Flooded Housing

I have a Canon Shot A75 and a Canon WP-DC30 Waterproof Housing. These are both brand new when the housing flooded, or should I say leaked.

I took them to Belize about two weeks ago, and on the first day did some snorkeling. I did all the suggested leak tests first. With an empty, closed housing, I submerged in about a foot of water for a few minutes with no leaks. I then put the camera in and dipped it in water momentarily and again found no leaks. Then while snorkeling, I got the camera down about 18 inches when I noticed air bubbles, and a very little water (about 5 cc) in the bottom of the case. I immediately surfaced and went to shore. Opened the case and the camera was hot. Took the batteries out and dried the camera. Let it dry over night, but it still didn't work. I did close the housing and put it in water, but didn't see any leaking.

I called canon and of cause water damage isn't covered, but since both items were brand new, they said send them in with a letter explaining what happened, and they will look at it and decide it they'll cover it.

Luckily a friend with me had a camera, so I still got my pictures, but even if they covered the damage, I'm a little gun shy about bringing the camera and housing in the water.

Has anyone else had this experience?

Bill

Sorry, to hear that Bill. I think you want to post this in the Canon Corner...not in the scuba marketplace.

Thanks, I will do that.

Bill

I have a friend with the same housing. He had it on a dive in Kingston, ON late July to around 80 feet with no problems. I have an Olympus housing that I've used a few times and leaked about a month ago (luckily fresh water and no damage). Turned out the screw on "cap" on the lens port had loosened. I removed, cleaned, siliconed and re-assembled, then tested the housing (empty) to 60 feet. I've since had it to 90 feet with no leaks.

Although alot of us that have had cameras and U/W video have been lucky, it's pretty well expected that some time you are going to flood something. It's almost always "operator error". I quit doing all the bubble checks etc. and just go for it. Develop good assembly techniques and checklists and you should be OK. If the housing made a dive without flooding then it's reasonable to assume that there isn't a problem with the housing. Check your "O" ring or gasket and if you use silicone grease at all, use a lot less then what you think you should. Regardless of what the Mfg. suggests if it isn't a dynamic "O" ring then I don't use any lubricant-JMHO-M