This is Your (Well Our) Camera at Burning Man
In the repair department, there are things we hate. Salt water for cameras and lenses, salt water and sand for tripods and lenses. Sand in legs of the zoom mechanism of lenses ruins threads, they’ll never be smooth again.
Right behind those two is dust. Dust doesn’t always destroy equipment, but dust in equipment ruins pictures and can ruin circuit boards. So we hate Burning Man. The fine alkali dust that gets in everything at Burning Man isn’t as bad as sand and salt water – but it’s up there. Every year we tell people to take cheap or disposable equipment to Burning Man. It’s probably going to be ruined, and you aren’t going to like the charges. And every year people say, “It’s just dust.”
Side note for future renters. If you don’t want to take your own equipment into an area where you know it will be ruined, don’t rent our equipment and assume the Lenscap policy will cover you. It does not cover gross negligence, reckless, or intentional damage. Lenscap is designed as coverage for any accidents you may encounter, not as a way to avoid having to take common sense precautions when using our equipment in inhospitable conditions.
Since we’ve been doing a lot of Burning Man cleanup, we thought we’d share what a typical item goes through. Maybe some of you will pick up some cleaning pointers. Others may get some logical respect for dust. And some others will enjoy a peak inside the Nikon D810 that is the subject of this little post. I’ll warn you on the front end: this isn’t a teardown with great pictures. These are quick captures while we were working so there may be some motion blur and bad lighting.
So here’s a couple of views of our weary traveler as we received it.
Before we did anything else, particularly opening the port covers, we spent 15 minutes blowing and brushing the easily removed dust off. Pardon the blur, but it gives you a general idea of what’s left.
It’s not looking great yet; that’s for sure. But we felt like we could open the ports and look at the connections. There’s still lots of caked on dust, but it’s not loose enough to fall into things. We could have used some wet cloths and things at this point and gotten off some more dust, but we didn’t want to add moisture to the equation yet.
I’m not saying that’s not an entirely acceptable option, but our primary goal at this point will be getting dust out of the inside and for that we wanted things as dry as possible.
The battery compartment, memory card slots, and the area around all the I/O ports had plenty of dust inside, so we knew further disassembly would be required.
We have kind of a love-hate relationship with disassembling Nikon cameras. The good part is they are very logically laid out and assembled, with each panel coming off by itself which makes disassembly a joy. The bad part is Nikon has a policy of using as many different sized screws as is humanly possible, making it necessary to keep incredibly organized.
For example, there are nine screws of 5 different sizes holding on the bottom plate. This may be because they’ve carefully engineered the best possible screw at each location to provide the most strength. It may just be because they hate us. I’ll never know.
As each panel was removed, we saw the same thing; the rubber weather resistant seals stopped the majority of the dust. In most of the pictures below you can see beige areas along the rubber seals that are caked dust. Beyond the seals, inside the camera, there are loose dust particles that got through, but the vast majority was kept out.
Overall, I’m impressed with how much dust did NOT get inside the camera. But there was still way more inside than was acceptable. One thing I should note is around every port and opening there was more dust close, and less dust further away from the opening. If there had been relatively even distribution, we might consider that it all came in through the mirror box or viewfinder or something. But I’m comfortable some dust got in from every possible access.
It doesn’t show well in pictures of this size, but while there was a little dust on the PCBs underneath all those covers, it wasn’t an enormous amount. We blew it off, of course, but it wasn’t bad. Each of the plates and seals that we removed were cleaned inside and out after removal.
Here are a couple of crops from the main PCB and internal back cover to give you an idea of what I describe as ‘light dust’ inside. It’s more than acceptable but probably wouldn’t cause any damage.
I haven’t mentioned it, but all of the rubber grip material was removed, too. There was no way to try to clean it well in place. At this point were pretty happy with what we’d seen. There was a lot of dust in the viewfinder assembly, but not too much had gotten into the rest of the camera. We were expecting worse, though. When you see this kind of dust under the lens cap…
…and in the mirror box, you figure the front of the camera is going to be worse than the back.
That makes sense since it’s the most exposed. It’s also the bigger problem since it’s in the optical path. On to the quick picture, just to thank Nikon for the ease with which the front and top cover assemblies come off in their cameras.
The front assembly itself and the lower (base plate side) of the front of the camera weren’t horribly dusty, although worse than the back.
But the area above the lens mount and under the flash was badly caked with dust. This isn’t surprising since this area is open to the viewfinder, the lens mount, and the flash assembly, so there’re lots of ways for the dust to get in.
This is especially a problem because there are lots of mechanicals in here that don’t like dust: springs, mirror, and shutter motor gears, etc.
When we took the top off, the same thing was apparent. Lots of dust got in the top center area and seemed thickest in the parts we didn’t want it in: motors, gears, the optical prism, and electro-mechanical dials and switches.
One thing we did notice at the top; there wasn’t a lot of dust right around the rubber seals, and the distribution was more even, which makes me think most of this came in from the front panel and around the viewfinder assembly rather than directly through the top seals.
And Then…
Well, I won’t bore you with 762 eight-by-ten color glossies of what we did there at the Group B bench. But there was much Rocket blowing, many Q-tips were sacrificed, the sensor, AF sensor, and mirror box were wet-and-dry-and-wet-and-dry cleaned. Toothpicks cleaned gears and springs. And much time (about 2 hours) passed. After which everything inside looked shiny clean and new.
Here’s the camera reassembled, but still missing the rubber grips which are more difficult to clean than the insides.
To give you an idea of how difficult, here’re two pieces as they sit currently. Both have been washed with soap and water. The larger part has also had a vinegar-water wash (that works with alkali dust) and toothbrush scrubbing. We’ll try one a few more things but at this point, I think we may lose this part of the battle and have to replace the rubber. But the camera itself is working fine.
Because someone will ask what we do know, the camera will go into service as a testing camera here for at least a few weeks (probably 8,000 shots) to let any remaining dust work its way into the mirror box and/or viewfinder and get cleaned again.
