I've got a flooding problem and questions

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lee3

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Ok, i really like the learning curve associated with underwater photography and am really psyched whenever i get lucky with a shot that seems to make big improvements over the rest of the crap i've taken. I have not used very serious cameras underwater, but have flooded two cameras since February. One a canon s300 and the other an s500 this past weekend. The strobes have been fine to date, thankfully and everything is DEPP insured but wow is it frustrating to look down and see your housing half full of water at 30 feet no matter whether it's insured or not. I have big hands and just don't seem too skilled at the delicate nature of removing o-rings, greasing and replacing.

My question involves better cameras and housings which would be all the more frustrating to flood but are affordable to me. I honestly was really getting into the s500 and was thrilled with some of the recent shots i had gotten (now lost on the flooded and fried memory card, damn). I did learn to order four 500 meg cards instead of a pair of 1G cards from the latest mishap. Lets say i stepped it up to a cannon (really like their interface) G5 and got the corresponding ikelite housing. Anyone here have any experience with that combo or the G3 perhaps? The idiot american consumer in me thinks that the housing for $750 vs. the cannon housing at $150 that i've already flooded and would love to point the blame finger towards, would be superior. Though, i've already treated a new o-ring for the "faulty" housing and took it down with the flooded camera to 80 feet without any problems.

Are the better housings worth the added expense in your opinions? Are they better at preventing flooding and easier to use as far as o-rings, or should i just stick with the $400 cameras and $150 housings and face the reality that i'm particularly talented at breaking things at depth?
 
IMHO stick with the prosumer housing for the prosumer camera.
Whether an Ike housing or a Canon housing they both have a main O-ring.
You stated you changed O-rings on the flooded housing and it was fine. So it's not the housing brand. The problem may be in your method of greasing the O-ring.

Very little grease is needed. The grease is not the seal only a means of keeping the O-ring wet so it is able to move in sync with the housing lid closing against it. A very dry O-ring may pop out or buckle as the pressure of the lid is applied to it.

Carefully inspect the O-ring for any hair or debris before installing it. Apply just enough grease so that it is not dry. Rotate it around between your fingers a few times to be sure nothing is on it. Check the housing groove and the opposite side of the housing for debris. When you place the O-ring in the groove be sure and run your finger around it to be sure it is seated properly and evenly.

Keep your main O-ring in a zip lock bag between uses, not under pressure in the housing. Use only the supplied grease as some greases are not compatible with your O-ring.
 
lee3, your supposition is correct, you can flood an expensive housing just as easily as an inexpensive one, as long as it's your fault. It's my impression that the inexpensive housings can crack easier, have single o-ring controls, etc, and can flood easier for reasons that aren't your fault.

As far as o-rings go, my mantra is "surgical clean" and "slick like a trout".

All the best, James
 
If you have access to another underwater photo person, practice setting your gear up with them - they might see something that you could do another way and get rid of this tendency to flood the cameras! It might be something very simple that another eye will see easily.

Ditto to Gilligan's post, too.

Also, I am confused about why you are changing to a smaller card...yes, this is one of my "issues" that I simply can't get my head around. If I flood a small card I am just as upset as if I flooded a bigger card - every image I take is one I want to keep (in a perfect world) so it doesn't matter how many there are, 5 or 150.

I think it isn't the size of the card, but the way we deal with the different card sizes. We are tempted to "fill" our card before downloading - a holdover from the film days, no doubt(like my Gma...Christmas photos from 3 years ago coz she hadn't finished the roll!) :wink:

In order to preserve the maximum photos, you would need to swap your card of whatever size out after every dive. Most of us, I think, prefer leave their cards in for a dive day (or two dives at least) rather than change them on a boat and then swap them out back on dry land if possible. So you would, in theory, only lose those dives. Not many I know leave their cards in for more than one day - they download each evening. So again, if you have 20 or 200 dives from those three dives what does it matter if they are lost?? to me, it matters the same. Each to their own, but I won't be using small cards ever again - there's no greater risk to flooding a large card and there is a greater risk to missing shots because a smaller card is full. YMMV
 
lee3,

I use a maginfying glass to inspect my o-ring, the groove it fits in, and the flat plate area that comes in contact with the o-ring. I have found small hairs and debris in these areas. I am sure that is how housings get flooded. It doesn't take much.
 
>>I am confused about why you are changing to a smaller card...<<<

Alcina, in short, I'm lazy. I bought a 1G card with my strobe a few months ago and that size holds so many high rez photos it's rediculous. I get home from the weekend's dives plug the camera directly into the tv, take a look at my photos on the nice display and don't bother downloading to a computer. The smaller cards will force me to save to a computer more often and since we are planning on doing a trip to the galapagos next year, coupled with my tendancy to flood, 4 or 5 different cards for different days maximizes my chances for brining home as many photos as possible.

>>Regarding the memory card issue, I think you would actually be unlucky to lose any photos (OK, so if your camera is flooded you have already been unlucky). My point is, memory cards usually survive a flood:<<<<

Macheath, i did see the article regarding the durability of the memory cards but since this is me we're talking about the 1G card I had in my camera this weekend is dead too. I tried cleaning it in isopropyll alchohol as another poster suggested to remove the salt water and minerals and still no luck. 2 months of photos lost because of laziness. That's ok though, the overwhelming majority of the photos were nothing great and they are all from carmel and monterey. Since that is where we spend the great majority of our time diving, I hope to have many years of photos from there someday and two months isn't going to make much of a difference. Thanks for everyone's suggestions.
 
Gilligan:
Keep your main O-ring in a zip lock bag between uses, not under pressure in the housing. Use only the supplied grease as some greases are not compatible with your O-ring.


Gilligan...

Is this standard practice? I keep the o-ring in the housing (Canon WP-DC20) - but don't close the housing...

And the housing itself lives in a soft beer cooler.
 
Since Gilligan is missing in action at the moment, I will tell you what I have learned. Have a "storage" set of o-rings, keep the housing closed with these o-rings so that nothing get's inside the housing, especially the o-ring grooves during storage. When it's time to take a trip, put in good o-rings and leave your storage set at home so you don't get confused with which is which on the trip.
 
sbloomer:
Gilligan...

Is this standard practice? I keep the o-ring in the housing (Canon WP-DC20) - but don't close the housing...

And the housing itself lives in a soft beer cooler.

I think many of the folks here keep thir O rings in zip lock baggies. I do all the time to be sure it is protected. I don't lock the housing between dives to help save wear and tear on the locking mechanism as I dive 3 or 4 times a week. I do use canned air to blow out the housing every time.

kevreid has a good idea of using an old O ring in the housing between dives and leaving the housing locked to keep it clean. That may be more suitable for those that don't dive frequently.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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