Canon camera/housing question

[zuzanne]

I have the Canon WP-DC60 housing that is for the A510 or A520 camera. My problem is that the housing leaked and fried my A520 camera. I need to replace the camera. The A520 is discontinued. I can get a new one on eBay or Amazon.com for anywhere from $150 to $200. I can get a refurbished one from Canon for $99.00 plus shipping. I have been looking at the design of the A530. The difference in the 2 cameras is the buttons for downloading, menu and functions are no longer located on the botton of the screen but have been moved to the right hand side of the screen. The top of the cameras appear to be the exact same for on/off, zoom and mode choice. The cameras also appear to be the exact same size. My question is since I would not be using any of the buttons except the ones on the top of the camera while underwater anyway could I use the A530 in the housing? I can't afford to replace both the camera and housing and I really don't want a camera that's been discontinued.

Has anyone attempted to do something like this before and how well did it work?

Suzanne

 

[alcina]

I think someone else asked about this recently (hopefully he will pop in) and it was determined that, no, you can't use the 530 in the 520 housing.

Might pay to ring Canon to be sure.

Also, I wouldn't worry about cameras being discontinued too much. They get replaced with a newer model twice a year sometimes! If you liked your 520 and it gave you what you needed, then there's no real reason other than corporate pressure to change! If there are new features on a more current model that you really want, then change...but it will likely mean a new housing!

 

[REII]

Suzanne;

According to this page http://goshotcamera.zoovy.com/product/WPC005WP500_CAN_4
the A510 A520 & A530 all fit the same case if using the WP-500 so it may very well fir the WP-DC60. Why don't you take the underwater housing into a Best Buy or somewhere and try to fir the camera in the case. Just tell them what you are trying to do.

TOM

 

[zuzanne]

Thanks Tom, I am looking at doing that.

Suzanne

 

[Couv]

I have the Canon WP-DC60 housing that is for the A510 or A520 camera. My problem is that the housing leaked and fried my A520 camera. I need to replace the camera. The A520 is discontinued. I can get a new one on eBay or Amazon.com for anywhere from $150 to $200. I can get a refurbished one from Canon for $99.00 plus shipping. I have been looking at the design of the A530. The difference in the 2 cameras is the buttons for downloading, menu and functions are no longer located on the botton of the screen but have been moved to the right hand side of the screen. The top of the cameras appear to be the exact same for on/off, zoom and mode choice. The cameras also appear to be the exact same size. My question is since I would not be using any of the buttons except the ones on the top of the camera while underwater anyway could I use the A530 in the housing? I can't afford to replace both the camera and housing and I really don't want a camera that's been discontinued.

Has anyone attempted to do something like this before and how well did it work?

Suzanne

Suzanne,

I have just started taking u/w pix and even more recently became a member here. I know there are thousands of divers w/ cameras making thousands of dives, but I see all too often someone has ruined his/her camera due to a leak. What was the cause of the leak?

Thank you,

couv

 

[Mike Newman]

If you want to check out compatibility between housings and cameras - hit up www.digideep.com. The team there keep information up to date and it may be useful to you - good luck - I'm sorry that you lost the camera...

 

[zuzanne]

The housing leaked after I changed the batteries on the boat after the 2nd dive. I don't know if I got a hair or grain of sand on the o-ring or just did not close it up correctly. This was only my 2nd time using the housing. I was really bummed that the camera is shot. I was able to salvage some of the photos on the card, but the ones that I really wanted were gone. That is the point where the housing started to leak evidently. I took several shots of a small school of squid. This was the first time I had ever seen them in a school like that while diving and was really hoping that the shots would be on the card but no such luck. At least I salvaged a few of the shots one was of the spotted snake eel. It was also the first time I had seen one of those while diving.

I know that once I replace the camera, I will not change out the batteries on the boat like that again, I will just take my trusty old Sea & Sea film camera along as a back up camera and use it when the batteries run dry in the digital camera. Its way to expensive for me to have to replace the camera like this again.

Suzanne

 

[jmps]

If you don't have them already get 2500mah NiMh batteries for your new camera. They easily last for two dives for me in my A80. This prevents having to open up the camera outside. I bought our A80 refurbed from Canon and I couldn't tell it wasn't new. I believe it is new just repackaged. It was a great deal.

 

[under water]

If you don't have them already get 2500mah NiMh batteries for your new camera. They easily last for two dives for me in my A80. This prevents having to open up the camera outside. I bought our A80 refurbed from Canon and I couldn't tell it wasn't new. I believe it is new just repackaged. It was a great deal.

You can even find 2650mAh most places now.

 

[JackConnick]

Or 2750s.

But I'd try and avoid Sanyo batteries. I've had two sets fail from two different sources, and know others who've had teh same experiences. Thomas Distributing has lots of choices, and they were great when I had a problem they said just toss 'em and they sent me another set!

Jack