Flooded my DC600

[Former Sealife Employee]

Hey guys. Back from an awesome live aboard with just 'the girls' on Cat Ppalu to Exuma Cayes, Bahamas. BUT, flooded my camera on 2nd day!! I guess I was in such a hurry to get out on the dive deck after replacing the lithium battery between dives, that I didn't get the housing latched properly. If you are not careful, you can latch it all the way down without 'catching' it properly before flipping over the cam and snapping it down into place. No debris or pinching was found on the o-ring or it's matching counterpart on thd lid. I don't think I put it in the rinse tank this time, went straight to diving area for DM to pass it down to me after entering the water. Upon descending to about 10 ft, I started turning it on when I noticed 1/4 inch of water in the bottom of the LCD window. After a choice expletive, I ascended quickly and gave it to the DM, who dried it off, took it out and laid it all out to dry immediately. But it was of course too late.

The redeeming thing was my friend having the same camera but with the digital (yellow) strobe. She felt task loaded already, fiddling with her new canister light, and that my photography skills were better to date, anyway...so, she let me use her camera the rest of the week in my own housing (which BTW went without incident).

Got some good shots, but waiting to have time to edit them (or to talk my hubby into editing them with PS, with which he is getting proficient and can do a better job than I ever imagined). Can't wait to show you my shots of rays, sharks, the blue hole, etc! My biggest limitation with the setup was trying to get the strobe aimed effectively into dark holes in the coral heads, and getting shots on night dives. For the night dives, I had to hold a small light aimed at the subject to get the camera focused, then move it away and depress the shutter button while trying to hold it steady enough! Any ideas on night UW photography with this camera? There has got to be a better way!!!

Send your camera in to us and let our service technician take a look at what might have went wrong. You can send it to: Sealife - Service Dept, 97 Foster Rd. Suite 5, Moorestown, NJ 08057. Include a note (or a copy of what you have written here) so our technician knows what to look for.

Thanks!
Denise

 

[Mrs Fic]

Thanks! Dropped off camera at LDS this evening. Hopefully they will send it off soon!!!

 

[DandyDon]

Okay, I suggested earlier...

Take a look at State Farm's Inland Marine policy. You may be surprised... :11:

I all of SB for discussions on this and it seems to be a pretty well kept secret, but not totally....

My company is USAA - and this coverage is a Personal Articles Floater (also known by some companies as "inland marine insurance"). It essentially covers all risks to specifically listed items on the policy. This is a separate policy from homeowners insurance and covers only those items specifically listed. Intentional DAMAGE would of course not be covered, but accidental flooding certainly should unless the policy specifically excludes it that as a cause of loss.
FWIW - for about $4500 worth of camera coverage, I am paying $48 per year.
Yes - they do put a nice note on the policy packet that says "you claims history may affect your coverage...."
In case it isnt apparent from my username - I used to be a claims adjuster but I didnt handle property loss claims so that is not my area of expertise.

I have a inland marine policy for covering my UW camera gear and its inusred through state farm. It covers everything from simple damage to lost or destroyed.

for 5200 worth of camera gear i payed $59 for all the coverage.

FWIW

Tooth

I also use State Farm.......my cost is $29.00 per year for $2000.00 in coverage.

Some will suggest a scheduled coverage rider on your homeowners insurance which could be a few dollars cheaper, however....

Just be aware of an issue in some states which can affect you when insuring through your homeowners policy. In some states, if you have 2 claims in three years, of any type, against your policy, you could be subject to being classified high risk and at risk of losing your insurance. That is the case in Colorado. You can have one camera theft and a break-in on your car, neither one even related to damage to your home, and you are either uninsurable or at exhorbitant rates.

While I could insure my gear at a much lower cost than through DEPP, there's no way I'm going to let damage to my gear affect protection to my home.

