Nauticam NA-550 for Canon Rebel T2i

[Cp111]

I've had this housing for two weeks and have done 8 dives with it, using a macro port, compact port, and 8.5-inch dome port. On today's first dive (number 7 for the housing), the shutter control jammed, and I could not take any more photos (this was after taking more than 100 shots during the dive). Removing and reinserting the camera solved the problem, but I'm concerned that it could crop up again at any time. Any recommendations / similary experiences?

Hi Tigershark44,

This is the first report of something like this with the new shutter release. Could you see anything causing the jam? i.e. anything foreign getting caught in the gears? Do any of the gears feel loose to you? If you would send the housing back to us so we can see if we can replicate it, that would be great.

Cheers,
Chris

 

[Tigershark44]

So far, I've done about 10 more dives with the housing, and the problem has not cropped up again....there were no loose gears or apparent obstructions.

 

[Tigershark44]

I've been diving the Nauticam 550D for some 5 weeks, or ~25 dives. On the 24th dive, a small amount of water entered the housing, and was mostly located in the bottom of the rear half of the housing. Today, I pushed my luck and completed my last dive on Guam for the trip. About 90 minutes into the dive, the moisture alarm went off. I immediately completed a safety stop and swam in, keeping the camera level. After drying the outside of the housing, I opened it to find a bit of water inside, and some on the right side of the camera, as well as a pool of water in the port. Fortunately, the water did not enter the camera or lens. There was some white stuff at the base of a couple of the control rods (grease?). One of the control rods appears to have a faulty seal (I'm suspecting the zoom/focus knob, as it was squeaking for a few dives prior to becoming silent again). It's not the port seal, as the port was completely dry on the first leaking dive. Now to send back the housing and see what happens....

 

[Onewolf]

There was one on our local boat to Anacapa on Sunday. Very very sweet, but for me the lack of a second control wheel means the 7D is the way to go.
Bill

Did you notice the AV+- lever on the right side that allows you to quickly switch back and forth between the wheel controlling shutter speed versus aperture? This really negates the requirement of having two control wheels. At least in my experience so far.

 

[bvanant]

Sure, but for me it is still too many buttons to push. Also, I like the ability to run the flash at very low powers so that recycle time isn't an issue, the 7D does this, the t2i, not so much.

Bill

 

[Tigershark44]

Attached are some photos of corrosion on the housing (exterior shots of rust on the eye piece steel retainer ring, and one of rust on a non-stainless snap ring on the ISO lever; other pics attached are of internal corrosion, post-flood). The cause of the flood appeared to be leaking seals under the rocker switch. Another 550D owner reported the same defect, but only 8 dives into using the new housing.

 

[Tigershark44]

The dealer tested the housing and determined that the housing was leaking from the rocker switch, and not from the pushbutton shafts located beneath the rocker. A machine screw that holds the rocker key assembly on the housing had backed out with use. The screw was tightened, and immediately the leak stopped. The screw was secured with loctite thread locker to prevent a recurrence (which should have been done at the factory). The housing back was overhauled, replacing the leak detector and corroded parts, pressure testing the housing, and sending it back within 4 days of shipping it from HI to FL! The interior and exterior snap rings are a low-grade stainless that do rust, and I consider this cheap manufacturing (the dealer is replacing these themselves). The dealer picked up shipping costs both ways (second day and overnight shipping)!

 

[Tigershark44]

Per requests, I've attached a photo of the machine screw that loosened, causing a leak. I also found a second machine screw, which I believe penetrates the housing, but to my knowledge, no one has reported a leak yet.

For those of you who don't think Nauticam should recall all of the 550D housings, here is a quote from an e-mail from my distributor: "Nauticam is investigating a mechanical fix for this in future housings."

I received the housing last night, and it no longer leaks, and looks brand new inside (all corroded parts were replaced). However, the lever the selector switch on the right side of the housing operates is now misaligned, and it does not switch from shutter speed to aperture while shooting in manual. One more problem. Sigh.

 

[Tigershark44]

The alignment problem was solved with a new rubber tip for the aperture/shutter speed button that was only 1.5mm longer than the original tip. A new set of higher-grade stainless steel circlips (snap rings) were supplied, and I've since completed 27 dives, with no additional problems and am now happy with both the housing and Reef!

 

[Tigershark44]

I'm now nearly eight months into using the Nauticam 550D housing, and some 100+ dives later, I had just removed a port and was reinstalling another when the port locking lever that rotates the internal port lock failed to move. After a bit of frustration, I noticed that another one of the allen head machine screws had loosened enough that the gear it was to hold in place was wobbling, and wouldn't engage the rotating lock. After about ten turns of tightenting, all was back to normal. I checked all of the other accessible machine screws and tightened about three or four others as well. Guess that's why Nauticam includes a hex head set with the housing?