btwn dives, do you leave your camera latched up in its housing?

[ballastbelly]

do you take out your camera from its underwater case after each dive day? fully charged my battery gives me a week of camera usage, so i am not sure if the benefits of taking the camera and seals out outweigh those of leaving the camera latched up between dives

-if i leave it latched up, i can be sure that i left it in a waterproof state (having tested it on the previous dive) + i save the time and effort of cleaning it of any lint,greasing & re sealing it

-if i open it up, the seal will be given time to (rest?) expand again , but i will have to re seat & clean it again when i next go diving, increasing the possibility that some small hair escapes my eye & causes a flood.


take this scenario: if you had two identical cameras, which support wifi & wireless charging , & you sealed 1 in its housing at the beginning of the year while the other you opened and cleaned out the seal after every dive. After a marathon of a 1000 dives, which has the highest probability of flooding first?

thx

 

[Steve_C]

I do not want to open my camera between dives period. Only caveat is if I am completely dry and there is a very dry place to do it. Did it once and found it was almost impossible to keep water completely out of the camera housing just from the dampness of my skin from the dives.

I keep it sealed up while I travel. Too easy to damage O-ring other wise.

 

[fisheater]

Agreed.

It stays shut until the day is done, it's been thoroughly rinsed and dried and I'm in a clean, low humidity environment.

 

[Larry C]

Depends on where you are and the conditions. If you need to open it, first make sure you rinse in clean water and wipe dry. Excess can be blown off with scuba air not aimed at any o-rings or buttons. Make sure that you are wearing dry clothing and your hands are dry (don't do it in your wetsuit or drysuit). Take care when you open it that you are in a clean, dry area with good lighting. If you can open it with the back side down, it will be easier to wipe out any drops of water that get in the housing when you open it. Before reassembling, check the o-ring and mating surfaces for hair and salt or sand particles in bright light. After reassembly, carefully lower it into the camera bucket if there is one and watch for bubbles from the o-ring area. I try not to open my housing to pull the camera and take topside pictures on the boat. I just bought a back-up camera to keep in a camera bag, with the lens on and ready so I could avoid pulling my primary camera out of the housing.

 

[Karibelle]

OP is talking about a camera with wireless capabilities, and asking about "after each dive day." It's an interesting question - which WOULD flood first? Depends on the o-ring, probably, and whether it is more likely to fail due to constantly being "squished" in its proper place (in the camera you never opened), or through some sort of failure to make the seal properly (in the one you opened after each dive day).

 

[NAM001]

shut till the day is done. no humid air into the case to condensate when hitting cooler waters.

 

[Stoo]

It's an interesting question - which WOULD flood first? Depends on the o-ring, probably, and whether it is more likely to fail due to constantly being "squished" in its proper place (in the camera you never opened), or through some sort of failure to make the seal properly (in the one you opened after each dive day).

The o-rings get mightily squished at depth, but are somewhat relaxed at the surface. I leave my housing buttoned up for weeks at a time, as do many people I know. This might not be the case with all housings mind you, so you might want to check with the manufacturer.

I avoid opening my housing between dives for the most part, but if I'm doing 5 dives a day on a liveaboard, I'll want to change lenses and ports at some point. In that case, I'd soak, allow to dry, maybe grab lunch, then change... assuming I'm out of the weather. I always try to wear a hat to keep water dripping from my hair as well!

 

[tplyons]

Stays in the housing until I'm dry. It gets rinsed thoroughly before opening.

 

[flareside]

The entire premise of this argument is basically "if you have no reason to open it, should you?" which is an utterly stupid question.

Underwater cameras are only opened for a reason. That reason could be any of a number of things, including changing media, charging batteries, decompression for air travel, preventing permanent deformation of the o-ring, etc., but there will always be a reason why you open it.

 

[phoenix31tt]

I take it out to check my shots on a computer after every dive day, just to see what i can do better in specific environments... but if i know that my shots are great i may not open it between dive days.

The other scenario is if i'm usin that same camera for land based activities then i would take it out.

So basically, if i have to i will but to me there is no point in taking it out if i dont need to do something with it.