CA_Diver
Registered
I do mostly shore diving in Northern CA, and am always worried that I'm going to the scratch the lens (really the only part that needs protecting) on my Canon case when entering or exiting, getting thrown around in the surge against the rocks, or when it's bouncing around under my gear after a day of diving. Since Canon doesn't sell a cap of any kind, I figured I'd try to make one...what a mistake and mess it was to try to make a silicone cap for it, there had to be an easier way...
The bezel of the WP-DC24 is about 1 7/8" across the top, but isn't perfectly round and sports a slight taper. I know for a fact that this also work for WP-DC14 because it also has this same bezel shape and this cap solution works. I'm guessing that the cases for the powershot series have this same basic shape, so this solution probably works for them all (but not I'm not totally sure).
Solution: 2" Rubber PVC Test Cap available (hopefully) at your local hardware store for ~$3. An example of what I'm talking about can be seen in the next post (this is my 5th post, so I can't yet post URLs...sorry admins). The one I got looks just like that, but without the concave top. With the metal band removed, the test cap can be pushed on and it stays snugly in place until you want to remove it. To be absolutely honest, it works beautifully because the cap is meant to grip a PVC sewer pipe so it has little gripping ridges/tabs inside, has a slightly smaller diameter than the bezel (but remember it's made of kind of stretchy rubber and has some play since the bezel isn't round), and is rigid so it doesn't crush. Even if you do get some sand in there, it won't press it against the lens so it shouldn't scratch it. If you somehow trap a rock in there, that's a whole different story. Then when you want to remove it (even with thick gloves), just pull with a slight twist. Finally, to connect it to my camera case, I melted two small holes (one in the side and one on the top) with a hot nail to run a string through both.
I put it on before I enter. I take it off before I want to take a picture. I put it back on before I know I won't be taking a picture for a while and before I exit. Even with thick gloves on, it goes on and comes off easy. The only thing is you need to watch where it dangles because I got a couple pictures with that cap in them.
Initially I thought to use a silicone bearing cover (i.e. Bearing Bra) probably available at your local Marine store or somewhere hiding in your garage. They're available in all kinds of sizes, but they don't have much stretch to them, don't really grip bezel/lens of the case that well, and are kind of thin. Whatever the case, it wasn't the best solution for my case. Anyway, this might be something to try if you have one in the garage or you can't find a PVC test cap that works.
Hopefully that protects someone's camera lens from a nasty scratch or getting cracked on the point of a rock (ruining both camera and case). Happy diving!
The bezel of the WP-DC24 is about 1 7/8" across the top, but isn't perfectly round and sports a slight taper. I know for a fact that this also work for WP-DC14 because it also has this same bezel shape and this cap solution works. I'm guessing that the cases for the powershot series have this same basic shape, so this solution probably works for them all (but not I'm not totally sure).
Solution: 2" Rubber PVC Test Cap available (hopefully) at your local hardware store for ~$3. An example of what I'm talking about can be seen in the next post (this is my 5th post, so I can't yet post URLs...sorry admins). The one I got looks just like that, but without the concave top. With the metal band removed, the test cap can be pushed on and it stays snugly in place until you want to remove it. To be absolutely honest, it works beautifully because the cap is meant to grip a PVC sewer pipe so it has little gripping ridges/tabs inside, has a slightly smaller diameter than the bezel (but remember it's made of kind of stretchy rubber and has some play since the bezel isn't round), and is rigid so it doesn't crush. Even if you do get some sand in there, it won't press it against the lens so it shouldn't scratch it. If you somehow trap a rock in there, that's a whole different story. Then when you want to remove it (even with thick gloves), just pull with a slight twist. Finally, to connect it to my camera case, I melted two small holes (one in the side and one on the top) with a hot nail to run a string through both.
I put it on before I enter. I take it off before I want to take a picture. I put it back on before I know I won't be taking a picture for a while and before I exit. Even with thick gloves on, it goes on and comes off easy. The only thing is you need to watch where it dangles because I got a couple pictures with that cap in them.
Initially I thought to use a silicone bearing cover (i.e. Bearing Bra) probably available at your local Marine store or somewhere hiding in your garage. They're available in all kinds of sizes, but they don't have much stretch to them, don't really grip bezel/lens of the case that well, and are kind of thin. Whatever the case, it wasn't the best solution for my case. Anyway, this might be something to try if you have one in the garage or you can't find a PVC test cap that works.
Hopefully that protects someone's camera lens from a nasty scratch or getting cracked on the point of a rock (ruining both camera and case). Happy diving!
