DC1200 and video light . HUGE letdown!

[streetjudge79]

Well, I had a great opportunity to try out my brand new dc1200 and video light. Here is what happened.

1. As soon as video light hit water, battery compartment flooded. (O ring was in and seated right and cap was tight. It's a total loss, expensive batteries ruined,battery holder all fried
2. Dc1200 would not work when I first put it in.. only live display screen was on and none of the buttons would work.
3. Eventually got the buttons working, no idea how.. Display to see my photos would show no images
4. SD card which was tested the night before and formatted did not save 1 photo, lost all my diving photos
5. Video function did not work. I would hit record, it would shut itself off 2 seconds later.
6. Flash strobe on my second dive would not link with the dc1200.. the flash was working and charged, but the camera would not give the flash a signal to activate it
7. Trying to operate the camera with the strobe and the video light attached was such a pain in the ass. I don't want a video light any longer and will only have a single strobe. The design seriously needs to be improved.

I am pretty pissed off to say the least, my entire dive trip was ruined ,gas and money for the trip lost today. I plan on sending everything back to have replaced. And I am not looking foward to trying it out again. I just want something that WORKS! I don't want to have to worry every time I take this camera in the water.
I'll go back to using the dc1000... never had these problems with the older camera.

 

[a22shady]

Sorry for your luck i have the DC1200 Elite and works awesome. I have had it out on about 10-12 dives with no issues what so ever. Except user I forgot to turn strobe off and went to test out next morning and wouldn't work lol but an easy change. It sucks when it happens but I have delt with there warranty service and they were excellent ot work with atleast for me. No hassle do the return and hopefully no more issue's.

Good Luck

 

[streetjudge79]

Yeah, I have no worries . I know they will take care of it, but boy was it frustrating... I was so looking forward to taking pics today and had some great ones that I'll never see..

 

[Madvelazquez]

Sorry for your disappointment and frustration. I just added the video light and used it two weeks ago in grand cayman and loved it. I did not have any problems at all.

 

[terrylowe]

I have been on a trip where the camera did not behave at all; I know it can be frustrating.

It has been said that one negative comment negates multiple positive comments (can't remember the exact ratio). I'd say that there will have to be like a zillion positive comments to help negate your original post.

Although I am sure that Sealife would have loved to help fix your camera BEFORE you posted your complaints on the internet, I am sure that they will come through with fixing it for you....they have about the best after-the-sale reputation I've ever seen.

At least your dive trip wasn't completely blown...you got to dive......

 

[Pillpusher]

Wow... That sucks. I've had my DC1200 for a couple of trips as well, and had no issues at all. Although, I'm sure that doesn't do anything to help your situation...lol. Hard to believe that so many things went wrong at the same time! As a couple of people mentioned, I'm sure Sealife will work with you to get things taken care of. My only other suggestion, is to be sure to do a bathtub test next time before you leave for your trip to make sure all is in working order. It sounds like the flooding, the faulty flash link cable, and most of the other issues could have at least been identified, and hopefully fixed, before you jumped off the boat.

 

[streetjudge79]

TerryLowe, I'm not worried about my negative comments, it's under warranty since it's only a month old. It will be fixed either way. I'm not blasting the customer service, I'm just venting because it's so frustrating dropping a lot of money and have equipment not work right. I am a big fan of Sealife cameras, I love my dc1000,but this is the third time I've had a flooding incident with Sea Life. I love the camera when its not flooding. But the product should work 100 percent of the time, there should be no issues, especially with brand new equipment. I take very good care of my cameras, change out the o rings , clean very well, etc etc... so I know it's not operator error. I triple checked the video light before I took it to make sure everything was done right on it. The o ring was set in there from the factory and had a little silicone grease on it so I didn't need to add any more. The cap was on tight too, so it should not have flooded.
I changed out SD cards and it seems the SD card was the culprit for the camera itself acting funny. I put the same card in another camera and it said , "Card error" I bought a new card and it seems to be working. But I had tested the original 16gb kingston SD card the night before and it worked? I don't understand how it could work the night before and then not work.
So the video light is the only issue at the moment.

 

[Airleron]

I did have a SeaLife 600, it took beautiful pics and it flooded 3 times. They replaced it no questions asked each time. But I got tired of the disappointment. I opted to go with any point and shoot with an Ikelite housing. I figured if I started with a well built housing, the rest would come. Photography isn't my strong suit, just something fun. I get a few good pics, and I'm happy with that.

 

[streetjudge79]

Sent the light back today.. excellent customer service as usual. I don't think I'll be keeping it when I get the replacement, I prefer the strobe and camera only. does anyone here want to buy it?

 

[Pillpusher]

Sent the light back today.. excellent customer service as usual. I don't think I'll be keeping it when I get the replacement, I prefer the strobe and camera only. does anyone here want to buy it?

I would possibly be interested for using it for night dives. How much? Also, is it refurb, or is it a new unit?