Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/08/28

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Wet Leicas
From: telyt at earthlink.net (telyt@earthlink.net)
Date: Mon Aug 28 09:48:07 2006

Lawrence Zeitlin lrzeitlin@optonline.net wrote:

> No one will pay any attention to this post on wet Leicas anyway, but  
> what the hell, here it is.  True believers will feel that their Leica  
> is immune to the ravages of nature. Equjpment fetishists will never  
> take their camera out of the box.

I think we really are paying attention.  The practial experience of many
(as reflected in their own stories) substantiates your advice: if fresh
water, dry the camera as soon as possible w/o roasting it.  If salt water,
either rinse w/ fresh immediately, or it's all over.

> The whole waterproofing discussion started when Doug Herr requested  
> advice for a camera to be used on a kayak.

Not really.  I mentioned that I intended to use an inexpensive 400mm lens
and beat-up SL as my kayaking camera so that in the event of a mishap the
financial loss would be relatively small.  I should also have mentioned
that I'm intending to use this rig in flat water only, most likely only in
fresh flat water.

Having opened a few Leicaflexes that had seen too much water I'm well aware
of the potential hazards - and even if a camera can be dried quickly,
there's always the chance that when the kayak turns submarine the entire
rig will be lost (with NO witnesses!) thus the desire for an
almost-disposable setup.

BTW yesterday evening I replaced the meter coil in my kayaking SL, and
having already done a funky battery contact repair I popped the battery in
and - drumroll please - the thing works!  Still a few adjustments to make
then we hit the water.

Doug Herr
Birdman of Sacramento
http://www.wildlightphoto.com


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