So now you see part of the reason why I’m so cynical when people tell me their camera was caked with dust and dirt but they cleaned it off, and it’s fine. The outside of this camera could have been cleaned (well, maybe not the rubber grips). But it wouldn’t have for all that long – those dust encased springs, gears, and switches would have started misfunctioning sooner rather than later.
Protect your gear, my friends. Plastic bags, rubber bands, and tape are your friends. Dust, water, and sand are your enemies.
Roger Cicala and Aaron Closz
Lensrentals.com
September, 2016
158 Comments
Zach Sutton Photography ·
Renting gear for the sole purpose to destroying it at a festival is some next level irresponsibility.
Glad to see this Nikon was able to survive.
Jochen Römling ·
I truly hope that those two hours of painful repairwork were invoiced to the customer at premium rate!
Ed Bambrick ·
Who’d thunk there be dust at burning man?
http://petapixel.com/2016/09/17/dreamlike-photos-burning-man-victor-habchy/#disqus_thread
Zach Sutton Photography ·
Renting gear for the sole purpose to destroying it at a festival is some next level irresponsibility.
Glad to see this Nikon was able to survive.
Arthur Meursault ·
Who'd thunk there be dust at burning man?
http://petapixel.com/2016/0...
Halfrack ·
I wonder how the AW1’s held up. At least you would dunk the whole thing multiple times (and never change the lens).
Halfrack ·
I wonder how the AW1's held up. At least you would dunk the whole thing multiple times (and never change the lens).
p.rock ·
I felt my rage rising just by reading the title, so I was glad to get to your third paragraph. Always appreciate seeing a company stand up for itself when bad people try to take advantage of it.
tjholowaychuk ·
Wow you let people return in this condition? I would be like fuckkk no
Drew Cicala ·
We do charge the customers, obviously. But we definitely don’t want the same person who decided to return it in this condition trying to clean it themselves, so we accept the return and try and fix things as best we can.
Kai Little ·
How much was the charge for this cleaning/repair?
Drew Cicala ·
We do charge the customers, obviously. But we definitely don't want the same person who decided to return it in this condition trying to clean it themselves, so we accept the return and try and fix things as best we can.
Intermodális Csomópont ·
…and there is a cheap, refurbished D810.
Tim Cooper ·
Not that I want to do it, but I’m curious if you rent a protective setup that would be sufficient for Burning Man, or if not what you would recommend.
christopherboffoli ·
Seems to me as though a watertight housing would be the best way to go.
Roger Cicala ·
AGreed!!!
Edna Bambrick ·
Roger, do you ever cover the problems associated with dew points? I keep my house at 68 most of the time and if I were to take a good lens out into a 73 degree dew point, a lot of condensation will form on the cold glass in both the interior and exterior of the lens. It occurs to me that the drops can be large enough to form rings when the water dries and comes up to temp. My solution is to put my gear in a clear dry bag while inside and then place it outside until it comes up to near ambient temperature (usually an hour or so) to avoid the issue.
alistair ·
An underwater housing would probably help but they’re pretty heavy and at their weakest in shallow water (there’s less pressure holding it closed).
I reckon you want an expensive aluminium one (e.g. Nauticam) with a leak detector that relies on the case being slightly lower pressure than ambient outside rather than a cheaper perspex one (e.g. Ikelite).
Of course temperature changes would play havoc too. So maybe one of those plastic bag things from Ewa-Marine would be best.
Tim Cooper ·
Not that I want to do it, but I'm curious if you rent a protective setup that would be sufficient for Burning Man, or if not what you would recommend.
Jim A. ·
In the future, you might try a good shop vac with the soft brush attachment on the end as a first step, it will get quite a lot of the loose stuff off, and if you have the right filter inside the vacuum (HEPA), the dust will stay where it belongs. I have never personally put it to the test like your customer forced you guys to, but it sure cleans the dash and radio in my truck a lot better than anything else. Compressed air just redistributes the dust, and you have to deal with it everywhere else. Better to suck it up and get it out of the area. It’s never going to get THAT camera clean, but it’ll get you part way. I have to add, that particular renter would go on my “blacklist”. Hell, I’d charge $300.00 just as punishment, before I added parts and labor.
Jim A. ·
In the future, you might try a good shop vac with the soft brush attachment on the end as a first step, it will get quite a lot of the loose stuff off, and if you have the right filter inside the vacuum (HEPA), the dust will stay where it belongs. I have never personally put it to the test like your customer forced you guys to, but it sure cleans the dash and radio in my truck a lot better than anything else. Compressed air just redistributes the dust, and you have to deal with it everywhere else. Better to suck it up and get it out of the area. It's never going to get THAT camera clean, but it'll get you part way. I have to add, that particular renter would go on my "blacklist". Hell, I'd charge $300.00 just as punishment, before I added parts and labor.
tim jones ·
Douche Man
Mike Carnevale ·
That is soooo sad, I would love that camera!
John Krill ·
When I was in Vietnam in 69 our photo-lab was located in an area where there was a very, very fine soil. It got into everything, including the water. No filters in 1969 could get all of this dirt out of the water. Result was very fine dirt embedded in our color film. With b&w we could wipe it off before drying but with color you can’t do any wiping.
My own Nikon F and lenses had this brown soil on it for years after coming home. I think I can still find the stuff on my 28mm lens.
RVN SF VET ·
In 1965, most of my lenses came back with fungus in them. Returning from the field, we just dropped our equipment and walked into the hot showers (improvised by genius sergeants) with our fatigues on.
John Krill ·
When I was in Vietnam in 69 our photo-lab was located in an area where there was a very, very fine soil. It got into everything, including the water. No filters in 1969 could get all of this dirt out of the water. Result was very fine dirt embedded in our color film. With b&w we could wipe it off before drying but with color you can't do any wiping.
My own Nikon F and lenses had this brown soil on it for years after coming home. I think I can still find the stuff on my 28mm lens.
Roger Cicala ·
AGreed!!!
Arthur Meursault ·
Roger, do you ever cover the problems associated with dew points? I keep my house at 68 most of the time and if I were to take a good lens out into a 73 degree dew point, a lot of condensation will form on the cold glass in both the interior and exterior of the lens. It occurs to me that the drops can be large enough to form rings when the water dries and comes up to temp. My solution is to put my gear in a clear dry bag while inside and then place it outside until it comes up to near ambient temperature (usually an hour or so) to avoid the issue.
