Yes, you have to figure out why the housing is leaking. Replacing the o-rings may not be the solution. If it was leaking because the o-rings were not seated correctly, replacing them and not fixing the original problem obviously will not work.
How Deep can I go?
- Thread starter wetvet
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Saturation
Medical Moderator
I have an A200 housing which is similar to the A40 housing in construction, material and design. The Powershot polycarbonate housings are custom made for a series of Canon cameras, you should be safe within the recreational limits of up to 130' but stay within its rated range of 100'. Since the camera won't operate beyond 90', its really an issue of whether to carry it with you on a deep dive, to use later during the shallower segments of the dive.
When housing's leak from diving beyond its depth range, they leak primarily from the lens seal. Since you cannot care for this seal, its behind the screw casing that covers the glass lens in your housing, it eventually builds up crud that works its way deeper with each succeeding dive until it breaks the seal, causing water to leak in. This crud doesn't get rinsed out because rinsing is not under pressure, compared to the dive. If you are handy, you should dissassemble the front lens housing yearly, clean it out, lub and seal it, and pressure test it on a dive before mounting a camera in it.
I have done 100+ dives with my A200 housing rated to 100' to as deep as 180' without issues, until dive 80, when I took it to 150'. The cost to repair a salt water flood was $200 so I just bought two second hand A200 for $70-100 each as backup. Consider these costs when taking you camera to depth. The A40 is now down to $180, new. Flood insurance is $100/year, typically.
In general, the buttons become stiff near 80' and stiffer still as you get deeper. As you descend, the o rings squeeze against the shafts of the buttons. You won't be able to adjust anything, for the most part. It varies, but to maximize your depth range for photography, turn the camera on at around 60' as the shutter button is the last to go. You can then at least hit the shutter button near 80'.
Underwater photography requires you to be a master of diving at the depths you take pictures. Photographers are all distracted by their subjects, and generally intuitively know when to check gauges or if there are problems with their dive ... before it gets too late. Unlikely many underwater digital housings, every button on the camera has a button on the Canon case. This is convenient, but can be very distracting if you fidget with buttons at depth and for diving, the Canon cases have too many points of failure for a flood in the future.
Several Canon housings are positively buoyant [corrected from earlier post], so worse case if you let go, someone may fish it out for you. To avoid exceeding the depth limit, I attach my housing to a spool, and let it ascend to a depth above 100' until I'm done with the deeper segment of an open water dive, then reel it in for photos. For square wave dives past 100', I don't bother bringing it.
Be warned, unlike digital cameras sold by traditional diving camera manufacturers, Canon completely voids the warranty of the case and the camera, if you take it diving even if new. Please check your warranty, it may have changed.
The movie mode can be switched in-out very quickly, and you can take movies very fast, such as when these sharks came out of nowhere, cruised by me, then dissappeared as quickly.
When housing's leak from diving beyond its depth range, they leak primarily from the lens seal. Since you cannot care for this seal, its behind the screw casing that covers the glass lens in your housing, it eventually builds up crud that works its way deeper with each succeeding dive until it breaks the seal, causing water to leak in. This crud doesn't get rinsed out because rinsing is not under pressure, compared to the dive. If you are handy, you should dissassemble the front lens housing yearly, clean it out, lub and seal it, and pressure test it on a dive before mounting a camera in it.
I have done 100+ dives with my A200 housing rated to 100' to as deep as 180' without issues, until dive 80, when I took it to 150'. The cost to repair a salt water flood was $200 so I just bought two second hand A200 for $70-100 each as backup. Consider these costs when taking you camera to depth. The A40 is now down to $180, new. Flood insurance is $100/year, typically.
In general, the buttons become stiff near 80' and stiffer still as you get deeper. As you descend, the o rings squeeze against the shafts of the buttons. You won't be able to adjust anything, for the most part. It varies, but to maximize your depth range for photography, turn the camera on at around 60' as the shutter button is the last to go. You can then at least hit the shutter button near 80'.
