[Leica] Drenched camera

[lrzeitlin at gmail.com (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

Peter Cheyne writes:

"I usually take my Fujifilm Klasse on fishing trips.  Yesterday I

waded in water too deep for comfort and the camera got submerged.  I

took the battery out and hoped hanging it around my neck would let

the sun dry it.  The next day I removed the Neopan 400 B&W film.  I

had taken only about  11 shots, so cut away the remainder of the

film.  The Klasse winds all the film onto the free spool first, so

exposed film is already in the can.  The can is sitting on my desk.

I'll send it in for developing one of these days.  After sitting on

my windowsill, the camera is in apparently perfect working order.

However, I'm thinking of retiring it from fishing trips and using a

mechanical camera instead.  Maybe one of my Kodak Stereo Cameras

loaded with Velvia."


- - - -


Peter,

Why not spring for a used Nikonos II or III. These are small, entirely
mechanical film cameras specifically designed to be waterproof down to 50
meters. Most old time camera stores or dive stores probably have a half
dozen of so on the back shelves. I paid only a bit more than $100 for the
last one I bought. The Nikon 35mm lens usually fitted to the Nikonos is of
excellent quality and seems to be the perfect focal length for the fihsing
very nice fishing pictures you show.

Larry Z