Pod ·
A friend of mine came back from there, and he basically said that if I ever am to go (not likely – I’m definitely not in the demographic…) to take photos of the (spectacular) desert scenery, I should bring a camera I am willing to sacrifice.
Pod ·
A friend of mine came back from there, and he basically said that if I ever am to go (not likely - I'm definitely not in the demographic...) to take photos of the (spectacular) desert scenery, I should bring a camera I am willing to sacrifice.
alistair ·
An underwater housing would probably help but they're pretty heavy and at their weakest in shallow water (there's less pressure holding it closed).
I reckon you want an expensive aluminium one (e.g. Nauticam) with a leak detector that relies on the case being slightly lower pressure than ambient outside rather than a cheaper perspex one (e.g. Ikelite).
Of course temperature changes would play havoc too. So maybe one of those plastic bag things from Ewa-Marine would be best.
John Dillworth ·
Roger, Love your company and you are a nice guy. Your run a nice business and charge a fair price. I suspect, regretfully, you choose not to do repeat business with some folks. Hopefully this renter is one of them. I fail to understand how a human could return this thing and just assume you would clean up their mess. I’ve worked most of my life in customer service related businesses of one form or another. My experience has been 99% of people are nice and the other 1% you can’t do anything about, it not your fault. Glad you can make a teaching point of this. I am infuriated
Michael Clark ·
In all fairness to at least some of the renters who do this, Roger has stated at times that the renter will contact them before returning the equipment and fess up about what happened and that they didn’t expect the results they got. Roger and other lensrentals representatives have always said they’d rather the item be returned and allow the LR team to work on it that for the renter make things worse by trying to take it apart and fix it themselves.
John Dillworth ·
Roger, Love your company and you are a nice guy. Your run a nice business and charge a fair price. I suspect, regretfully, you choose not to do repeat business with some folks. Hopefully this renter is one of them. I fail to understand how a human could return this thing and just assume you would clean up their mess. I've worked most of my life in customer service related businesses of one form or another. My experience has been 99% of people are nice and the other 1% you can't do anything about, it not your fault. Glad you can make a teaching point of this. I am infuriated
Michael Clark ·
In all fairness to at least some of the renters who do this, Roger has stated at times that the renter will contact them before returning the equipment and fess up about what happened and that they didn't expect the results they got. Roger and other lensrentals representatives have always said they'd rather the item be returned and allow the LR team to work on it that for the renter make things worse by trying to take it apart and fix it themselves.
Jim_Feeley ·
Haven’t been to burning man, but in other dusty environments (that –might– be comparable to the northern Nevada playa), we used an ewa-marine water bag/housing with success.
There’s also this method. https://youtu.be/lrdkFXsr5Us?t=27s
Zos Xavius ·
I just did that this morning! Its in the microwave drying now. 🙂
Ed Bambrick ·
The Greeks use Windex. I saw a movie about that once.
Jim_Feeley ·
Haven't been to burning man, but in other dusty environments (that --might-- be comparable to the northern Nevada playa), we used an ewa-marine water bag/housing with success.
There's also this method. https://youtu.be/lrdkFXsr5U...
Zos Xavius ·
I just did that this morning! Its in the microwave drying now. :)
Arthur Meursault ·
The Greeks use Windex. I saw a movie about that once.
James ·
no lens?
LAB 2.35:1 ·
What a turd this customer is. My hat’s off to you and your team, Roger.
On a side note… 15+ years ago, one of my teams responsible for Verizon Pager devision, had to recondition about 100 pagers for a hospital when there was a shortage from a supplier. One genius kid disassembled all the pagers and… wait for it… BOILED (!!!) the plastic cases and some of the rubber seals and buttons! Pagers looked new when they put them back together. Where there’s a will there’s a way… but I’m surprised you guys haven’t written this one off as a loss and charged the douchebag accordingly.
Athanasius Kirchner ·
Wait, so the pagers were fine? I don’t understand 🙁
LAB 2.35:1 ·
Looked like new after they put them back together, no issues.
Athanasius Kirchner ·
I see, that’s incredible.
I sometimes feel like the choice of materials in electronics has gone backwards in the last decade.
phill luckhurst ·
Really not nice to make such remarks when you do not know the full story. We do not know what happened, we do not know whether it was simply an accident, whether it was someone else’s fault or whether it was a case of neglect. We were not there when the camera was returned. If the customer was polite and apologetic, or a complete tool is something that lensrentals are too professional to state. All we can do is speculate and hopefully learn.
Just as an example, my own camera got similar damage once on a beach in Tenerife. It happened when the zip on my camera bag broke and the body fell onto the sand. Many people walked past almost burying it before I noticed. I fixed it myself but I am good at that sort of thing. Took me hours all because of a tooth missing on the zip causing it to pop open under load.
LAB 2.35:1 ·
Maybe not very nice of me, sure. But… please don’t tell me that this sort of damage happened by dropping camera in the sand at a beach for a few minutes/hours. I’ve done that myself. This isn’t what your camera will look like after a simple “accident” This is super fine dust/dirt particles that are oh-so-standard in the NV desert that are CAKED IN by manhandling the camera with your hands and rubbing those particles into every rubber surface and crevice! This is a result of repeated, LONG term abuse and total neglect for hours and likely days on end. There is NO QUESTION about it. “Someone else’s fault”??? What are you in 3rd grade? An adult with a conscience, a bit bit of self respect, and at least common sense would at least have the decency to wipe the smooth surfaces off (like the viewfinder, battery compartment, the body cap, etc.) to at show that they care, even the slightest. At least show an attempt to clean something regardless of how the carnage happened. This is blatant abuse, lack of any respect for the renter, and just plain arrogance.
