Camera Dipped in Water ( X3)

World Media · Sep 28, 2016

So It was inevitable, I fly close to water a lot, I'm always around water and the scenes I am commissioned to film include a lot of water.
Filming in a beautiful Location on the South Coast of Jamaica. As a film maker that uses a drone ( have been doing for six years) as an amazing additional tool to our filming I often push just a little for a perfect shot.
We have the threat of a direct hit of what will be hurricane Matthew in a few days and I arrived here before my crew and desperate to get aerial film in the can I decided to film alone.
A little rushed, my breakfast was ready! I was trying to film four batteries worth before the wind came up, as it always does here.
Got some decent footage but wanted a nice super close run as water broke over some small rocks.
Just framing when the Inspire dipped from about two feet and just dipped the x3 into the water. Landing gear had not come down. bottom half of the camera was submerged.
the gimbal started going haywire and camera feed stopped.
Immediately got altitude and landed.
No one to blame other than myself.
So I immediately removed the camera, submerged the whole thing in fresh water for a few minutes to rinse the salt water out, then put it into a box of rice.
I have had this work with phones before but i really doubt it will work with the camera and gimbal.
Wondering if i may have damaged the computer on the Inspire too.
Will keep it in the rice for a couple of days and get back to you all with progress.
Spare x3 or new x5 anyone? LOL

licensed pilot · Sep 28, 2016

Where's the underwater video?

World Media · Sep 28, 2016

licensed pilot said:
Where's the underwater video?

As I said .... I was setting up a shot ...

johnmont250 · Sep 28, 2016

ive saved a p3 camera the same way fresh water soak and rinse with a week in a big bag of rice with flawless results and about 5 months of use since.
the only difference being my ac and camera were powered off when it got soaked. I feel lucky there were no water spots on the sensor or inside the lens. good luck, I hope it works!

World Media · Sep 28, 2016

johnmont250 said:
ive saved a p3 camera the same way fresh water soak and rinse with a week in a big bag of rice with flawless results and about 5 months of use since.
the only difference being my ac and camera were powered off when it got soaked. I feel lucky there were no water spots on the sensor or inside the lens. good luck, I hope it works!

Thanks, mine was powered up so we will see what happens in a couple of days! Fingers crossed ..... now we have Hurricane Matthew making what could be a direct hit here!

AeroMirage · Sep 28, 2016

Could have been worse. The whole bird could have flipped over when the camera touched the water. Hope it dries out and works.

jasonthomson · Sep 28, 2016

I had a camera submerged in fresh water before. Once dried out. Every thing worked but the video feed. Strange thing though. The video feed worked on the OSMO
but not the Inspire.

World Media · Sep 28, 2016

jasonthomson said:
I had a camera submerged in fresh water before. Once dried out. Every thing worked but the video feed. Strange thing though. The video feed worked on the OSMO
but not the Inspire.

Jason, did you get a replacement camera to work on the inspire?

World Media · Sep 28, 2016

AeroMirage said:
Could have been worse. The whole bird could have flipped over when the camera touched the water. Hope it dries out and works.

Very true, it was hovering, so a vertical movement, no forward movement.

jasonthomson · Sep 28, 2016

It broke after an update attempt tiring to restore the video signal. Yours could be fine. The inspire was also submerged. So it could have been the problem.

AeroMirage · Sep 28, 2016

World Media said:
Very true, it was hovering, so a vertical movement, no forward movement.

Ahh.. I see. Horizontal movement would have likely flipped it over. Again, hope it dries out to 'see' again.

DrunkenCynic · Sep 30, 2016

I submerged mine offshore while taking pictures, got caught with a swell, the camera was a write off, I still have it, in case I need to scavenge the shell, but I did have to replace it with a new camera. Was so calm , and the sunrises so nice....had to try to get low though, lol, cost a pretty penny for nice pictures

Tubbyengineer · Oct 1, 2016

Rice will actually slow down the drying of the camera - better to keep a steady airflow over it or pack it in an airtight container with several bags of dessicant and change those out regularly, the danger here is that you'll be tempted to try the camera too soon and power it up while it's still damp. You could always try to get the camera professionally cleaned and dried - or and I'm unsure of the adisability of this on a camera - you could rinse it out with Isopropyl Alcohol. I've used that on other electronics that have had water in them and it does work, but I've never tried it with a camera.

Larry V · Oct 2, 2016

jasonthomson said:
I had a camera submerged in fresh water before. Once dried out. Every thing worked but the video feed. Strange thing though. The video feed worked on the OSMO
but not the Inspire.

Did you ever get the video feed back on the inspire ?

World Media · Oct 4, 2016

so the camera gimbal works even reads the SD card but no picture. guess i need to buy a new camera....... should I update to the X5 while Im at it? is it really worth it? opinions welcome

AeroMirage · Oct 4, 2016

I started with the X3 and upgraded to the X5. I kept both for awhile but sold off the X3 since I was not using it at all. Last time I did use it, I was A/B-ing the two cameras and the X3 had terrible breakup, green screen, latency, etc. So I got rid of it. Haven't looked back once. Haven't had those troubles yet with the X5, and I read plenty of posts about those issues with the X3. Seem to be heat related.
In my opinion, the X3 is a toy compared to the X5.

spero · Oct 8, 2016

I film over water a lot and almost did the same thing a few times. The inspire tends to lose altitude while in motion over water. The only thing that saved me last time was the landing gear notification. I see it doesn't drop like that ovevland so for some reason it appears to be just a flight over water issue. I guess I should clarify and say low flight over water issue. I noticed this when I'm under 20 feet and moving at a pretty good rate of speed. I also have an X3 that I'm not using if you want to throw me a couple bucks I'd be glad to send it to you really cheap.

Dobmatt · Oct 10, 2016

Or - perhaps - modify your bird like this ...
No, this will not do you any good when flying low and fast

... Seriously, I tend to agree that the mythical bag of rice will actually slow the drying process. My bird did flip'n'dip once for about 30 sec ... I took literally everything apart, let it bake in a sunny breeze for a day, put it back together and the miracle happen. It's alive and well! Water was glacier clear, I must confess ...