Earlier this year, I dropped my Minolta 28mm f/2.8 in the ocean where it sat submerged for at least two minutes. I don’t have any tools on hand to tear it down to clean it out. I let it sit overnight on the air conditioner. The next morning, it had drops of water all over the inside elements and the aperture blades were sticking.
After making sure that no water would come out of the rear of the lens and get inside my camera body, I decided to take it out and shoot with it just as it is. I was curious to see to what degree it affects the image and if it creates any cool effects.
Not having a car, I was limited as to where I could go. Being “stuck” on Galveston Island, Texas, I went to the beach. It was super foggy out so any contrast loss from the lens would be hard to notice. Here’s what I got with my still-wet 28mm Minolta. This lens is a real trooper!
I’ve got to say that the effect from the damage to the lens is actually quite pleasing. The aperture sticking in place at random positions caused me to compromise on some shots, forcing me to think around the problem in order to get the image I was looking for. That isn’t to say I’m not still going to clean it, but it was fun shooting with it.
I did end up taking the lens apart to clean it thoroughly a couple of days later.
About the author: Tom Leonard is a photographer who travels the world 30 days at a time. He shares photographs from his journeys over on his website Out for 30. This article originally appeared here.
Started out doing photography at the age of 6 using an uncle's old 1940 kodak brownie box camera. At 15 years of age, I decided to buy my very own 1975 Praktica SLR camera. I now shoot with a Nikon D850. I do unpaid TFP and commercial paid work.