A couple of weeks back, my 20D accidentally got partly-dunked in the Pacific. I sent it to Canon hoping they could repair it. It was beyond saving, so they sent it back to me un-repaired. Nothing else to do with it, I decided to take it apart. I've been taking photos along the way (with my new 30D). They're posted here:

http://www.pbase.com/gmr2048/20d-dissection&page=all

Hope you find it interesting.

-gary

I see the basic design didn't change much since the pinhole camera

wow, now i understand why these things cost so much.

epgregoire wrote:
I see the basic design didn't change much since the pinhole camera

.

Very COOL!

Thanks for sharing. Looks like quite a bit of disassembly work!

I think your pics quite clearly illustrate the amazing state of current electro-mechanical miniaturization technology.

Could I suggest one more picture? How about a final pic showing all the components laid out on a table all at once – a kind of exploded view if you will. I think it would make a dramatic image showing all of the stuff that is crammed into that small package!

-DR

ps. How long was the camera in contact with the salt water? Amazing the amount of corrosion present. Maybe this is a lesson for all of us. If you drop your camera in the ocean, best thing could be to IMMEDIATELY soak/flush the camera in DISTILLED water to remove the salt. Might just make the camera salvageable. Certainly couldn't hurt - looks like any exposure to salt water is fatal anyway!

Hey DR. Thanks for the kind words. I plan on taking more shots of the final deconstruction, hopefully this weekend. There aren't many pieces left for me to remove at this point. I think the next step is to start snipping off the ribbon cables and get better shots of the mirror box and eyepiece area. Once I add more shots to the gallery I'll re-post here.

I like the idea of all the parts laid out. That will have to be once I'm 100% done, however. The way I currently have things organized, I have one zip-lock bag corresponding to each page of the PDF Parts Catalog (with exploded view) that I used as a disassembly guide. (That way, I know where each part goes back into the mix. I did that thinking that I *might* want to try to reassemble it at some point. I think I've gotten beyond that now).

As for how it happened/how long it took for the damage to set in...

The camera was in my hand when I slipped on a rocky part of the beach (on my honeymoon, no less!). My arm took the impact, but my hand/lower arm and bottom of the camera splashed down into a tide pool/puddle. The only part of the camera that actually got wet was the bottom, mainly on the battery side. The water didn't get as high as the bottom of the LCD, and I'm still using the kit lens that was attached at the time of the "incident".

Less than an hour after it happened, I took it to the hotel, pulled off everything I could (battery, settings battery, lens, CF card) and put the whole thing on the counter to dry. I left it there for days. This, I think, was my downfall. I believe things would have been better had I put it in a bucket of fresh water and left it before sending it to Canon.

-gary

gmr2048 wrote:
The camera was in my hand when I slipped on a rocky part of the beach (on my honeymoon, no less!)...

Maybe not quite what you were planning to ensure a memorable honeymoon!

At least it gave you an indisputable reason (to justify to the new wife) for upgrading to a new 30D!

DR

Ouch! Hope it was covered by insurance. Either way you have a 30D now.

I hope you can find some good DIY use for that nice Sony LCD screen. Looks like you're a techie. :P

Just imagine rows upon rows of hardworking people in chinese factories doing that in reverse order all day long.

Thanks for sharing

It's things like this that add value to the forum for geeks like me

i would like to see the little slats pulled up that are directly infront of the sensor. i'm not sure what it's called. i'd just like to see how it slides.

walter23 wrote:
Just imagine rows upon rows of hardworking people in chinese factories doing that in reverse order all day long.


...Japanese factories.

I'm pretty sure the slats are the blades of the shutter. Actually, with whats left of the camera now, if I were to open them up (and I'm trying to...I just haven't gotten it open yet), you'd simply see out the other side of the camera. Everything in front and behind the shutter has been removed.

-gary

Yup. Luckily it was covered. I'd still be traumatized if it weren't. The day after it happened I started the claim process with my insurance company. I was home 24 hours when the payoff came through and the new camera was ordered.

Definitely want to find something fun to do with the LCD.

-gary

Wow! Just like driving past the grizzly results of a car accident. I wanted to stop looking, but could not help myself. Geeze! that hurts!

I love the pic with the lens mounted to the skinless camera, very cool. I'd love to try some really artistic shots of that.

Thanks for sharing Gary.

Ken

oooh... the humanity

Ouch!
Thanks for the disassembly images. I may have missed it, but I don't recall seeing the word "Digic" anywhere in those shots. I did see a Sony LCD as well as a couple of big Toshiba chips, though.

Well that does it. I'm goin' have to get me one of them there prooofesional camerys.

What a cool thing to do.
Anybody got a busted 70-200 IS to try this on?

Very entertaining. Thanks!

Utterly fascinating. Best thread in quite some time. Thank you for posting.

Way Cool. By the way, what does the toe-tag say?

RCicala wrote:
What a cool thing to do.
Anybody got a busted 70-200 IS to try this on?

Somewhere on the 'net, somebody has disassembled and repaired a 70-200 IS. IIRC, it was a defective IS unit that he changed. I don't remember the link, but I do remember seeing it.

Somebody else mentioned the absence of the DiGICII processor. I'm going to look around more this weekend and see if I can find it. There may be a circuit board or two I haven't pulled the metal shielding off of yet.

-gary