Underwater photography requires you to be a master of diving at the depths you take pictures. Photographers are all distracted by their subjects, and generally intuitively know when to check gauges or if there are problems with their dive ... before it gets too late. Unlikely many underwater digital housings, every button on the camera has a button on the Canon case. This is convenient, but can be very distracting if you fidget with buttons at depth and for diving, the Canon cases have too many points of failure for a flood in the future.
Several Canon housings are positively buoyant [corrected from earlier post], so worse case if you let go, someone may fish it out for you. To avoid exceeding the depth limit, I attach my housing to a spool, and let it ascend to a depth above 100' until I'm done with the deeper segment of an open water dive, then reel it in for photos. For square wave dives past 100', I don't bother bringing it.
Be warned, unlike digital cameras sold by traditional diving camera manufacturers, Canon completely voids the warranty of the case and the camera, if you take it diving even if new. Please check your warranty, it may have changed.
The movie mode can be switched in-out very quickly, and you can take movies very fast, such as when these sharks came out of nowhere, cruised by me, then dissappeared as quickly.
Saturation:
Maybe yours is but they are not all positively buoyant. The WP-DC600 and the S230 are definately not.
Saturation
Medical Moderator
Thanks D33ps1x, they have so many its my mistake to generalize it as I did. Let me qualify it then, the housing I've tried is the DC400 and the DC200S and I've corrected my earlier post. These housings are used on the A100, A200 and A40 and A50 Powershots.
If you own these cases, I'd be interested in what the warranty says too.
If you own these cases, I'd be interested in what the warranty says too.
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It's a gamble taking it below rated depth. I have done this, but consciously accepted the risk. I briefly took my Olympus C3040Z/PT-014 to 40M (rated 30M), without incident. I did what I could to minimize risk, such as carefully cleaning the O-ring and inspecting carefully.
However, I would not advise taking your camera on a dive where you know you will be in strong currents, especially down. Focus on your dive safety first, and to hell with photography. Your air and your no-deco limit will be reached very quickly at 40M anyway, so your photo Op is very short. I would suggest not task-loading, it just adds to already high risks at that depth.
However, I would not advise taking your camera on a dive where you know you will be in strong currents, especially down. Focus on your dive safety first, and to hell with photography. Your air and your no-deco limit will be reached very quickly at 40M anyway, so your photo Op is very short. I would suggest not task-loading, it just adds to already high risks at that depth.
clive francis
Guest
this sort of question is asked time and time again, and everytime people pipe up with "i took it to 35, 40, 45m and it had no problems".
the dive cases are mass produced and tested in excess of their recommended limit but you have to remember each case is different just because yours went to 45m doesn't mean mine or any one elses will.
secondly, another important thing that everyone misses, while it is important that you don't dive in xcess of your cameras limit, it is even more important that you don't dive in xcess of your own limits!
if you are not qualified to go beyond 18, 30 or 40m then it doesn't matter what your camera is rated to, as diving beyond your limits is no excuse and not only endangers your life but the others unfortunate enough to be diving with you.
this does not necessarily apply to you but all people seem to be worried about is how deep can their kit go, and not is the dive within my boundaries both in terms of sea conditions and depth.
just my 1p's worth
the dive cases are mass produced and tested in excess of their recommended limit but you have to remember each case is different just because yours went to 45m doesn't mean mine or any one elses will.
secondly, another important thing that everyone misses, while it is important that you don't dive in xcess of your cameras limit, it is even more important that you don't dive in xcess of your own limits!
if you are not qualified to go beyond 18, 30 or 40m then it doesn't matter what your camera is rated to, as diving beyond your limits is no excuse and not only endangers your life but the others unfortunate enough to be diving with you.
this does not necessarily apply to you but all people seem to be worried about is how deep can their kit go, and not is the dive within my boundaries both in terms of sea conditions and depth.
just my 1p's worth
TKOS
Registered
I have a case for the S45. I have never taken it down below 70 feet. Part of this is where I dive and the other reason is that using the flash creates poorer pictures on the S45 (S30-S50) than trying to use natural light and uping the exposure time. Since the flash is so close to the lense and you can't attach an external flash you get too much snow.
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