Shoutout to the guy who brought in a soaked Leica M3 from a fishing trip

This happened last Tuesday at my shop in Tacoma. The camera had been fully submerged in saltwater for maybe 20 minutes. He was panicking, thinking it was a total loss. I immediately stripped it down, rinsed every single part in distilled water, and used a hairdryer on the lowest, coolest setting for over an hour just to get the initial moisture out. The real fix was a 48-hour soak in a sealed container with silica gel packs I bought in bulk. The rangefinder mechanism was the trickiest part to dry without leaving residue. Has anyone else had success with a different method for saltwater damage on older mechanical bodies?

3 comments

3 Comments

dixon.mia3d ago

That "slow hairdryer method" comment is spot on. I learned that the hard way when I tried to speed dry a wet lens with a space heater. Ended up with a nice, permanent crusty finish on the glass.

wade_anderson3d ago

Who brings a Leica fishing, was he using it as a depth finder? Sounds like you did everything right, especially that long silica gel bath. I guess @dixon.mia can tell us all why the fast bake method is a bad idea. Honestly, saving a saltwater M3 is a miracle, that camera's probably cleaner now than when he bought it.

parker_hall53d ago

Nice save with the silica gel. I had a similar thing with a Pentax Spotmatic in a river. The slow hairdryer method is key, rushing it just bakes the salt in.