You know what this is? It’s this… bringing your rental back to Enterprise in this condition and smiling at a counter while giving the key back to the clerk, because you know… you bought “full coverage”. Sorry dude, I don’t buy your defense. The guy with that 810 is a turd, plain and simple.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/088cda342773a3ecf6b97557370039def3d9e41bfc8301e947eccdf5e13bbe69.jpg
phill luckhurst ·
Having been in the repair industry myself I would rather someone return the camera in a state after an accident than them totally knacker it trying to fix it themselves. Seen that many times and the disastrous results. No need for the insults to me or the accused, as I said the customer may have walked in offering to pay for damage, or may have just posted it back. We simply do not know. How the user dealt with it is what counts.
Like I said, I dropped my camera in the sand where it lay for a few hours with people kicking more sand and dust over it all that time. It looked a lot like this camera. It is my kit and I would not have knowingly treated it in any bad way, I was gutted when I saw it but glad I managed to sort it without too much pain.
DONOTUNPLUG ·
What a turd this customer is. My hat's off to you and your team, Roger.
On a side note... 15+ years ago, one of my teams responsible for Verizon Pager devision, had to recondition about 100 pagers for a hospital when there was a shortage from a supplier. One genius kid disassembled all the pagers and... wait for it... BOILED (!!!) the plastic cases and some of the rubber seals and buttons! Pagers looked new when they put them back together. Where there's a will there's a way... but I'm surprised you guys haven't written this one off as a loss and charged the douchebag accordingly.
Athanasius Kirchner ·
Wait, so the pagers were fine? I don't understand :(
DONOTUNPLUG ·
Looked like new after they put them back together, no issues.
Athanasius Kirchner ·
I see, that's incredible.
I sometimes feel like the choice of materials in electronics has gone backwards in the last decade.
phill luckhurst ·
Really not nice to make such remarks when you do not know the full story. We do not know what happened, we do not know whether it was simply an accident, whether it was someone else's fault or whether it was a case of neglect. We were not there when the camera was returned. If the customer was polite and apologetic, or a complete tool is something that lensrentals are too professional to state. All we can do is speculate and hopefully learn.
Just as an example, my own camera got similar damage once on a beach in Tenerife. It happened when the zip on my camera bag broke and the body fell onto the sand. Many people walked past almost burying it before I noticed. I fixed it myself but I am good at that sort of thing. Took me hours all because of a tooth missing on the zip causing it to pop open under load.
DONOTUNPLUG ·
Maybe not very nice of me, sure. But... please don't tell me that this sort of damage happened by dropping camera in the sand at a beach for a few minutes/hours. I've done that myself. This isn't what your camera will look like after a simple "accident" This is super fine dust/dirt particles that are oh-so-standard in the NV desert that are CAKED IN by manhandling the camera with your hands and rubbing those particles into every rubber surface and crevice! This is a result of repeated, LONG term abuse and total neglect for hours and likely days on end. There is NO QUESTION about it. "Someone else's fault"??? What are you in 3rd grade? An adult with a conscience, a bit bit of self respect, and at least common sense would at least have the decency to wipe the smooth surfaces off (like the viewfinder, battery compartment, the body cap, etc.) to at show that they care, even the slightest. At least show an attempt to clean something regardless of how the carnage happened. This is blatant abuse, lack of any respect for the renter, and just plain arrogance.
You know what this is? It's this... bringing your rental back to Enterprise in this condition and smiling at a counter while giving the key back to the clerk, because you know... you bought "full coverage". Sorry dude, I don't buy your defense. The guy with that 810 is a turd, plain and simple.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c...
phill luckhurst ·
Having been in the repair industry myself I would rather someone return the camera in a state after an accident than them totally knacker it trying to fix it themselves. Seen that many times and the disastrous results. No need for the insults to me or the accused, as I said the customer may have walked in offering to pay for damage, or may have just posted it back. We simply do not know. How the user dealt with it is what counts.
Like I said, I dropped my camera in the sand where it lay for a few hours with people kicking more sand and dust over it all that time. It looked a lot like this camera. It is my kit and I would not have knowingly treated it in any bad way, I was gutted when I saw it but glad I managed to sort it without too much pain.
VSG ·
Ouch, I can only imagine Roger throwing a fit and dancing his anger out.
Kampy ·
I have 2 Nikon bodies that have survived 6 Burning Mans. If you use basic common sense (keep them stored away in a case/bag when not in use, and don’t have it out during a dust storm) it’s no problem. Clearly, the person who rented that D810 didn’t use common sense
David Julian ·
Yes, common sense and a bit of compassion for the rental company!
Kampy ·
I have 2 Nikon bodies that have survived 6 Burning Mans. If you use basic common sense (keep them stored away in a case/bag when not in use, and don't have it out during a dust storm) it's no problem. Clearly, the person who rented that D810 didn't use common sense
Luke Szczepanski ·
Photographed Burning Man for 6 years straight. Never had a camera body fail on me. But it never looked like this after the event – I do care about my gear – I don’t shoot in dust storms and the camera goes back into the backpack when not in use.
It’s sad to see when someone trashes gear like this – I sure hope they paid $$$ for the clean up.
Luke S ·
Photographed Burning Man for 6 years straight. Never had a camera body fail on me. But it never looked like this after the event - I do care about my gear - I don't shoot in dust storms and the camera goes back into the backpack when not in use.
It's sad to see when someone trashes gear like this - I sure hope they paid $$$ for the clean up.
James Vincent Paquette ·
You think that’s bad, you should see the case of chlamydia he brought back from burning man!
Edna Bambrick ·
They make a protective case for that too. He’s probably just not the cautious type.
James Vincent Paquette ·
Well played.
Jay K. ·
You mean, “well playa-ed.”
Huggy Bear ·
You mean, "well playa-ed."
Omesh Singh ·
Burning man or burning manhood?
James Vincent Paquette ·
You think that's bad, you should see the case of chlamydia he brought back from burning man!
Arthur Meursault ·
They make a protective case for that too. He's probably just not the cautious type.
the_ownage ·
you guys should ban people like that from renting.
Frank Schiffel ·
Nice, are certain bodies more survivable than others? Say the top end that say they and lenses are sealed?Good repair write up though.
John Driscoll ·
Is that rust?
