Left my C5050 on a bookshelf in my basement apartment, but not in its uw housing. Remnants of a hurrincane passed over Atlanta and it rained like all hell. Had 4 ft of water in my apartment. Wooden bookshelve tried to float, then fell over and camera went under. Retrieved the card and it still works. The camera...not so much (or at all). And that was a replacement camera after my first got burglarized the year before.
Compilation: Ways to Flood a Camera
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Don Janni:
After reading about this risk, I use sticky tape to prevent this potential flood. I fold and tape the edges of the desiccant pack so their are no thin paper edges to get stuck in a main seal.
In my video housing, I then sticky tape the desiccant pack to the side of the housing so it can not move. In my DSLR housing, once the edges are taped, it wedges between the housing and the camera and can not move.
Having some sticky tape covering part of the pack reduces the surface area and probably reduces its effectiveness a little. But I make sure that enough surface is open to pass moisture back to the crystals inside the pack.
Regards
Peter
Fortunately I've never flooded my housing more than about a teaspoon, and both times the camera inside was fine as I detected it early.
I've found the best way to guarantee your housing will NOT flood is to insure it!
I've found the best way to guarantee your housing will NOT flood is to insure it!
diverrick
Contributor
tank fell over while gearing up, and hit the case. Looked ok, except the trigger lever was a bit askew. I pulled it back into place, and went diving. 30 ft down I noticed the water in the bottom of the case. I tried to keep it awy from camera but to no avail. Afer it dried out we tried it out. At first the screen was all messed up, but at least it had something. About an hour later we tried again, and nothing at all. Dead, Kaputski. Only the third dive with that new camera too!! You can bet that I am much more aware of where I lay the new camera down nowadays.
I just came back from a boat trip to Anacapa Island on the Spectre. Great boat and crew, excellent photo possibilities. My Sealife Reefmaster DC310 on 3rd dive flooded. Thought camera was a throw away. Did some research and found out to rinse camera in fresh water and then use rubbing alcohol for another rinse. I took the whole camera apart by taking out all the small screws. Used the hair blower and low and behold in the morning it worked good as new. The only thing that rusted were the small screws, forgot to rinse them. Is that amazing I thought the camera was toast. I will have to be more careful with the O ring. Thought it was sealed but quess not. The camera is good to go!
The gods really smiled on you. Guess sacrificing that goat paid off after all! LOL
*** MOD BIT OF POST:
Hey, good thread to resurrect! I'm adding a link to this thread in the Sticky
***
My only, knock wood, serious flood was with my Subal, Canon 20D and the Sigma 10-20. Another person in the water kicked the dome and must have hit is just right coz Glug glug glug she went. And boy is that one heavy rig when she's full of water! Thank goodness for insurance!
I've also had a leak detector go off in my Subal 20D housing, thankfully back on the boat after the second dive of the day. Opening the housing showed a cat hair on the oring. I don't know if it was one of those days and I just missed seeing it when I set up or if it had been in the housing or on the camera and worked its way into the groove. Either way, I was lucky!
I've had a bit of water seep into a friends Canon housing for an S series camera. Never did find the cause of it, I'm sure there was something microscopic on the oring causing problems. The water didn't touch the camera, so all was well. I stuffed the housing with some t-shirt material and sinkers, tossed it overboard on a rope during our SI, saw no water, popped the camera back in and went diving. Never any other trouble.
Hey, good thread to resurrect! I'm adding a link to this thread in the Sticky
***My only, knock wood, serious flood was with my Subal, Canon 20D and the Sigma 10-20. Another person in the water kicked the dome and must have hit is just right coz Glug glug glug she went. And boy is that one heavy rig when she's full of water! Thank goodness for insurance!
I've also had a leak detector go off in my Subal 20D housing, thankfully back on the boat after the second dive of the day. Opening the housing showed a cat hair on the oring. I don't know if it was one of those days and I just missed seeing it when I set up or if it had been in the housing or on the camera and worked its way into the groove. Either way, I was lucky!
