That’s right, you read the headline is correct. Over the weekend a diver, Markus Thompson, found a camera at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of British Colubmia. He salvaged the camera, poked around a little bit (determining that the camera had been dropped into the water in August 2010), recovered the data off the card and, using Google+, found the owner.
Markus’ original post and updates here. The social web doing some good, a photographer getting back some property along with some thought-to-be-long-lost images… But… I’m guessing that all you really want to know is the brand of the card, right?
Funny, although I don’t blame you. Apparently this was a SanDisk Extreme III but, not that it overly matters…regardless what type of card you use, it’s true that many cards/types/brands can survive total submersion in water… now we just know that at least some of them can hang out in salt water for year(s)
The problem is not really the water, it’s the combination of water and air/oxygen – that’s what’s killing it. So when you drowned your cards … don’t try to try them just with warm air. Clean it (e.g. with alcohol or destilled water) and surround it with silica gel (at least that is what I would do) – and if those date were important, then for god’s damn sake take it as fast as you can to a pro! It’s a matter of hours and not days. If that sea water dries on the electronics it might make it all corrode and that means “bye bye date”.
The owner should better clean the sensor before using the camera again 😉
Just found it very funny that although you and he mention the power of Google+, as of right now there are only 1 Google+ share and 31 Facebook share and likes…. Social is social, right?
Amazing how tough those small SD cards can be! 😀
Great story, that’s pretty impressive. I’ve run cards through the washer and dryer and recovered images. Cards even cheap ones are amazingly tough.