Roger Cicala ·
No, although it does look like it now that you pointed it out. It’s the coppery colored flex like you see in the top front, but in shadow and covered with dust.
Kai Little ·
Can I ask what you charged this customer for the camera detailing?
Roger Cicala ·
Kai, I don’t know the charge in dollars, but it was about 5 hours or technician time plus new rubber grips (we just never got the cleaned). Technician time is not cheap.
Roger Cicala ·
Kai, I don't know the charge in dollars, but it was about 5 hours or technician time plus new rubber grips (we just never got the cleaned). Technician time is not cheap.
Roger Cicala ·
No, although it does look like it now that you pointed it out. It's the coppery colored flex like you see in the top front, but in shadow and covered with dust.
Carl Eberhart ·
Very impressed with the cleaning effort, Roger and Aaron! I had no idea this camera was from Lensrentals, but I should have guessed, lol ! I just hope I don’t wind up with this particular camera. I am wanting to rent a D810 (my first D810 rental ever) about a month from now.
Carl Eberhart ·
Very impressed with the cleaning effort, Roger and Aaron! I had no idea this camera was from Lensrentals, but I should have guessed, lol ! I just hope I don't wind up with this particular camera. I am wanting to rent a D810 (my first D810 rental ever) about a month from now.
Peter Kelly ·
You have my intense admiration!
To be faced with such criminal neglect must take enormous restraint (I’d have been finding out if the camera body could still withstand an impact against his skull…).
More significant, you have such patience and dedication as I would have immediately regarded this as a write off and dropped it into the nearest bin. To resurrect it is spectacular!
Peter Kelly ·
You have my intense admiration!
To be faced with such criminal neglect must take enormous restraint (I'd have been finding out if the camera body could still withstand an impact against his skull...).
More significant, you have such patience and dedication as I would have immediately regarded this as a write off and dropped it into the nearest bin. To resurrect it is spectacular!
Stanislaw Zolczynski ·
How come, weather sealed cameras stop the heavy rain but let the dust in?
Zos Xavius ·
Because they are light seals. These cameras also have to allow air to enter and leave the body at various places because zoom lenses displace air when zoomed. A lot of the pentax cameras let air breathe around the viewfinder for instance.
Stanislaw Zolczynski ·
Would that mean that zooming in and out weatherised lens in torrential rain would suck the water in? What about lenses with internal zoom mechanism?
Zos Xavius ·
yeah you can suck in water. i have once with at least one weather sealed lens that fogged up immediately. most seem to allow air to flow around the front element which should be hopefully protected by a deep hood anyways. Its just something to be aware of. I’ve had the top plate LCD fog from moisture ingress and the camera still survived. I would be wary of torrential rain to be honest. At the same time I’ve left cameras on tripods in the rain for long periods of time and had no real issues.
Zos Xavius ·
yeah you can suck in water. i have once with at least one weather sealed lens that fogged up immediately. most seem to allow air to flow around the front element which should be hopefully protected by a deep hood anyways. Its just something to be aware of. I've had the top plate LCD fog from moisture ingress and the camera still survived. I would be wary of torrential rain to be honest. At the same time I've left cameras on tripods in the rain for long periods of time and had no real issues.
Roger Cicala ·
Stanislaw, that’s a good question. I’m sure a lot of it is because the dust particles are lighter and moving with air while raindrops tend to fall through the air; and air does circulate through the cameras.
I’m sure there’s far more involved. Water surface tension might let water creep in some cracks that dust would ignore. But obviously dust gets in all types of gear pretty easily.
Stanislaw Zolczynski ·
I`m sure my old Nikonos II would pass the Burning Man test with flying colors. Pity Nikon doesn´t make a digital Nikonos
pest ·
Why can Zeiss protect there lenses from super small dust but Nikon can’t protect there bodys?
lenspire.zeiss.com/en/wheater-sealing
If the viewfinder and flash are the weak points of the body, it’s a engeneering thing to fix that. But the ports aren’t sealed too.
Roger Cicala ·
Stanislaw, that's a good question. I'm sure a lot of it is because the dust particles are lighter and moving with air while raindrops tend to fall through the air; and air does circulate through the cameras.
I'm sure there's far more involved. Water surface tension might let water creep in some cracks that dust would ignore. But obviously dust gets in all types of gear pretty easily.
pest ·
Why can Zeiss protect there lenses from super small dust but Nikon can't protect there bodys?
lenspire.zeiss.com/en/wheat...
If the viewfinder and flash are the weak points of the body, it's a engeneering thing to fix that. But the ports aren't sealed too.
Yolande Hanna ·
Venus Factor Xtreme Review – Time To Link Up! Physical Product, Low Refund
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtjPaQfXZCg
Zos Xavius ·
I’m actually amazed that you were able to break this camera down, clean it, and reassemble it in 2 hours or so. That’s efficiency! Have you ever thought about doing repairs for people? You have a better lens testing setup than most factory service centers.
Zos Xavius ·
I'm actually amazed that you were able to break this camera down, clean it, and reassemble it in 2 hours or so. That's efficiency! Edit: I'm actually also impressed with Nikon's sealing. Given the amount of dust the camera was coated in, not a lot really got beyond the seals. I was expecting this to look way worse. This is why you should CLA your camera from time to time if you are a working professional and can afford it. Dust and debris are what kills the mechanical internals. That said I have two cameras with close to 100,000 clicks that I've used over several years and they still work great though one of them has now a few specks of dust trapped under the sensor cover glass. I rarely use the camera now, so there's not point in fixing it.
Have you ever thought about doing repairs for people? You have a better lens testing setup than most factory service centers.
J. Effingham Bellweather ·
I can’t believe just how inconsiderate, irresponsible and asinine some customers are. Tip of the hat to you Roger and your outstanding professionals at LRs.
J. Effingham Bellweather ·
I can't believe just how inconsiderate, irresponsible and asinine some customers are. Tip of the hat to you Roger and your outstanding professionals at LRs.
