question for experts on leaking housing - canon s95

[Surger]

Hi everybody,

I'm currently on Bali with my brand new Canon s95 with Canon housing.
My housing is leaking and I'm wondering if I can get some advice from the experts on leaking ... (I guess there's only one way to become an expert on the topic eh...)

Here's the situation (sorry for the lenghty explanation):

I tested the housing at home, no problem. I did 4 dives, no problem.
On the 5th dive, I had no problem through most of the dive (at 23 meters depth). However, as I was ascending to about 10 meters (32 feet), the camera fogged up completely. I didn't see any water inside, so I completed the dive.

After the dive, I opened the casing and found my 3 silicon bags completely soaked and some residual water inside the housing. A few drops here and there. The camera was fine.

All though I am rather paranoid in cleaning and maintaining my stuff, I figured I must have had something in the O-ring, so I dried the housing, cleaned everything thoroughly, replaced the silicon and took the camera on my second dive of the day.

I checked the camera going down, at several depths and didn't notice anything weird. I Completed the dive (55m) without problems, taking pictures until the end of the dive. After the dive, I put the equipment in a water tank and let it soak for a few minutes. When I took it out, the housing was completely fogged up again, the silicon bags were soaked again, and there was some water in the housing...

Ok... what's your advice here? Could this be a problem with an button leaking?
Could it be a factory issue? Should I try again (and risk a full flood)?

I'll be going to Lembeh in a week and would hate not having my camera there, so I'm trying to figure out what to do. I may have a chance to buy a new housing on Bali, but certainly not in Lembeh. On the other hand, I'm not looking forward to spending money on another casing.

Thanks for any advice you may have!

 

[Durhampro]

Couple of questions, where are you when you load your camera in the housing? are you using the on camera flash? Have you thoroughly checked the O ring and the groove it sits in? (with a magnifying glass?) how much grease are you using?

 

[Doubler]

Seems to me I have read that this is a known problem with some Canon Housings. I believe it is a button leak problem. I would not use it for the remainder of the trip and return it to Canon when I returned. Bad luck.

 

[Wisnu]

If you're in Tulamben - just contact Jeff Mullin - he's canon's leaking expert.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/canon-corner/315202-canon-housing-leaks-easy-diy-fix.html

His leak detector has saved my G9 twice.

 

[HerraduraDivers]

Surger,
Step 1: Fill the housing with strong rumpled or rolled kitchen or toilet paper and NO camera
Step 2: go diving or just do some free diving, just to get some drops inside the housing
Step 3: open the housing carefully to check where the paper is wet
Now you will know where the water comes from and you may be able to fix it.

Chris

 

[Warmwater Wank]

Surger-Welcome to SB, sorry it's on such a potentially scary topic. Do you happen to be using a tray and arm setup? Had a friend w/ a Canon housing put hers on in such a way it tweaked open the housing enough to flood her G11. The tray was seated not flush with the bottom of the housing--though it looked like it was. Her tray has a small right angle lip in back that was put under the housing door bottom, not behind the housing pegs behind it. When she grabbed the handle in the tank it levered open the door slightly. She did all her testing afterwards and never had a leak problem--until she put the tray & arm back on (wrong) again! If you aren't using a tray & arm at least narrow down where the water enters, using Herradura's advice.

It isn't a "known" problem that Canon housings leak--any housing can leak. You did note one odd thing--that the 2d time it happened was not at depth, if it was in a rinse tank. Possibly the water was in there from the dive but you did seem to observe it was ok after the dive but not after the rinse. Take the O-ring out, examine it w/ a good magnifier for hairs, cracks, splits, creases etc. Maybe also play w/ the buttons in the rinse tank w/ paper inside, see if you can duplicate the leak. Wisnu as always has some good advice (!), hope it helps. // ww

 

[Surger]

Thanks you all for the fast replies! I was offline due to the time difference. I will recheck the o-ring with a magnifier and willl check the 'molding lines' mentioned in Jeff's post. I'll also take it underwater with toilet paper. Love the simplicity of it!