Im an Insurance Adjuster and what BurBunny says is absolutely correct. While there are lots of reasons to have all your insurance needs provided by 1 company (agent), if you have 2 claims within 3 years you are subject to losing those policies. IE, you could be non-renewed.
A small additional premium for "Scuba" related gear, that might have a higher probability of you filing a claim, might be worth paying. You can maybe save a few dollars a year on your premiums by adding a rider to your homeowners policy or having an inland marine policy. But weigh whether it's worth possibily losing your homeowners coverage. I carry my scuba gear with a separate company than I have my homeowners coverage with.

So I am going to be working up an inventory of much of my scuba gear, all of my cameras - diving and not, my laptop, etc to get it all covered before my next dive trip. I have never liked being unprotected, and even tho I always take Trip insurance for international journeys, that coverage has some severe limits and deductibles on cameras and electronics.

The agent agreed that I could work up the list with website links to where I supported the value of each item so I'll use my Word Processor program to work up the list, copy URLs from manufactures' sites with MSRPs - not Leisure Pro or Scuba Toys prices, and while I will pay a little more for full Retail Price coverage, the URL linked info should be there at a later date if needed, and I am covered for that value.

from the time that i informed them that my nikonos had flooded and it was confirmed by my photo tech, i had a check in hand in less then 4 business days. the start to finish ticket time was less then 30 days so i consider that a pretty good turn around time.

FWIW

I am a big supporter of DAN Dive Insurance, but I get my Trip Insurance elsewhere, and didn't care for their equipment coverage...

• Dive Equipment Insurance services are being provided by Senn, Dunn, Marsh, and Roland, LLC.
• Deductible $100; Water Deductible $250 or 10% loss, whichever is greater
• Cost to insure Reef Master SL155 Sealife DC500 Underwater Digital Camera Pro Set @ $732 = $99

$99 to insure $732 with $250 deductible?! :11: I was born at night, but not last night...!

The initial quote I got today...
$3,500 sports gear: $116
$1,500 cameras: + $20
No Deductible

Even if that is not the final quote (the agent learning as I was on this policy; not commonly used here), I'm sure I can do a lot better than DAN's affiliate.

 

[FireDiver443]

Someone told me once you aren't really an underwater photographer until you flood a camera, so congratulations on that milestone!

Seriously, though, good luck and I hope SeaLife will be able to do something for you. My wife & I picked up the DC600 for Christmas last year and so far have been very pleased with it. I'll be dismayed (to say the least) the day I achieve my official "U/W Photographer" stripe.

BTW... I'm also a little jealous about the DC800, although I'm pretty sure my next U/W camera is going to be the Nikon D80 DSLR just as soon as I have a couple grand to drop and a camera & housing. When I flood that I'll just go crawl under a rock.

 

[DandyDon]

Someone told me once you aren't really an underwater photographer until you flood a camera, so congratulations on that milestone!

Seriously, though, good luck and I hope SeaLife will be able to do something for you. My wife & I picked up the DC600 for Christmas last year and so far have been very pleased with it. I'll be dismayed (to say the least) the day I achieve my official "U/W Photographer" stripe.

BTW... I'm also a little jealous about the DC800, although I'm pretty sure my next U/W camera is going to be the Nikon D80 DSLR just as soon as I have a couple grand to drop and a camera & housing. When I flood that I'll just go crawl under a rock.

Did you see the insurance info I posted right above you?

I read about people losing or flooding their cameras frequently here on SB, and DAN's in water coverage kinda sucks, but that Inland Marine policy looks like the berries.

 

[FireDiver443]

I saw it, DandyDon...but I'm still going to be dismayed the day I flood my camera even if I have great insurance. At least for a few minutes.

 

[peterbj7]

Shows how valuable it is to have long battery life. I have several u/w stills cameras, all standard digital compacts in their manufacturers' housings. I particularly like a 5mp Casio (2-3 years old) that can still give me 7 full dives on one battery charge, and a total of maybe 300 exposures. All using the LCD panel and around half using the on-board flash, with lots of reviewing underwater. Means I NEVER have to open the housing on a boat or anywhere tricky.