Claudia Muster ·
Laypersons are usually not aware how difficult it is to make a seal dust proof. Even if something is perfectly water sealed it still may let in dust (reason: dust doesn’t have surface tension). So even an underwater housing may not be dust proof.
nikonian ·
I shoot motocross and the fine sand out here isn’t your beach sand. It is a much finer powder. The stuff is killer and will get through protection. If you are using a zoom lens with a moving front element, that stuff will get inside whether you bag the lens or not. This is also why I don’t rent gear. My stuff is screwed up enough.
Claudia Muster ·
Laypersons are usually not aware how difficult it is to make a seal dust proof. Even if something is perfectly water sealed it still may let in dust (reason: dust doesn't have surface tension). So even an underwater housing may not be dust proof.
nikonian ·
I shoot motocross and the fine sand out here isn't your beach sand. It is a much finer powder. The stuff is killer and will get through protection. If you are using a zoom lens with a moving front element, that stuff will get inside whether you bag the lens or not. This is also why I don't rent gear. My stuff is screwed up enough.
Lloyd Harner ·
underwater housing 😉 also good at burning man
Lloyd Harner ·
underwater housing ;) also good at burning man
Greg Dunn ·
Just curious – how do you guys clean the first-surface mirror? I know that coating is fragile as can be; you can’t use a brush, and I don’t think compressed air would remove anything which adhered to it.
Roger Cicala ·
Greg, blowing with a Rocket blower, then very very gently with a sensor swab and pure alcohol. And sometimes gently isn’t gentle enough. It is, as you say, very delicate.
Greg Dunn ·
Thanks, Roger!
Greg Dunn ·
Just curious - how do you guys clean the first-surface mirror? I know that coating is fragile as can be; you can't use a brush, and I don't think compressed air would remove anything which adhered to it.
Roger Cicala ·
Greg, blowing with a Rocket blower, then very very gently with a sensor swab and pure alcohol. And sometimes gently isn't gentle enough. It is, as you say, very delicate.
Edna Bambrick ·
There’s only one excuse to ruin a camera at Burning Man. Her*.
*not my photo
Dan Pedraza ·
well while she’s very beautiful highly unlikely that most are going anywhere with her other than a photograph
Ed Bambrick ·
With that kind of attitude going in of course it won’t work out. think positive Dan. Have high aspirations and sometimes you surprise yourself. My motto, “It’s dirty work but someone’s got to do it. Might as well be me.”
ciestas ·
That’s the actress from that Tokyo Drift movie. How do you go from acting to being topless at burning man? Well, I suppose I shouldn’t complain.
Arthur Meursault ·
There's only one excuse to ruin a camera at Burning Man. Her*.
*not my photo - Scott London's
Dan Pedraza ·
well while she's very beautiful highly unlikely that most are going anywhere with her other than a photograph
Arthur Meursault ·
With that kind of attitude going in of course it won't work out. think positive Dan. Have high aspirations and sometimes you surprise yourself. My motto, "It's dirty work but someone's got to do it. Might as well be me."
ciestas ·
That's the actress from that Tokyo Drift movie. How do you go from acting to being topless at burning man? Well, I suppose I shouldn't complain.
Frank Fremerey ·
thank you & I hope there are not many customers who handle your gear so badly…
Frank Fremerey ·
thank you & I hope there are not many customers who handle your gear so badly...
Chris Attebery ·
Douche level 99+
John Parulis ·
Lack of respect and selfish disregard. Hope you guys charged for this. I’ve been to burning man a bunch of times. Still cameras always encased in an underwater housing. Video cams always brought out during calm weather and protected with plastic wrapping. Never a problem with either cam. There is a mix of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly at Burning Man.
John Parulis ·
Lack of respect and selfish disregard. Hope you guys charged for this. I've been to burning man a bunch of times. Still cameras always encased in an underwater housing. Video cams always brought out during calm weather and protected with plastic wrapping. Never a problem with either cam. There is a mix of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly at Burning Man.
Doug ·
I guess I’m a little confused. I insure all my photo equipment with a comprehensive, no deductible, 100% of the purchase price, no questions asked policy for $79/year. You guys charge about that for insurance for a one week rental of one piece of equipment. In other words, you grossly overcharge for insurance. Isn’t a disaster like this simply the cost of doing a business like yours? Rental car companies sell comprehensive policies, for example, and they are similarly grossly overpriced, I assume to compensate for the occasional insanely irresponsible driver. I imagine they would choose not to rent to that particular driver again, just as I am sure you will not rent to this particular photographer again. So what’s the beef?
jeffp3456 ·
Where do you get such cheap insurance? I would like to call them.
Doctor Nick ·
Consumer versus commercial insurance.
Alfonso C. Betancort ·
No insurace policy, even if it says “no questions asked”, by definition would make the insurer or underwriter cover any damages to the insured property ( also known as the insured’s interest) due to: in most cases aggravated negligence, never in case of gross negligence or voluntary acts by the insured party or that of any person or persons who he or her has trusted the insured property to.
And that is by definition. In the case that insured’s interest being covered against damages that caused directly or indirectly by the insured party: Insurance companies are forbidden by law to extend cover to any damages that directly or indirectly arise or are aggravated due to voluntary actions, omissions, gross negligence and in most cases, not necessarily all, aggravated negligence of the insured party, its agents, representatives, or anyone acting on its behalf with its consent. Because it’s no longer considered accidental damage but voluntary or looked after.
If you read the small print of the insurance policy for your gear you will find this clearly stated.
That it’s why when you have your car insured against any type of damage (including the one inflicted by you to your car ) if you get into a collision and you are (and not both parties) are charged and found guilty of a DUI the first thing you lose is the coverage to any damages suffered by your car, then goes your own coverage to your medical expenses, lost income and permanent injuries that you had in your own policy for the driver.
Moreover you or your state will most probably be liable for all expenses and disbursement made by your insurance company under your policy and the law to any third party that had suffered any damages due to the collision which settlement has been entered by your insurance company in good faith and approved by judge (due to most probable wording in your policy they will not even have to ask you if you want to settle or not).
