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Nikon Repair Center saves a lens damaged by salt water by boiling it

26 points by lispython 14y ago

niggler 14y ago
from the comments of the article: this was not an official Nikon repair center. very cool nonetheless
MindTwister 14y ago
This article is rather sparse on details.
mutagen 14y ago
I repaired and calibrated surveying instruments not long after the dawn of the digital age. The older techs regaled me with tales of optical instruments that had fallen in pools at the bottom of mines. Doused quickly enough in clean water and then disassembled, cleaned and reassembled these instruments continued to work properly. Boiling doesn't sound like a bad option.
TheAnimus 14y ago
After checking my calander to confirm its not April 1st. Wouldn't this remove all the coatings on the optics? I thought those couldn't be re-applied?
arketyp 14y ago
So would washing it in fresh water just after dropping it in the sea before it dried possibly have saved it? It doesn't seem like it could damage it more anyway. Perhaps also it was an insurance issue...
- bradleyland 14y ago
  It probably wouldn't have saved it, but flushing it with fresh water could have prevented some of the more damaging rust. The challenge is finding pure water when you're in an environment surrounded by salt water. Tap water, for example, contains a lot of chlorine, which is caustic as well. Well water contains dissolved solids that will leave mineral deposits. Ideally, you'd want to flush it very, very well with distilled water, which is hard to come by in most situations involving salt water. Also, I'm not thrilled about the way this article presents information. There are a lot of details missing, and some key information omitted. Take this statement, for example: > The inner tube of the lens was rusted and was not moving because of the salt water damage. That's why they decided to boil some of the parts. In fact, the staff said that they had to add some chemicals into the boiling water in order to remove the rust. Boy is this a land-mine of epic proportions. Rust (ferric oxide) is hard stuff. Boiling a rusty piece of metal in the wrong solution (like plain water) will just make the rust harder! You need some reagent that will soften the rust, but not damage the base metal too much. Attempting this with something as sensitive as a camera lens is asking for trouble unless you know exactly what you're doing.
rurounijones 14y ago
Very interesting but given the brevity of the post and the recent post regarding advertising disguised as other content on reddit I do have to look at this article with a certain amount of cynicism.

26 points by lispython 14y ago

niggler 14y ago

from the comments of the article: this was not an official Nikon repair center. very cool nonetheless

MindTwister 14y ago

This article is rather sparse on details.

mutagen 14y ago

I repaired and calibrated surveying instruments not long after the dawn of the digital age. The older techs regaled me with tales of optical instruments that had fallen in pools at the bottom of mines. Doused quickly enough in clean water and then disassembled, cleaned and reassembled these instruments continued to work properly. Boiling doesn't sound like a bad option.

TheAnimus 14y ago

After checking my calander to confirm its not April 1st. Wouldn't this remove all the coatings on the optics? I thought those couldn't be re-applied?

arketyp 14y ago

So would washing it in fresh water just after dropping it in the sea before it dried possibly have saved it? It doesn't seem like it could damage it more anyway. Perhaps also it was an insurance issue...

bradleyland 14y ago
It probably wouldn't have saved it, but flushing it with fresh water could have prevented some of the more damaging rust. The challenge is finding pure water when you're in an environment surrounded by salt water. Tap water, for example, contains a lot of chlorine, which is caustic as well. Well water contains dissolved solids that will leave mineral deposits. Ideally, you'd want to flush it very, very well with distilled water, which is hard to come by in most situations involving salt water. Also, I'm not thrilled about the way this article presents information. There are a lot of details missing, and some key information omitted. Take this statement, for example: > The inner tube of the lens was rusted and was not moving because of the salt water damage. That's why they decided to boil some of the parts. In fact, the staff said that they had to add some chemicals into the boiling water in order to remove the rust. Boy is this a land-mine of epic proportions. Rust (ferric oxide) is hard stuff. Boiling a rusty piece of metal in the wrong solution (like plain water) will just make the rust harder! You need some reagent that will soften the rust, but not damage the base metal too much. Attempting this with something as sensitive as a camera lens is asking for trouble unless you know exactly what you're doing.

rurounijones 14y ago

Very interesting but given the brevity of the post and the recent post regarding advertising disguised as other content on reddit I do have to look at this article with a certain amount of cynicism.