I have Canon A520 which I bought 3 1/2 years ago. This past April and May, I traveled through the south of India during the time of year when there was very little rain but high humidity. I also never stayed in rooms with A/C including Chiang Mai where I live. During that span of time until now, the camera never got wet.

I spent a week in Kolkata taking lots of photos, day and night with no problems. I traveled along the coast and headed south to Puri. Used the camera for several days including 1 evening but I discovered my camera no longer turned on, late during the 2nd evening until I placed it in the sun the next day for about 20 or more minutes. On the train ride down to Chennai, I went through the same "drying" procedure and it started working again and continued to work properly day and night while in Chennai. When I got to Pondicherry where it was extremely humid, it went through the same problem again but continued to die even earlier in the evening. I spent nearly a week there. After leaving Pondicherry, the problem again went away. To complicate things, 2 days later, for about 1 hour, the camera kept resetting the date stamp to 00/00/00 every time I turned the camera on so I had to change the date every time. This problem never happened before and has not occurred since. Weird.

I returned to Chiang Mai nearly 2 months ago and my camera was working fine up to 1 day before. Yesterday evening, the problem returned and I couldn't turn it on again. Here in CM, it has been raining for several days straight.

So anyone have a clue to what is causing this or a solution besides getting another camera?

Thanks

Just an update.

Although there is little sun here, it hasn't rained and I can feel the warmth of the sun so I left the camera out on the balcony for about 30 minutes. I just took it in and was able to turn it on although it turned off when I pressed against the battery cover.

Have you tried changing the CR1220 internal battery? If not you should try as this could be the reason you are having issues.

Leaving the camera is the sun is not advisable.

There are rubber seals inside that will rot with too much heat.

I had to have my old EOS 600 rebuilt after the shutter gave problems due to rotten rubber.

An expensive job.

Storing the camera with Silica Gel packs would be a better option to dry it out.

The packs can be refreshed in a warm oven.

Storing the camera with Silica Gel packs would be a better option to dry it out.

The packs can be refreshed in a warm oven.

I live in Chiang Mai. Is there a typical place where one can find Silica Gel packs?

Here is one thread.

The matter has been discussed before.

Try a search on "Silica Thaivisa"

http://www.powerdry.co.th/index_en.php

These guys sell Bulk Silica gel in Bangkok.

They sell online and ship anywhere in Thailand for 50 THB. Not bad.

http://www.powerdry...._Product_en.php