You may ask why? The answer is straight forward, besides committing a crime, you almost certainly committed what it’s called GROSS NEGLIGENCE when you sat on the car Under the Influence… the moment you did that all coverages against damages you had to own property (including yourself) were automatically nullified — by the gross negligence. And at the same time you actions opened the door for your insurance company to try recover any damages and expenses from the party that caused the collision (the collision is no longer an accident but the result of driving under the influence by one of the parties — you) or aggravated its outcome. Now you are probably uninsured against this risk because as a said insurance companies only cover accidental events, an never voluntary acts, gross negligence and almost never aggravated negligence.
Jay Pike ·
If you rent a car with the sole purpose of taking it into a smash-up derby, you’ll find that said “cheap” insurance won’t cover you there either.
As others have pointed out, they have been able to survive Burning Man with their gear by being responsible with how they use it and how they store it. In a case like this, the end result of the rental return obviously exceeded any sort of normal wear and tear, and the condition indicated that the renter did not attempt to care of the gear either…
Doug ·
I guess I'm a little confused. I insure all my photo equipment with a comprehensive, no deductible, 100% of the purchase price, no questions asked policy for $79/year. You guys charge about that for insurance for a one week rental of one piece of equipment. In other words, you grossly overcharge for insurance. Isn't a disaster like this simply the cost of doing a business like yours? Rental car companies sell comprehensive policies, for example, and they are similarly grossly overpriced, I assume to compensate for the occasional insanely irresponsible driver. I imagine they would choose not to rent to that particular driver again, just as I am sure you will not rent to this particular photographer again. So what's the beef?
Bardoliak ·
Consumer versus commercial insurance.
Alfonso C. Betancort ·
No insurace policy, even if it says "no questions asked", by definition would make the insurer or underwriter cover any damages to the insured property ( also known as the insured's interest) due to: in most cases aggravated negligence and never in cases of gross negligence or voluntary acts by the insured party or those of any person or persons who he or her has trusted the insured property to.
And that is by definition. In the case that insured's interest being covered against damages that caused directly or indirectly by the insured party: Insurance companies are forbidden by law to extend cover to any damages that directly or indirectly arise or are aggravated due to voluntary actions, omissions, gross negligence and in most cases, not necessarily all, aggravated negligence of the insured party, its agents, representatives, or anyone acting on its behalf with its consent. Because it's no longer considered accidental damage but voluntary or looked after.
If you read the small print of the insurance policy for your gear you will find this clearly stated.
e.g. when you have your car insured against any type of damage (including the one inflicted by you to your car) if you get into a collision and you are (not both parties) are charged and found guilty of a DUI the first thing you lose is the coverage to any damages suffered by your car, then goes your own coverage to the medical expenses, lost income and permanent injuries that you had covered in your own policy in case of injuries, death or disability to the driver.
Moreover you or your state will most probably be liable [to your own insurance company] for all expenses incurred by the insurer and any disbursements made under your policy and the law to any third party in connection to the event, in case of disbursement for damages, in order to seek reimbursement from you or your state it is only necessary that the settlements had been entered by the insurance company in good faith and approved by a judge (due to most probably wording in your policy they will never need your consent to settle any claim even if at the end of the day you are the one paying all).
You may ask why? The answer is that besides committing a crime, you most probably committed what it's called an act of CRIMINAL GROSS NEGLIGENCE when you sat on the car Under the Influence... the moment you did it, all your coverages against damages to own property (including yourself) were the facto null and void.
At the same time you actions opened the door to your insurance company to try recover any damages and expenses from the party that caused the collision, which can no longer be considered an accident but the result of Criminal Gross Negligence — driving under the influence — by one of the parties involved. The direct result of voluntary act that had the side effect of also aggravating the outcome.
Most probably, as almost everyone else, you are not insured against that risk because as I said insurance companies only cover accidental events, and never voluntary acts, gross negligence and almost never aggravated negligence. So you will have to pay them with selling your assets or try to seek bankruptcy protection. And by law it can not be covered unless you have a special policy underwritten by an insurer from a country as England or Norway that allows those "exotic" coverages and governed by British or Norwegian Law, but the premium will probably be too expensive unless you family was of a few hundred fellows that wanted the same type coverage.
TL;DR
Never, ever believe anything that says in BIG BOLD CAPITAL letters "NO QUESTIONS ASKED"…
Do me and yourself a favor: Please, read the fine print, the Bigger and Bolder the Capital letters, the more fine print you will find in the contract.
Make sure you understand it and don't relay just on the explanations of the sales person — most of the time they just know what they are told to repeat which many times it is not the truth and almost none of them understand anything of what the fine print says. Take your time, find a friend that can explain it to you in layman terms or ask on Internet on different forums, etc…
But swear to me that you will never, ever sign something that you don't fully grasp (understand the concecuences) of the fine print; the only thing that it's binding to both parties is what you're signing and whatever the salesperson told just five minutes ago went away with the wind the moment you sign.
And signing a document which fine print you don't fully understand, it is the best (and easiest) way to get yourself in a raw deal or even directly scammed.
Jay Pike ·
If you rent a car with the sole purpose of taking it into a smash-up derby, you'll find that said "cheap" insurance won't cover you there either.
As others have pointed out, they have been able to survive Burning Man with their gear by being responsible with how they use it and how they store it. In a case like this, the end result of the rental return obviously exceeded any sort of normal wear and tear, and the condition indicated that the renter did not attempt to care of the gear either...
David Julian ·
Yep, that dust is brutal and clings like glue. It must be brushed, vacuumed and toweled off, not blown deeper into recesses with compressed air. I took my (own) Fuji X-T1 and Sony PAS to this and last year’s Burn. Both did very well despite this year’s frequent white-out dust storms. Needed outer body, EVF, battery compartment and sensor cleaning. Fuji’s weather-sealed lenses and not changing lenses often helped a great deal. Gear is dry-bagged when not actually making exposures. I had also taped over any vulnerable ports I won’t be using. Just saying that it is fairly easy to minimize camera gear damage with behavior and maintenance, and not end up with a situation this bad. I suspect that the user of that Nikon was more than casual about using it responsibly, thinking: “hey, it’s a rental… I bought the damage coverage…dust is not my problem”.
