Got Sand in the Case Latch Mechanism

I took my nikon s3 and case with me today for the last dives of my AOW class. We were beach diving and I was really carefull to keep the case out of the sand while we were between dives. I also had it bungee'd to my bc to keep it relatively streamlined and off the bottom. unfortunately, when I got out of the water, I noticed that it must have been dragging in the sand anyways because it had sand jammed in almost every crevice. Thankfully, the seal held and the camera stayed dry.

When I got home, I began to put the case through it's recommended maintenance and discovered that it's latch mechanism is very jammed up with sand and now will not lock shut. In fact, some of the latch components are stuck in place.

Can any body give me any advice on how to fix this? I've thought about letting it dry and seeing if the sand comes out easier then. But, I haven't been able to soak it the recommended couple hours yet so I'm worried about salt water damage.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry I don't have any suggestions. I found your post because I'm about to purchase an S3 and am wondering if you can give me a review of it and it's underwater abilities.

Hopefully, someone else will post something that can help me fix my unwanted sand problem; I can't imagine that nobody has ever had this happen to them, but I could be wrong. I'm just hoping the solution isn't to go buy a new case.

About your question... Yeah, I understand what you're talking about. I searched this site for days for anything on the S3 before and after I bought mine, with no luck. I'm not sure if I can give you a good enough review because this was actually the first time I've ever used it underwater, and I've only had it for three weeks total.

Well, here's what I can say about it so far.... The pictures looked good for 6MP, not considering artistic rendering. I'm not familiar enough with it yet to use anything but the underwater setting, but even still the color, exposure, and focus looked pretty dead-on. Honestly, the decision for me to get the S3 was based on a couple of things. First, and naturally, I'm adicted to Nikon. Second, I wanted a camera that had an underwater dummy-function, with a decent number of MP's. Also, I do a lot of business traveling and wanted a good quality camera that I could travel with relatively easily. Lastly, my wife is the true photo nut in my house, so i expect she'll be getting the SLR underwater package soon enough, and the S3 gives me something to have fun with and come up with some decent shots myself. Plus, I like the way it looks.

Hope that helps. I'll post more the next time I go.

Beachrat, have you thought about vigorously swishing the housing in a bucket of fresh water or perhaps even spraying water at the latch?

Check your manual though before you try the hose, I wouldn't want the pressure/force of the water to damage the innards of the housing..

The manual says water can ruin the interior part of the lens, and to avoid getting water in there at all costs. But your suggestion does give me an idea. I think I'm going to try to blow some compressed air through the latch. Hopefully that will blow the sand clear.

Thanks Jamdiver!

The compressed air thing worked. Thanks again for the inspiration!

Next, does any body know how long i should soak the case in fresh water given that it dried before i could rinse it the second time? (the manual requires another 2-3 hours of soaking after the camera's been removed)

i ussually just put my housings in to saok for about 30 minutes. Press all of the buttons and move all of the knobs when it goes in, and a gentle shake will help swish some water around it. all you are trying to do is get any salt/saltwater out so you dont get crystals forming on the housing. A normal soak should be fine, but you could do an extra hour or so if you want to play it extra safe.

Also avoid the urge to RUB anywhere on the lens. Saltwater has salt crystals in it....rub it wet or dry and it scratchs the surface.