Hi all,
My Olympus PT-EP03 got serious leak problem, I shipped it to the repair center in H.K and they notified me the repair cost will be close to purchase a brand new one.
Here I have some options:
1. Repair it.
2. Buy a new PT-EP03.
3. Buy Nauticam Na-EPL2
Actually the leak problem already broke my EPL2, thus I'm not so confident about the brand now. But replace whole system cost too much.
So I wonder would it be a good choice if I buy the Nauticam NA-EPL2?
Hi William,
The only way housing can leak bad is when the material of all buttons and the port/hole that hold the buttons and o-ring on body cavity have worn out, hence the new o-ring can not do much sealing too. This will happen much faster to all plastic housing than to an aluminum due to greater strength of the aluminum and in most cases the machining tolerance is better on alu housings.
If the Oly repair price nearing brand new price is most likely the main body is being replaced by a new one. Depending on design, some o-ring may be installed on the buttons, this way the damage by frequent use will occur to the main body meaning o-rings spins to cavity of the housing body. If the o-ring is placed in a body cavity and the buttons are the moving ones, the material of the button will be the one wearing off first.
If you do lots of volcanic sand diving like Lembeh, the sand is so fine it will enter into all o-ring cavity and do accelerated wear and tear pretty fast.
The other weak spot of a plastic housing body will be at the port connection. The longer and heavier your port is or when you camera gets knock often at the port, the housing side for port connection will be easily damaged if not deformed.
The final damage is repeated deep dive. The bigger your plastic housing foot print is, the less rigid it is for the same material thickness and type when compared to a smaller foot print housing. Its easy to see such dimensional deformation in a test chamber. Your housing is what I call a "pussy" rating, 40 meter class. Its not about diving deeper than 40 meters, but 40 meters being the maximum recreational diver limit, to be safe the housing should be at least 65 meter rating if not more because safety factor must be there with a good margin. One can't keep pushing to max limit all the time and we expect the housing will retain 100% the same shape ? I seen Sony or Canon kind of 40 meter plastic housing imploding at depths of less than 50 meters...sure they are 40 meters rated. Even my GoPro housing which is rated 180 feet, when I pushed it in a chamber to 210 feet, you can see the body starts to flex. Do that on much bigger foot print plastic housing, disaster is what u will get.
As will all plastic resin, keep your housing away from chlorinated water ( swimming pool ) and sunlight. Some lastic will weaken overtime under chlorine exposure and ALL plastic will die from UV ray.
If I were you get an alu one, Nauticam is surely a good choice and swallow the bitter pill that plastic housing can't "live "as long as alu ones.
How much is your PT-EP03 ? US$599 ? How many dives have you used it for ?
Take this as a learning curve. Housing of US$599 and 40 meter rated and plastic is EXPENSIVE, it is not low cost or cost effective. Unless u dive very little with it, that is not a wise investment. Flood ur camera and a good lens, that will be extra learning curve.
Sure all housings can leak but good alu housing do not experience dimensional distortion ( to the point of no return and leaking ) at 40-50 meters even u dive 500 times a year. Please send any housings, regardless of material or brand, once a year for annual service. Get them all o-rings on the buttons and etc etc replaced, just like our regulators, these toys are not maintenance free.
BTW I use alu and only Alu housings for camera bigger than my GoPro, even my coming "baby" size Sony RX100's housing will be alu ones, its on order............ Video version from Nauticam.
If u like UW imaging, raise the budget and forget plastic housing for camera size like yours
and IF with change-able lens
I am so happy to be finally able to get cheap RX100 alu housing. I mean, as early as 5 years ago, its hard to get alu housing with 100% buttons/dial capability for something of RX100 size and complexity, at a mere US$1000 ( not video version ) was a wild dream.
UK-Germany is charging like US$500ish for an alu GoPro housing ( 100+ meter rated ) and that is only 3 buttons ( no dials on a GoPro ) and stupid toolbox kind of lock !!!
UK-Germany releases housing for GoPro HERO :: Wetpixel.com
Happy shopping........