David Julian ·
Yep, that dust is brutal and clings like glue. It must be brushed, vacuumed and toweled off, not blown deeper into recesses with compressed air. I took my (own) Fuji X-T1 and Sony PAS to this and last year's Burn. Both did very well despite this year's frequent white-out dust storms. Needed outer body, EVF, battery compartment and sensor cleaning. Fuji's weather-sealed lenses and not changing lenses often helped a great deal. Gear is dry-bagged when not actually making exposures. I had also taped over any vulnerable ports I won't be using. Just saying that it is fairly easy to minimize camera gear damage with behavior and maintenance, and not end up with a situation this bad. I suspect that the user of that Nikon was more than casual about using it responsibly, thinking: "hey, it's a rental... I bought the damage coverage...dust is not my problem".
RVN SF VET ·
Has the sentencing part of the renter’s trial been reached yet? I recommend an attempt at lobotomy reversal.
I’ve heard that boiling the camera in transmission fluid works too – just keep it off the bottom of the pot!
RVN SF VET ·
Has the sentencing part of the renter's trial been reached yet? I recommend an attempt at lobotomy reversal.
I've heard that boiling the camera in transmission fluid works too - just keep it off the bottom of the pot!
Volker Bartheld ·
… something about the blur(red pictures – and please forgive me, if the joke has already been told): If that were _MY_ Nikon D810, I sure couldn’t take one single unblurred shot either, no matter the ISO or VR.
SCNR.
Dan Pedraza ·
what moron would do that? It’s like shooting one of those color runs why put kit through that crap?
Dan Pedraza ·
what moron would do that? It's like shooting one of those color runs why put kit through that crap?
Jon Hellier ·
I wonder how pollution particles (pm2.5 etc) will affect dslr cameras and lenses. I am going to china for a landscape photography holiday and will be keeping a close eye on the pollution levels wherever I go. I am hesitant to change lenses (or even take the camera out of the domke) when the the pollution is bad. Might even use a disposable rainsleeve hehe.
Alexander Gee ·
I came up with a solution for keeping the playa out of my camera that actually worked extremely well. The moving elements for the lens were covered in independent layers of tape and gasketed with paper towel brushes between each sliding surface. And of course a disposable UV filter on the front.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1de8da7418cdf38d62297e23d512b755351e1748e29e322cd3418756b5711008.jpg
David Erichsen ·
Alexander, I know this is two years ago but I was wondering if this worked well and if you have done it since?
Alexander Gee ·
Hey I did do it a second time for the 2017 burn. It keeps all the dust out but after a week the dust has made it about half way through the little gaskets. A wet paper towel when taking the tape off gets any remaining powder off.
David Erichsen ·
Thanks for answering man! Would you mind telling me how you went about wrapping it? Also did ya just use prime lenses?
I would seriously pay you for a walk through of what you did lol I just got an a7riii and am petrified of bringing it lol
Alexander Gee ·
I’ve got to say I only take gear that I’m willing to lose. You will regret it if you spend your time on the playa thinking about your camera. That said just tape across the camera body in small strips like doing paper-mache.
Jaran Gaarder Heggen ·
why not just buy a bag for underwater photograping?
David Erichsen ·
Thanks for answering man! Would you mind telling me how you went about wrapping it? Also did ya just use prime lenses?
I would seriously pay you for a walk through of what you did lol I just got an a7riii and am petrified of bringing it lol
Alexander Gee ·
I've got to say I only take gear that I'm willing to lose. You will regret it if you spend your time on the playa thinking about your camera. That said just tape across the camera body in small strips like doing paper-mache.
Alexander Gee ·
I came up with a solution for keeping the playa out of my camera that actually worked extremely well. The moving elements for the lens were covered in independent layers of tape and gasketed with paper towel brushes between each sliding surface. And of course a disposable UV filter on the front.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c...
pest ·
Why refurbishing, it’s just a Nikon *JOKE
Do people really send back equipment in this condition? No try to get the dust off from the surface and ports? How do look the lenses? What are the consequences for the rental guy? You can’t tell just the half story. This article is not just about cleaning dusty bodys. So where is the rest of the story?
pest ·
Why refurbishing, it's just a Nikon *JOKE
Do people really send back equipment in this condition? No try to get the dust off from the surface and ports? How do look the lenses? What are the consequences for the rental guy? You can't tell just the half story. This article is not just about cleaning dusty bodys. So where is the rest of the story?
Justsome Olddude ·
Well,, guess i won’t be renting any D810’s from Lensrentals. ;o)
Justsome Olddude ·
Well,, guess i won't be renting any D810's from Lensrentals. ;o)
Marc Lamey ·
I was there with a D810 and a D800 and both are as clean (or close) to) as when I came in… there are many ways to protect from the dust the gears… unless you do not pay for them you do not take care… and I’ve used them every day.. the only exceptions was the dust storm as they then remain into their protection houses….
Marc Lamey ·
I was there with a D810 and a D800 and both are as clean (or close) to) as when I came in... there are many ways to protect from the dust the gears... unless you do not pay for them you do not take care... and I've used them every day.. the only exceptions was the dust storm as they then remain into their protection houses....
endinyal ·
I hope you charged the customer appropriately for essentially ruining the camera. Sure it works, but I would never consider it a 100% refurbished camera ever.
They rented it KNOWING it would get ruined, and would NEVER use their own camera! Like many people at Burning Man, they are just ignorant of their actions and it’s always someone else’s problem.
endinyal ·
I hope you charged the customer appropriately for essentially ruining the camera. Sure it works, but I would never consider it a 100% refurbished camera ever.
They rented it KNOWING it would get ruined, and would NEVER use their own camera! Like many people at Burning Man, they are just ignorant of their actions and it's always someone else's problem.
eXalos ·
I’d love to know a ballpark of what you billed the customer for this repair. I hope it made them more responsible as it blows my mind how poorly people treat things when they’re not theirs…
eXalos ·
I'd love to know a ballpark of what you billed the customer for this repair. I hope it made them more responsible as it blows my mind how poorly people treat things when they're not theirs...
Patrick Ira DonEgan ·
How well do most lenses fare?