Wanted to chime in on this thread, as I have a new appreciation for how quickly underwater photography equipment can become threatened. Essentially, I flooded my D7000 last week in Curacao, but managed to yank the housing out of the water in time to avoid serious damage. Seriously lucky after a seriously stupid move. Classic mistake of complacency, as it was the last dive of the week, and I've done hundreds of dives with a nikon/nauticam system without any problems. For those remotely interested, here's what happened and there may be a cautionary tale to be gleaned from my near miss.
First off, let me say that I'm normally fastidious with pre-dive preparation of my rig. I have a checklist, that by now I pretty much do in my head. Fresh battery, emptied memory card, cleaned O-rings, test shot fired check check check. I even bring a Petzl headlamp to provide a decent light source while I'm cleaning and preparing my camera. Anyway, I had changed to a wide angle lens and dome port in my room just before heading down for a shore dive. There were a number of small ants in the accommodation and the night before I had closed but hadn't locked the Nauticam housing to prevent intrusion of any unwanted guests. Normally, I will leave the housing open to dry any residual moisture, and then reassemble the next morning. However, that the next day, a last minute decision to shoot wide angle and I got distracted changing the lens and port from the front side of the NA system and I hadn't noticed that the housing was closed but not locked up tight.
So my buddy and I got busy getting ready to dive and then were interrupted for almost an hour visiting with a German couple at our dive resort. Finally as we prepared to dive, and without thinking anything was amiss, I put my housing in the camera rinse bin to test it and had just let go of the housing to let it settle on the bottom when the alarm started blasting. I jerked the housing from the water and tried to keep it upright as I struggled to undo the latches and get the water out. My dive buddy turned to see what was happening and said water was visible inside the dome port....at that point my heart sank. However, once I opened the housing and and the water rapidly drained out, I had a glimmer of hope as I couldn't detect any water above the camera tray and the camera itself appeared dry. First thing I did, after pulling the battery from the alarm system to stop the noise, was to open the battery compartment of the D7000. All dry, thank god. Then deciding to test my good fortune, I turn the camera on to see what would happen.....bless my soul, it hummed to life without a hitch. Fortunately, the resort had a compressed air blower and I was able to thoroughly dry the entire inside of the housing, reassemble and go diving.
Several salient points here. 1) complacency and its associated failure to detect a potential threat is probably the most common cause of damage to underwater photography gear. 2) an internal moisture is a critical element of underwater systems and undoubtedly saved my camera. No question about it. Without the immediate feedback from the alarm that the water level was present and rising in my housing, I would not have been able to rescue the camera. 3) Luck. Can't discount how damn lucky I was that it wasn't saltwater in the rinse bin, that I wasn't floating away from the dive boat with camera underwater etc etc when I discovered my mistake.
For my part, I will never submerse my rig in any liquid again without first checking to make sure that at least the latches and port lock are engaged, because its doubtful that Murphy will be looking the other direction next time.
Operator error comes in many forms....
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