
Nikon Repair Center saves a lens damaged by salt water by boiling it - lispython
http://nikonrumors.com/2013/03/17/nikon-repair-center-saves-a-lens-damaged-by-salt-water-by-boiling-it.aspx/
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rurounijones
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.

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mutagen
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.

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TheAnimus
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?

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

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arketyp
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...

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bradleyland
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.

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MindTwister
This article is rather sparse on details.

