Help needed to avoid total camera failure for a third time!

[JanPie]

Can anyone give a general “best practice” for handling your camera, such as opening and closing your housing during the day and to avoid condensation? My reasons:

I had a G9 that just stopped working on the first night dive of my liveaboard trip (about 4 dives into the trip). There was no leak, but it appeared that it heated up a lot and then moisture appeared causing it to die while I was taking a movie (I had a lot of desiccant in the Canon housing). Actually I didn’t know if a problem with the battery caused the problem because the camera felt hot.

A Canon service centre gave me a repair estimate that would have cost more than a new camera, so, since I still had the housing, I bought a used G9 to replace it. On my next liveaboard trip, it worked beautifully - lots of great shots, movies - the whole package. I hadn't done anything different (that I know of) so I thought the first camera or battery was faulty. Then, on the following trip it stopped working on the first day – again on the night dive - again no leak - but definite moisture inside the housing even though I had lots of moisture munchers! I didn’t notice if I had done something differently in preparing the camera, but maybe I did. Now the camera is worthless and I still have the housing (and an Ikelite AF35 strobe).

I only dive about once a year and I am going on another liveaboard trip shortly. I think I am going to make a fresh start with a S95 or a G12 (don’t know which yet). However, I don’t want another first day total camera failure.

I don't know what went wrong or if I did something wrong. Any best practice tips for how to handle the camera? Always (or never) change battery in air-conditioned room ? Keep LCD turned off when not using? Any tips would be welcome.

Thanks in advance

 

[Doubler]

I have been on many live aboard trips and have never had this issue. I never bring my camera rig inside, I open the housing after very dive and I use a Poise panty liners instead of Moisture Munchers. Many people leave the camera in the housing for several dives. My belief, and many disagree, is that it is better to open the housing. My reasoning is that a piece of sand/whatever picked up undetected on the previous dive may cause flooding on the next dive and to let the temperature equalize. Battery usage warms the interior of the housing and the camera. On the next dive the temperature differential between the outside of the housing and the inside could cause moisture in the housing and worse in the interior of the camera. It seems to me the later is what occurred. Like I said many disagree but then again I have never had this issue.

 

[CT Sean]

I don't take a lot of underwater pics but I always change my batteries in an air conditioned room. The cool dryness prevents housing fogging later - it can't fog if there's no moisture, right? I have an A570 so the batteries only last a couple dives anyway (well that's all I get before the intermittent low battery warning pops up)

I also soak and rinse my housing - including operating all the buttons a few times submerged in fresh water - before changing batteries.

I also avoid opening the housing if I don't have to. I figure the more the O-ring is exposed, the more chance there is of something landing on it that could cause a leak

Anyone is welcome to tell me my steps and/or thoughts are nonsense.

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

Same here. I put camera in the housing when I am in an AC environment, the colder and drier the better.

I keep the camera in the bucket between dives, so there is no drastic temperature change like when taking a camera from open air into the water.

I also minimize opening the housing, only doing it to change the batterires, which seems to last 5 dives.

In order to lengthen the duration of the batteries, I turn off the LCD when not taking picture and the first thing I do is turn the LCD on when I anticipate that I will be taking a picture, although the camera might go into sleep mode and my turning on the LCD might just wake the camear up instead of turning on the LCD, leading to confusion once in a while, so sometimes I press some other button once in a while just to keep the camera awake.

I use a old moisture munchie, which probably outlived its usefulness, but I guess the dry interior of the housing never needed it.

A few times I did not follow the above procedure and I noticed fogging of the lens.

 

[Doubler]

I really don't get the AC environment thing. If you wear glasses and stay in an Air Conditioned room and walk outside into the humidity what happens? Same thing happens to your camera.

 

[CT Sean]

I really don't get the AC environment thing. If you wear glasses and stay in an Air Conditioned room and walk outside into the humidity what happens? Same thing happens to your camera.

True - in the AIR sunglasses and camera lenses fog up on the OUTSIDE. however when you dunk underwater that fog goes away.

Sort of the opposite is happening when you load your camera into the housing after it's been in the humid heat. The camera is nice and warm, as is the air in it and around it in the housing. Now you go dunk it in comparatively cool water, the temp inside the housing drops, and the moisture in that warm humid air condenses on the INSIDE of the housing

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

Another analogy is if you have a camera out in the cold and you bring it inside. The lens, viewfinder, all fog up. But if you wipe the fog off the lens and viewfinder, you will see that you can see an image clearly in the viewfinder, indicating the internals did not fog up (and in an SLR, the mirror, and focus screen are still fogless). This analogy shows that sudden rise in temperature from a cold environment (from AC room or outside where it is cold) will cause condensation, but only on the surface that is exposed to air that has much more moisture carrying capacity.

That analogy could also be inverted to show that bringing in the camera from the cold into warm environment is akin to the camera heating up the inside of the housing, thus causing condensation on the cold surface (cold surface being the housing being chilled by the ocean water).


You can also notice that I said I leave the camera in the bucket between dives so that the internal/external temperature will stay stable.

 

[divengolf]

You can also notice that I said I leave the camera in the bucket between dives so that the internal/external temperature will stay stable.

I never leave my rig in the rinse tank unless my hand is on it. Too much chance of it banging into another rig or into the sides/bottom of the tank if the boat is moving. Folks with a lot more experience that I say that most leaks are caused by rigs left unattended in rinse tanks.

 

[herman]

I really don't get the AC environment thing. If you wear glasses and stay in an Air Conditioned room and walk outside into the humidity what happens? Same thing happens to your camera.

You are actually seeing the problem. The cool AC it not the problem but rather the warm moist air outside of the room. If you close the camera housing inside the ACed room- I turn the AC up full and allow the airstream to blow directly into the housing- all the air trapped inside is dry, no humidity means fogging is impossible. It does not matter that the outside of the housing collects moisture when you exit the room, it's going to get wet anyway. The very fact that you have to use moisture munchers indicates there is a big humidity problem inside the housing.

My camera routine is this.
I NEVER open or close a housing outside of an ACed room unless there is an emergency-dead batteries or full card are NOT emergencies. This helps prevent getting trash on the orings and keeps the internal humidity to a minimum.
When prepairing the housing for a dive, I inspect the entire Oring surface, both sides with a magnifying glass to ensure there is nothing that may cause a leak- I have found a few things. Then I turn the AC up fully to ensure the compressor is on and drying the air. I hold the housing with the camera installed in the airstream for a minute or 2. This drys any moisure that may be in/on the camera or housing and while still in the airstream, I close the housing. This ensures that the housing is full of dry air.
When I return from the dive, the camera housing is soaked in freash water, gently rinsed to flush off any sand then towel dried.

My camera has at least 400 to 500 dives on it and since I started this procedure I have not had a fogging or flood problem.
And for what it's worth, opening a camera outside, esp on a boat, exposes the camera and housing to salt mist, really bad stuff and it attracts moisture to boot.

 

[miketsp]

If you're going for a Canon housing with a G12 this is very important - at least it was for me. My brand new case had pronounced mold lines.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/canon-corner/315202-canon-housing-leaks-easy-diy-fix.html