Nauticam NEX7 HOUSING FLOODED

[PHIL RUDIN]

Again, sorry you have had a problem with the housing.

What I thought was odd is the fact that the damaged O-ring in the photo has nothing to do with sealing the LCD window into the housing. The window has a second O-ring around it which makes the seal and the deeper you go the better the seal. The damaged O-ring is like the O-ring on the pickup finder. Even when that O-ring is removed it takes a very hard push from inside the housing to get the LCD window or the viewfinder to pop out. The leak may have come from another location even though the O-ring appears cut.

Regarding insurance, mine is a rider to my home owners policy. You need to be sure that they will cover flooded equipment, not damage as the result of a flood as in a storm or somthing dropped into the ocean.

Phil Rudin

 

[deeper thoughts]

We have had a strobe.housing and one uw p.s shoot flood. Unfortunately this does happen

 

[alien]

Any more on this from the OP?

 

[gelledge0001]

Apparently I am at fault and SOL....Nauticam states that the housing was flooded due to my failure to remove the rubber eye cup from the camera which is a user error and not covered by nauticam...that is something that I apparently missed in the instruction manual that is on page 14 of the manual....it would have been nice if there was a sticker on the housing please remove rubber eyecup from camera before inserting or something like that....I guess that ole captain can now chime in on how I am a retard for not knowing this or noticing it on page 14 of the manual...anyway at least everyone else can possibly learn from my misfortune....if you get this housing please remove the eyecup from the camera and get insurance just in case. Thanks for the replies!

 

[IyaDiver]

Gel,

With today's precision fit of housing to camera and eye cup adding distance or "fatness", it is a standard drill to remove :
- Eye cup ........which I know it is near 7mm thick on a NEX7, way fatter than most
- Any filter on lens

In you excitement you forgot to read properly.........totally normal. Sometime we are like a kid with a new toy. At the least be glad that the camera is only US$1000ish and not some US$3000+ DSLR camera. Take it as UW Photo 101 school fee.

What I also see most of the time from my UW photo friends are, they do not use their camera for land use much, at least not with their UW lens if they choose to multi-use They do not remove their zoom/focus gears from lens. In fact some would love to see shoulder strap attachment gone from camera body as these two projections is not nice to have when camera is for UW use.

I once broke a built in red filter in an Amphibico video housing, because I forgot to remove the UV filter from the camcorder lens. . 4mm extra is way to much for a precision housing.

Hope you get a new NEX7 and take great photos soon yah.

.

 

[alien]

Very sorry to hear this. In fact when I got my housing the instruction manual for NEX-7 didn't even exist. So I flew blind. Lucky I worked out to take the rubber eyepiece off.

 

[gelledge0001]

So I know this is a very old thread now but wanted to give an update. I sent the housing back to backscatter and paid around 100 dollars to have the leak detector refitted and the housing checked out. They sent it back and I took it empty on a test dive where it promptly flooded at 45 feet. This made me feel like the initial issue wasn't the eyecup after all because it flooded empty with no camera in it. I never contacted backscatter about it again in their defense because I was so upset and I knew I would never trust putting anything in the housing again. So now I have a very expensive paperweight. I switched to using an inexpensive tg4 but recently have seen the nauticam vacuum system and didn't know if they would be able to use it to figure out what was wrong with the housing. I really don't expect backscatter or nauticam to do anything to assist me at this point because this happened so long ago but if either company was willing to assist me in any way I would be more than appreciative. If anyone has any suggestions for me at this point or knows anyone that is affiliated with nauticam or backscatter that would have suggestions I would appreciate it. I don't know if I should keep it as decoration or sell it for scrap metal or if there is a chance that it could actually be repaired without costing an arm and a leg because I really don't want to put more money into it. I also need to apologize for my tone in my previous posts it is no excuse but I was very upset with the loss of my equipment.

 

[Tbar]

Did you contact Nautcam when you found the second leak? Did the housing get properly cleaned? Is the moisture sensor damaged from the water? It would expect it needs an overhaul to check all the parts and seals but this would be a lot cheaper than a new housing. The Sony Nex7 is getting a bit cheaper new, say $US600. If you get the housing 'fixed' for a reasonable cost, this would be a good low cost package. Nauticam do recommend an overhaul each year or 200 dives, so this is an on-going operating cost rather than a fix my housing cost.

I am using the Sony Nex5N in the Nauticam housing, this is the basis from the Nex-7. I have not had issues (yet). But I have a few spare camera bodies to cover the day it goes wrong!

I don't belive the the nauticam vacuum system is available on the Nex-7. This system needs a 'port' and 'valve' to connect a vacuum pump and the internal sensor needs to read the vacuum and moisture.

As a reference, my 'local' (they are 2,000klm away) Nautcam dealer/servicer has been great happy to talk on the phone and provide advice and turn repairs around on a same day basis.