I'm not lucky with UW cameras

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

emoreira

Contributor
Messages
2,147
Reaction score
712
Location
ARGENTINA
# of dives
200 - 499
I'm just demoralized.
My first UW camera was a Canon A570IS. I bought the Canon OEM UW Housing.
Too bulky and always with my heart in my mouth if something goes wrong, I mean a flooding.
I switched to the INTOVA Sport HD. I wanted to video and the proposal on a camera within a housing was appealing. In a deep dive in Cozumel (36 mts) it flooded. Just a few drops of sea water through the shutter botton were enough to fry the electronics.
Changed under warranty. The second camera only held a few meters. In a wonderful wreck it flooded. Masive flood.
I didn't want to deal with UW housings.
Sealife came with a killer deal. A permanently sealed camera. No o-rings, no doors, no nothing. Nothing could ever happen. I went with the Micro 2.0
After 4 years of light use (the last year and a half only pool use) it died in an unexplainable way.
It refuses to turn on.
Now I need to contact support or whatever.
Underwater photo is definitely not for me.
 
I would say that given the level of equipment you have been using that you have been lucky. The OEM Canon housing is not heavy duty and is really a disposable item and I know because I had one and it is pretty typical of that level of equipment. It oozed and dripped and leaked for two years before I rid myself of it and got an Ikelite housing for the 570 which was a little less leak prone.

The Intova, well, yeah, you get what you pay for. About what my expectation would be.

The Sealife, had it been resealed or maintained in that 4 years of service? Cameras and housings need yearly or at least biannual service and vacuum checking?

I do not want to discourage you but UW photography is an expensive and often frustrating thing. Some like the challenge and enjoy it, some do not. Not sure where I am with it myself at the moment :wink:.

James
 
A vacuum alarm system is a good investment to reduce flooding anxiety. You pull a vacuum on the housing with a hand pump an hour or two before the dive. The electronics monitors any vacuum pressure loss and warns with colored LED lights. Most also include a water sensor. Highly recommended.

Edit: Understanding how O-rings work and how to maintain them is also very helpful for housing maintenance: O-rings for Divers
 
I would say that given the level of equipment you have been using that you have been lucky. The OEM Canon housing is not heavy duty and is really a disposable item and I know because I had one and it is pretty typical of that level of equipment. It oozed and dripped and leaked for two years before I rid myself of it and got an Ikelite housing for the 570 which was a little less leak prone.

The Intova, well, yeah, you get what you pay for. About what my expectation would be.

The Sealife, had it been resealed or maintained in that 4 years of service? Cameras and housings need yearly or at least biannual service and vacuum checking?

I do not want to discourage you but UW photography is an expensive and often frustrating thing. Some like the challenge and enjoy it, some do not. Not sure where I am with it myself at the moment :wink:.

James

When I bought my Canon A570IS back in 2008, it was not the latest PS camera, there was a newer A590, but there was no OEM UW housing for it. So I went with the 570 that did have an UW housing.
I also took a look to the IKELITE UW housing, but it was a little pricey and also bulkier, way bulkier than the OEM housing.
There were some posts here in SB saying that the IKELITE housing had some problems with push button misalignment.
Experience with the OEM housing showed sticky buttons at depth, a problem frequently claimed.
I had no leak in all the years I used it.
I also was disappointed with INTOVA and, you know, they are no longer here (Intova gone under?).
Sealife. There is no mention in the manual that it should be resealed or maintained in a different way of what I did or sent to service for anything. The camera is "permanent sealed" and only should be rinsed after use. There is no opening in the camera nor any part to be serviced. Only keep battery charged, what I did.
When I bought the Sealife camera I thought I was buying a good camera, not a piece of junk or a low end product.
I have contacted Sealife support, I'm waiting their answer and instructions.
 
The battery in the Sealife would start to degrade as soon as it's /manufactured/, even without use. It's just the way the chemicals in the battery work. Whether four years of use is reasonable, or not, is the question.

I went with a Canon G12 with Canon housing which initially had a manufacturing flaw. I was able to fix it myself, with instructions on the net. Other than testing on my first two dives of any trip, I've only had to make sure to religiously lubricate and check the o-ring on each morning. So far, so good. I went with the G12 because, at the time, the camera + housing, ran about $300.

My backup is a GoPro Hero 5 + Super Suit housing. It's more expensive a kit, but o-ring isn't something I need to mess with. I also test it on the first two dives of a trip.
 
Call SeaLife and tell them what's happening. When I got my Micro it actually flooded - not supposed to be possible, but it did. They had me take it to a dive shop where they replaced it and upgraded it to one with more memory. Then that danged thing froze while I was taking pictures. I think the hack they told me to make it work again was to press the shutter and the button that turns it on, together, and hold them until it powered down. It worked! Maybe that hack will START yours? Good luck. I'm using an Olympus TG6 now and love it.
 
When I bought my Canon A570IS back in 2008, it was not the latest PS camera, there was a newer A590, but there was no OEM UW housing for it. So I went with the 570 that did have an UW housing.
I also took a look to the IKELITE UW housing, but it was a little pricey and also bulkier, way bulkier than the OEM housing.
There were some posts here in SB saying that the IKELITE housing had some problems with push button misalignment.
Experience with the OEM housing showed sticky buttons at depth, a problem frequently claimed.
I had no leak in all the years I used it.
I also was disappointed with INTOVA and, you know, they are no longer here (Intova gone under?).
Sealife. There is no mention in the manual that it should be resealed or maintained in a different way of what I did or sent to service for anything. The camera is "permanent sealed" and only should be rinsed after use. There is no opening in the camera nor any part to be serviced. Only keep battery charged, what I did.
When I bought the Sealife camera I thought I was buying a good camera, not a piece of junk or a low end product.
I have contacted Sealife support, I'm waiting their answer and instructions.

I liked my 570 and miss it to this day. It had full manual controls. The OEM housing was junk. The Ikelite was serviceable and did okay.

I am not meaning to pick on you but you are buying beginner level consumer equipment, not amateur/enthusiast/pro level equipment and a four year life, yes, that is about typical if that. And that includes SeaLife, that is a basic, P&S camera with a very small sensor and intended for casual use.

James
 
Sealife tech support answered my e-mail and recommended to contact the local Sealife representative, who happend to be a known diver here locally.
I contacted him, and brought him the camera. I left the camera to be analyzed.
After a few hours I received a whatsapp message saying that the camera was back to life, new SW version installed and left to recharge the battery.
Tomorrow I have to go pick it up.
My faith returned.
 
Well, see, you are lucky after all :)!

James
 
I :heart: SeaLife support. If only they made one with usable RAW and the price tag comparable with the 1400 ...
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

Back
Top Bottom