Leica Q Sea Water Damage

[nabilnazri]

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Hi, unfortunately I fell into the water on the beach with my Leica Q during my holiday in Phuket. Leica offered me to buy the Q2 instead, which isn't something I am interested in at the moment. Would prefer to spend more on the M11. Does anyone know of any service centres or anyone that is able to fix water damaged cameras? 

Thank you :)

[Ivar B]

I take it we are dealing with salt water, which renders a repair next to impossible. Corrosion starts almost immediately.

[pgk]

As Ivar B said, salt water damage is almost impossible to repair and even if repaired can still lead to problems later on, I know. A long time ago Nikon UK repaired an AF lens with salt water damage for me. After a few months it started showing signs of corrosion. As it was under the repair warranty, Nikon rerepaired it and I am pretty sure that not a great deal of original components were left by the time they had done so. Not long afterwards they announced that no salt water damaged equipment would be repaired by them in future. The base problem is that salt is deliquescent (it absobs water from the atmosphere) so if you don't remove ALL the salt, then it will dampen and corrode anywhere there is a vestige of salt left. Removing every trace of salt in a complex electronic camera is difficult.

In any case once salt enters circuits start to burn out and corrode through extremely quickly (minutes) due to the power unning through them from the battery so repairs can be expensive just to deal with the damage even before the salt is removed.

Sorry, but I wouldn't think it worth while trying to repair a salt water damaged camera (and I specialise in underwater photography so deal with keeping salt water out of my cameras all the time).

[Viv]

1 hour ago, nabilnazri said:

Hi, unfortunately I fell into the water on the beach with my Leica Q during my holiday in Phuket. Leica offered me to buy the Q2 instead, which isn't something I am interested in at the moment. Would prefer to spend more on the M11. Does anyone know of any service centres or anyone that is able to fix water damaged cameras? 

Thank you

No chance. Seawater damage is immediate and terminal.

[bobtodrick]

As above.  Dropped a Nikon digital in salt water a few years ago.  Took it to a service dept that said they could fix it but that it would likely fail within months.  Decided to go ahead as it was a gift from a dear friend that had passed away.  Camera lasted about two month before it failed.