I've had a bit of water seep into a friends Canon housing for an S series camera. Never did find the cause of it, I'm sure there was something microscopic on the oring causing problems. The water didn't touch the camera, so all was well. I stuffed the housing with some t-shirt material and sinkers, tossed it overboard on a rope during our SI, saw no water, popped the camera back in and went diving. Never any other trouble.
mikerault
Contributor
Did 4 drift dives down to 60 feet in Cozumel, no problems (other than err 99...) did 2 Cenote dives, no problems (other than battery that indicated 100% on charger then fell over dead after 2 shots on first dive) then did one snorkle...oops glub, glub, crude pull it out of the water! too late...
Always double check the port latches after changing a port...the lower port latch was puched in but hadn't latched (Ikelite housing). Canon 20D RIP...
Mike
Always double check the port latches after changing a port...the lower port latch was puched in but hadn't latched (Ikelite housing). Canon 20D RIP...
Mike
lmorin
Contributor
My flood occurred in Bonaire after diving in very clouded water resulting from an unusual wind shift causing waves to pound the leeward side. Visibility near shore was under 18"; along the reef, only closeup photos were possible and those had to be done without a flash because of particulates. Returning after the shore dives brought us through the very low vis near shore. Two days later, on the 2nd to last dive of the trip, my camera began to flood about 1/4 through the dive. Showed up as condensation, that spread, with the droplets becoming bigger. Couldn't do anything except continue the dive. Camera functioned throughout. When I surfaced and returned to the boat, there was about an ounce of liquid inside the case. It has penetrated the battery compartment and there were droplets on the inside of the LCD screen. Camera never revived.
Postmortem: the o-ring on the case was covered with very, very fine particles of sand that were embedded in the silicone grease. I use a very thin layer, just enough to cover the whole surface, so only the bottom part of each particle was actually in the silicone.
What probably happened: when I opened the case to upload the images from the memory card on the days after the cloudy dive, I probably caused a slight rotation of the o-ring or the material on it. That slight rotation was probably enough to transfer particulates from a benign location on the o-ring to a point between the o-ring and the camera case, causing a slow leak.
Conclusion #1: This slow leak allowed a small, but lethal, amount of water to enter. The water could have been rendered harmless if an absorbant pad had been in place to soak it up.
Conclusion #2: I was lazy and should have attended to the possibility of fine particulates getting into the nooks and crannies; I will be more attentive in the future. Q-tips are very helpful for cleaning the groove in which the o-ring sits.
Postmortem: the o-ring on the case was covered with very, very fine particles of sand that were embedded in the silicone grease. I use a very thin layer, just enough to cover the whole surface, so only the bottom part of each particle was actually in the silicone.
What probably happened: when I opened the case to upload the images from the memory card on the days after the cloudy dive, I probably caused a slight rotation of the o-ring or the material on it. That slight rotation was probably enough to transfer particulates from a benign location on the o-ring to a point between the o-ring and the camera case, causing a slow leak.
Conclusion #1: This slow leak allowed a small, but lethal, amount of water to enter. The water could have been rendered harmless if an absorbant pad had been in place to soak it up.
Conclusion #2: I was lazy and should have attended to the possibility of fine particulates getting into the nooks and crannies; I will be more attentive in the future. Q-tips are very helpful for cleaning the groove in which the o-ring sits.
driftin' by
Contributor
Still to this day, I remove the o-rings when I fly. Back in the day, after returning home from a trip I was giving everything a good, fresh water rinse. I flooded my Sea & Sea MX-5 by tossing it into a 5 gallon bucket of water without the o-ring in place. Glad my only mistake was with it before moving up to the good stuff. Nevertheless, I don't worry about it... that's for my insurance agent to worry about
Nevertheless, I don't worry about it... that's for my insurance agent to worry about 