I'm using a INON base and D2000 strobe. It fits snugly, so don't think this setup is causing any force/tweaking on the opening.
Warmwater, you're right. It's possible it leaked during the second dive and the water was contained in the silicon. The warmer water tank may have caused the condensation after the second dive.

I guess I'll also start checking if I could get a replacement housing on Bali...

 

[Gilligan]

Surger-Welcome to SB, sorry it's on such a potentially scary topic. Do you happen to be using a tray and arm setup? Had a friend w/ a Canon housing put hers on in such a way it tweaked open the housing enough to flood her G11. The tray was seated not flush with the bottom of the housing--though it looked like it was. Her tray has a small right angle lip in back that was put under the housing door bottom, not behind the housing pegs behind it. When she grabbed the handle in the tank it levered open the door slightly. She did all her testing afterwards and never had a leak problem--until she put the tray & arm back on (wrong) again! If you aren't using a tray & arm at least narrow down where the water enters, using Herradura's advice.

This is a critical issue that Warmwater Wank has brought up. I attributed it to flooding my Olympus C4000Z housing years ago.
I have a warning about it on my website at this link

It is most important that the housing "feet" are whats resting against the raised lip on the rear of the tray and NOT the bottom of the housing for exactly the reason Warmwater Wank mentioned.

Surger: On another note re your wet silica packs. You may not have a leak. It's possible it is heavy condensation. I am using a friends S90 here in Bohol and it fogged up big time on me on one dive. The silica pack may have been too old to be of any use?

Using the video coupled with taking a lot of photos seems to heat that camera up big time. The Canon housings have very little extra space in them.

What I usually do is load the silica pack(s) then hold the open camera housing up to the A/C unit for about 30 seconds then close it up. I keep the housing in an insulated beverage cooler.

Surger, you are currently in a hot and humid climate and that greatly adds to the fogging problem. You have to keep that housing out of the sun and heat before dives and during surface intervals. When I do more than one boat dive here in the Philippines I leave my rig hanging overboard during surface intervals on a line that I carry with me. The line has an 18" section of bungee cord on it to allow for any up and down motion of the boat.

Good luck solving your problem.

 

[emoreira]

Hi everybody,

I'm currently on Bali with my brand new Canon s95 with Canon housing.
My housing is leaking and I'm wondering if I can get some advice from the experts on leaking ... (I guess there's only one way to become an expert on the topic eh...)

Here's the situation (sorry for the lenghty explanation):

I tested the housing at home, no problem. I did 4 dives, no problem.
On the 5th dive, I had no problem through most of the dive (at 23 meters depth). However, as I was ascending to about 10 meters (32 feet), the camera fogged up completely. I didn't see any water inside, so I completed the dive.

After the dive, I opened the casing and found my 3 silicon bags completely soaked and some residual water inside the housing. A few drops here and there. The camera was fine.

All though I am rather paranoid in cleaning and maintaining my stuff, I figured I must have had something in the O-ring, so I dried the housing, cleaned everything thoroughly, replaced the silicon and took the camera on my second dive of the day.

I checked the camera going down, at several depths and didn't notice anything weird. I Completed the dive (55m) without problems, taking pictures until the end of the dive. After the dive, I put the equipment in a water tank and let it soak for a few minutes. When I took it out, the housing was completely fogged up again, the silicon bags were soaked again, and there was some water in the housing...

Ok... what's your advice here? Could this be a problem with an button leaking?
Could it be a factory issue? Should I try again (and risk a full flood)?

I'll be going to Lembeh in a week and would hate not having my camera there, so I'm trying to figure out what to do. I may have a chance to buy a new housing on Bali, but certainly not in Lembeh. On the other hand, I'm not looking forward to spending money on another casing.

Thanks for any advice you may have!

You mentioned that you completed the dive with your camera + housing going to 55 mts depth.
Canon housings are rated only up to 40 mts.
Beyond 40 mts the housing could leak.

 

[Divernoob]

You mentioned that you completed the dive with your camera + housing going to 55 mts depth.
Canon housings are rated only up to 40 mts.
Beyond 40 mts the housing could leak.

That's what I thought, too. But "55m" could also mean 55 minutes.