Ever since my previous iPhone, I stopped using my digital camera. The iPhone takes arguably better pictures. Perhaps not in as wide a range of conditions, but in most common point and shoot situations it does outdo my Canon point and shoot camera. I get amazing pictures at concerts, which usually mess with most cell phone cameras. For model pictures I do have a mount that allows me to attach the phone to a tripod which definitely makes a difference when longer exposure times are needed.
There was a race (to the bottom IMO) among cell phone makers to see who could get the most megapixels in the little phone sensor. More <> better. More = you need more light, or longer exposure times, which unless supported leads to blurry photos. I think Apple has bowed to (uneducated) marketing opinion and gone back to throwing in as many megapixles as possible for for a few of their phones they kept the pixel count the same but made the sensor larger - this resulted in MUCH better image quality, but when the average Joe Consumer sees Apple with 8 megaspixles and Samsung with 12 megaspixels, they go for the Samsung. Meanwhile, my concert photos come out nice, my gf's on her Samsung, at the same show, she's lucky to get 1 or 2 good ones out of all of it.
If I were to buy another pure camera, I'd get a Sony like the one my friend has. Absolutely amazing picture quality, huge sensor, great optics, and some really great features to enahance low light/long exposure situations. Downside is, it's a point and shoot camera that costs as much as some DSLRs. So for now I'll stick to my phone. I always have that with me anyway.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I got to say I found the back-to-back photo articles in the current MR very informative.
Pelle's picture on page 45 with the grain elevators and the guy in the orange safety vest sure is impressive. It looks like a real life photo. Obviously his top-notch modeling ability has just as much to do with it as the picture quality.
If anybody can learn or benefit from these two articles it would be me as my pictures are fair to poor.
I have no plans to purchase an iPhone but I have been considering purchasing a very good digital camera.
My daughter Kaylee is coming over the 29th and 30th for a visit and to take me to the Rocky Mountain Express. She is quite the computer and phone buff. Maybe she could help me download some programs for my Android phone to enhance picture quality.
I don't know if any of you know of any Android picture enhancing downloads, but I am open to suggestions.
Thanks
Track fiddler
I dropped a proprietary rechargable battery for a Canon P&S into the grass underfoot during a late evening fireworks display last August. I didn't know it until I got home, and it was too late to bother going to look with all the foot traffic still there on that celebratory evening. Next day, near 0530, and with light, I went down to the park and walked where I knew we had been. I finally found the battery undamaged, apparently, but quite obviously very damp or wet. The multiple brass contacts looked undamaged. I placed the item on a shelf for three days and forgot about it. It took a charge well when I tried, and when I inserted it into the camera it powered it.
I dropped its mate in a lake a month earlier and never could find it. Bad summer for that camera. And me.
Patience is the key, and I think opening access covers and removing batteries and SC card are the way to go. If everything works, but the screen is still not working, you only lose time by letting it dry another week before another try. However, I suspect the screen might be the eventual reason for replacement.
Good luck.
NYBW-JohnThe problem is the LCD seems to be lost. It lights up but there is no image. Just a gray screen.
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I feel your pain. I got a TINY amount of water in my 64Gb iPod. It would not do anything, and it is impossible to remove the battery. I put it in a bag of silica gel. After a week I charged it up and turned it on.
The iPod works, but the screen just glows gray. Now I can only listen to it on random.
I hate my new touch sreen iPod I bought to replace it.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Problem is, very little these days ever is totally powered off so if the batteries are in, even if the device is not turned "on" in operational mode, and it gets wet, it's already too late.
Then it depends on what it is that makes it wet. Pure water is not much of a conductor. Surgary drinks aren't a whole lot better, but they leave a very sticky residue when the liquid part dries up.
The other thing is though that many devices these days don;t have open vent holes and such for liquids to get in. They may not be waterproof with seals on all the edges and screws, but a little liquid dripped on won't necessaily get inside and do any harm. Having a lot poured over the device though, well, good luck. Gone I think are the days when you could do what I did years ago - a secretary dumped her entire cup of coffee in her keyboard, an original IBM PC keyboard (I said it was years ago.. ). I unplugged it, took it out to the shop locker room where they had one of those big circular sinks with the foot bar to control the water and rinsed it thoroughly. Left it to dry for a week or so and it worked perfectly fine. There was very little electronics in those though, the main concern was the sugar and milk in the coffee making the key contacts stick.
The smaller they get, the more delicate solid state electronic components become.
Strictly for future reference:
IMMEDIATELY REMOVE BATTERIES AND CARDS
DO NOT DO ANYTHING THAT WILL PROVIDE POWER
DO NOT CONNECT THE CHARGER
DO NOT CONNECT THE USB CABLE
TAKE THE DEVICE TO A FACTORY AUTHORIZED REPAIR FACILITY.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
NYBW-Johnone interesting one was to remove the battery and memory card and place it in the freezer for a few days.
I would skip THAT method! Can you imagine a tiny drop of water between one of the lens elements, then it freezes? Something's gotta give. Ice cube trays don't dry out in the freezer very quickly.
I'm with Randy. Try the dessicant. Some of this stuff, perhaps?
http://www.damprid.com/
Good Luck, Ed
rrinker It could be that the LCD connects to the circuit with what's called a zebra stripe - it's a soft polymer strip alternating with flexible conductors and is common in many things with LCDs. The water could have caused some corrosion. If it really is connected like this, it's possible to remove the LCD and clean the contacts on the board, the back of the LCD, and the zebra stripe with isopropyl and fix it. I've dooone this on old multimeters. If it's NOT connected with a zebra stripe, then the issue could be the LCD itself or on the circuit board and much more difficult to diagnose and repair. --Randy
It could be that the LCD connects to the circuit with what's called a zebra stripe - it's a soft polymer strip alternating with flexible conductors and is common in many things with LCDs. The water could have caused some corrosion. If it really is connected like this, it's possible to remove the LCD and clean the contacts on the board, the back of the LCD, and the zebra stripe with isopropyl and fix it. I've dooone this on old multimeters. If it's NOT connected with a zebra stripe, then the issue could be the LCD itself or on the circuit board and much more difficult to diagnose and repair.
