detritus, dust, sand, salt ... whatever! .. can cause some mis communicated exchanges between camera and lens, and folks see this as "my lens is broken" or "my camera is playing up".

Thanks mate, I'll grab some before my next trip

[arthurking83]

Oh! and even tho I harp on and on sometimes, I still forget to add reasons why I do so.

So I forgot to say in my previous reply, from memory you seem to be in the higher risk category for camera use, IIRC, you post quite a few photos from seaside locations.
Implication here being seaside, seaspray .. a more likely scenario for the issue you recently had.

So the issue you had wasn't due to a specific instance, it's been building up for a while, and maybe a specific instance of 'getting the camera wet' or whatever just tipped it over the edge.
But for sure, the issue would have been slowly getting worse over the times when you're in the environments that cause the corrosive build up ... like near the sea.

on the other hand, say you did more mountain/rainforest type photography(on the whole), and maybe 1 or 2% shooting at the sea.
If in the rainforest environment your camera got wet due to heavy rain deluge, or whatever, if the rain seeped into those areas that get affected, rain is actually quite clean, and the rain itself would have 'rinsed' the small amount of possible sea spray getting into the affected parts of the camera.

So in a sense, getting the camera wet from rain can sometimes help it, if you also shoot at the sea.

Note tho, I'm not proposing that after a sea shoot, you go leave your camera in the rain to 'rinse' it ... just that the environments you tend to shoot can affect the camera in a gradual manner.

If you do get some and every now and then use it .. use it very very sparingly, and if you can use gloves too. Better to be safe than sorry.
Micro shots .. less than a sec if you can. better to give it say two or three small micro bursts, than to try to give it small dousing.

Reason is, the small burst will get into the almost non existent gaps on the camera. May not look or seem like it, but I can assure you it does.
Contact cleaner is thinner than water, so if water and it's residue can get in, contact cleaner or any alcohol or thin solvent type stuff(MEK is another), surely can.
The natural tendency is to give it a blast. And while that works, is just wasteful.
The micro burst gets the solvent in, let is settle for a few seconds, and the next micro burst then moves the first shot of contact cleaner, and it's this action that unsettles the residue(like salt, or corrosion, and whatnot). So the second micro shot then settles in place of the first .. and so on and and so on.
Unless you have direct access to the affected parts, you rely on the 'seeping' strategy. That is, the stuff is going to slowly find it's way through those miniscule gaps, just like the water/salt/residue eventually did.

If you had direct access to the affected bits, then a dousing would be effective, and maybe less wasteful.