Housing Maintenance

[jiveturkey]

I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my new PT-10 housing from Japan. Unfortunatley, I know very little about how to maintain that puppy. I'm getting Depp insurance but hopefully if im digilent, I won't need to use it. I know to soak after a dive and I know I have to clean o-rings but there's gotta be more to it than that. Does anyone have any websites or tips that will show me how to begin? This is my first underwater setup. I'd hate to have to make an insurance claim on my first dive with it.

 

[Gilligan]

Are you referring to the PT-010? I have had one for quite some time now and use it about 3 times a week. I have a small bucket that I use to soak it in with warm water for about a half hour after every dive. I store it with the main O Ring in its groove but with the door open so as not to keep it under pressure. You don't need to mess with anything else on the housing. I have some hints on a section of my website
http://kayakdiver.com/olympus/index.htm
You will get conflicting opinions on whether to remove and grease the main O Ring before each use. I remove mine every time, wipe it off and re-apply silicone grease to it. Also clean out the groove it goes in. I do find that these O Rings stretch out after time no matter how gentle I am with them. I am on my 3rd O Ring. If removing and handling them is causing them to stretch prematurely then it's worth it to me for the peace of mind of knowing it is clean every time. It's also a good idea to put your name, address and phone number inside the housing in case you lose it. There are still a fare share of honest people out there. I used a permanent marker to print the info on the inside bottom of my housing.

 

[Dee]

jiveturkey once bubbled...
I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of my new PT-10 housing from Japan. Unfortunatley, I know very little about how to maintain that puppy. I'm getting Depp insurance but hopefully if im digilent, I won't need to use it. I know to soak after a dive and I know I have to clean o-rings but there's gotta be more to it than that. Does anyone have any websites or tips that will show me how to begin? This is my first underwater setup. I'd hate to have to make an insurance claim on my first dive with it.

There's actually not alot of maintainance to the PT-10. After use, rinse it real well, especially if you've been in salt water. I avoid ever putting my camera/housing in camera buckets on dive boats. I'll dunk it to rinse the initial saltwater off but then I'll keep it wrapped in a wet towel until I can get it dried off. In the rinse bucket, the boats vibrations can loosen all kinds of things. And if there are any other cameras in the buckets, they will just be rubbing against each other. I have seen some bad damage cuased by crowded rinse buckets!

The small tube of lube that came with your housing will last you a long time. Gilligan and others say they have used plain silicone grease as a replacement with no problems. I prefer to use the grease recommended by the makers. I've had my PT-10 for almost 2 years and I haven't even used half the tube yet. I visually check the o-ring every time I open the housing. But unless I've been diving in very silty water, beach diving in surf or any other reason sand and dirt could get on the o-ring, I clean the o-ring at the end of the day. Always make sure you clean the o-ring channel as well as the o-ring itself. Every 2-3 days, I wash the o-ring is warm soapy water to remove everything. Give it a light greasing and replace, ready for the next time.

Canned air and a soft cloth is good to keep the inside clean. I only use micro-fiber cloths to clean the lens port so I haven't had any reason to take the port apart, as Gilligan mentions on his website. It's nice to know how to do it, though, just in case.

The o-rings inside the buttons can't be changed by the user, at least as far as I know. Unless you are taking hundreds of photos a week with the housing, I don't think I would worry about those o-rings. Unfortunately, even though Olympus is selling the PT-15 and above housings in the US now, I don't think they will honor the warranties on the PT-10 and below. But who knows....I haven't tried it!

I think you'll do just fine! Just use some common sense and don't think everything has to be taken apart in order to be clean and ready to use.

 

[Albion]

very improtant words about the dunk tanks, i have seen numerous occasions where despite warnings people think its a good idea to dunk there dive lights as well. i was on a trip where a diver came up with a UK Q40 (not blaming this product i have one too, but anythink where the switch involves screwing the bezel) which we had unscrewed too far during the dive, on the dive deck he tried to open it resulting in acidy water water spraying out. unknown to everyone else, he kindly rinsed his light off in the camera tank to avoid getting further acid over himself. not knowing wehat has happened a number of divers returned later and placed their cameras in the dunk tank, about 3 nikonos were knacked up to my knowledge;-0 ;-0

What he did was obviously dumb, but whenever i see a light in the dunk tank i think there is always the possibilty of the same happening again. people are less careful about the seals on thier lights and a flooded light can be a common problem

 

[jiveturkey]

Thanks for the tips guys. I just got my housing today. I'm wondering how long that o-ring willl last me if I take care of it and where can I get more? Can I keep the camera in the housing when I travel? It'd be one less bag for me to carry. I'm going shopping for a decent housing case this weekend. I'm heading to Pulau Redang, Malaysia in less than 2 weeks so I hope to have some nice pics to post here soon. ....well, at least I'll have some pics to post soon. I don't know how nice they'll be.

 

[Dee]

jiveturkey once bubbled...
Thanks for the tips guys. I just got my housing today. I'm wondering how long that o-ring willl last me if I take care of it and where can I get more? Can I keep the camera in the housing when I travel? It'd be one less bag for me to carry. I'm going shopping for a decent housing case this weekend. I'm heading to Pulau Redang, Malaysia in less than 2 weeks so I hope to have some nice pics to post here soon. ....well, at least I'll have some pics to post soon. I don't know how nice they'll be.

If you plan to take your camera gear in your carryon, it's OK to put it inside your housing but I wouldn't latch it closed. If you plan to pack it in your checked bags, by all means do NOT pack your camera in your housing! There was a guy on Rodales recently that checked his Pelican box with camera gear. His camera was inside the housing to save space. The Pelican got crushed, the housingcrushed along with it and the pushed buttons on the housing damaged the camera within.

Your camera is small enough for any type carry-on. If you have to check your housing, place a soft t-shirt inside and cushion it very well.

You can by extra o-rings from Underwater Camera Pros.

 

[Gilligan]

May I suggest the soft picnic cooler as shown on my website;
http://kayakdiver.com/olympus/index.htm
to carry your camera and housing in when travelling. There is enough room in it for a small hand towel for extra padding, an extra main O ring and a supply of silica packets (or loose silica in a plastic jar), silicone grease, and the main O ring pick that came with the housing for removing the O ring. I did lock the camera in the housing but removed the main O ring and kept it in a zip-lock bag. It is also not obvious as to what is in the cooler as with a camera case.

 

[Dee]

A soft-sided drink cooler is a great idea. It can do double duty as carry on as well as rinse bucket on the boat....and you don't have to share! I got one large enough to hold my strobe at Academy Sporting Goods but I'm sure Wal-Mart and other sporting dealers carry them.

 

[jiveturkey]

I picked up a cooler today. It looks great and I think it'll do the job but i'm concerned about the amount of static inside. I can feel it when I put my hand in the bag. This can't be good for the camera's electronics. What do you think? Isn't this bad for the camera?

 

[MonkSeal]

jiveturkey once bubbled...
I picked up a cooler today. It looks great and I think it'll do the job but i'm concerned about the amount of static inside. I can feel it when I put my hand in the bag. This can't be good for the camera's electronics. What do you think? Isn't this bad for the camera?

That's what I was thinking about when I was looking for appropriate bag.