I googled for solutions and one interesting one was to remove the battery and memory card and place it in the freezer for a few days. The person who posted it said he didn't know why it worked but he knew of several instances in which it did. Perhaps the frost free features of the freezer is drawing out the moisture. On the other hand about half the responses said it is likely a lost cause so who knows.
rrinker Even better than rice is silica gel - you know those packets that come in things and say "do not eat" on them? You can actually buy that stuff, I think at craft stores, as it's used to dry flowers. There are at least two issues here - it may still be wet inside. The other is, unless the water was distilled water, as it evaporates it leaves behind impurities that can affect the operation of electronics. Not much you can do for that but take it apart and rinse the boards with isopropyl alcohol (NOT rubbing alcohol). I wouldn't set it in the sun, stick with the rice or silica gel. Does it use a memory card? While the camera may be beyond repair, you may be able to read the memory card and salvage your photos. --Randy
Even better than rice is silica gel - you know those packets that come in things and say "do not eat" on them? You can actually buy that stuff, I think at craft stores, as it's used to dry flowers.
There are at least two issues here - it may still be wet inside. The other is, unless the water was distilled water, as it evaporates it leaves behind impurities that can affect the operation of electronics. Not much you can do for that but take it apart and rinse the boards with isopropyl alcohol (NOT rubbing alcohol).
I wouldn't set it in the sun, stick with the rice or silica gel.
Does it use a memory card? While the camera may be beyond repair, you may be able to read the memory card and salvage your photos.
Well it has been almost two weeks now and I hooked it up to the charger over night. I was encouraged when the "power on" button responded and the lens opened up and extended forward. The problem is the LCD seems to be lost. It lights up but there is no image. Just a gray screen. Without that, the camera is virtually unusable. I tried to see if it would respond to the shutter but that didn't happen either. It is an auto-focus camera so there is a lot going on inside and most of it doesn't seem to be working. I'll give the silica packs a try. I think I have a few of those. If not I'll try the rice. I'll also try googling for a solution but I am not optimistic.
Have heard of people having success drying out a wet cell phone by putting it into a bag of dry rice for awhile, I guess the rice absorbs the moisture, but maybe not a good idea for a camera since it has moving parts. Was going to suggest calling a camera shop for advice, but dawned on me that camera shops are few and far between nowadays. Maybe the mfg. customer service can help.
Good luck and regards, Peter
Mel's comment about the battery gets me thinking that you MIGHT just have only a ruined battery--if it got shorted by the water.
Might.
AFTER you are convinced the camera is totally dried out, put in a new battery and see.
Ed
NYBW-John Since the camera wasn't powered on when this accident occurred, I don't see how it could have fried any of the internal components. Why wouldn't the camera return to functionality once it had dried out.
Since the camera wasn't powered on when this accident occurred, I don't see how it could have fried any of the internal components. Why wouldn't the camera return to functionality once it had dried out.
Well, it wasn't powered until you pushed the power button.........
Water over the dam. Or down the drain........
In the "nothing to lose" department:
Open all the little doors (battery, card),
Put it in the sun,
I think I'll put a MAYBE on the above. You surely don't want it hot. But kind of warm should help evaporation.
Allow a bit of air flow,
To help evaporation,
Do not put it next to a hot air furnace vent,
Or something similar.
Wait. A week seems like a long time. Which it is. But you might be lucky.
While you're waiting, go online to camera forums (DP Review comes to mind) and see what the experts say. Those would be the ones where it happened to them, too. There MIGHT be a way to fix the camera if the "waiting" approach, above, doesn't work.
Who had a camera fall out of his pocket into the Pacific (salty) Ocean. Sniff.
Since digital photography has become a big part of model railroading, I feel this is an appropriate subject for this forum.
I just returned home from a vacation in which I road a number of tourist railroads in upstate New York and New England. At the motel for my fourth stop I was cleaning out the trash that had accumulated in my car, throwing it into a plastic grocery bag. I had my digital camera in the hand I was holding the bag with while I used the other to collect the trash. The camera slipped out my hand and fell in the bag and I thought it was no big deal. I carried the bag into my room and fished the camera out and noticed it was wet. Apparently some melted ice from one of the drink cups had collected in the bottom of the bag. In the short time it took to walk from my car to the room, enough moisture had seeped into the internal workings of the camera to cause problems. The result was the camera was dead. The power on button did not respond nor was there a response when I plugged in the charger. The next morning I was a little encouraged when I attached the charger and the charging light came on but the power button was still not functional. I unplugged the charger after just a few seconds.
I know that water and electronics don't mix and I am not surprised that this would cause problems. It seems to me that if water could readily seep into the internal workings, eventually it should evaporate out. This happened over a week ago. Since the camera wasn't powered on when this accident occurred, I don't see how it could have fried any of the internal components. Why wouldn't the camera return to functionality once it had dried out.
This was not an inexpensive camera so I don't want to just toss it. If it can be saved, I would like to do so. If anyone has any ideas on steps to take that might fix the problem I would appreciate it. Electronics isn't my strong suit but if there is a fix for this I would like to give it a try.