peacoe
New
Theres an old adage in underwaterphotography: there are those who have flooded their camera and those who aregoing to flood their camera. Well, after 25 years of diving, it happenedto me on our last trip to Bonaire, on the first dive, no less.
I have a Nikon D-300 and generallyuse a Nikon 105mm micro lens in an Ikelite housing. My first assumption,naturally, was I hadnt properly set-up the system. There were a fewexpletives uttered when we got back to shore. Upon our return from thetrip, I sent the housing to Ikelite and the camera plus lens to Nikon forassessment. Nikon came back with a $250 repair estimate for the lens andreported my D-300 was toast; fair enough. Well, I dont want to give up underwaterphotography, so I authorized the lens repair and went to online sources for areplacement D-300. The D-300 is no longer manufactured by Nikon so Ibought another camera body from the local Craigslist and paid cash.
Ikelites Service Department techrepresentative, Steve Johnson, came back meanwhile and indicated that thehousing was the culprit and not the set-up. Amazing! On theD-300 housing, there is a mounting for a modeling light and apparently that mountingfailed. There were some additional minor repairs to the housing. Ikelite asked the for repair and replacement costs for the camera which Iprovided; of course, I couldnt provide a receipt for the D-300 body since Ihad paid cash for it. Bottom line is that Ikelite serviced the housing,made all repairs and sent me a check for the full cost of repairing the lensand replacing the camera body. The only Ikelite expense was sending thehousing and ports to them.
In todays world, one might haveexpected less. Ikelite could have repaired the housing and not identifiedthe cause of the failure. They also could have said that the housing wasout of warranty and charged me for the repairs. They did neither. My dive retailer, Steve Weaver of Weaver's Dive & Travel had told me they stand by their products and now I know it first-hand. Ikelite fully accepted the responsibility and provided me with service aboveand beyond my expectations.
Weaver had been the one to recommendIkelite to me years ago and Ive purchased several housings from/them. This recent experience is evidence of the reason for his recommendation. I want everyone to know that I appreciate a company withsuch outstanding business ethics and want somehow to convey my respect fortheir actions to the diving and underwater photography community.
I have a Nikon D-300 and generallyuse a Nikon 105mm micro lens in an Ikelite housing. My first assumption,naturally, was I hadnt properly set-up the system. There were a fewexpletives uttered when we got back to shore. Upon our return from thetrip, I sent the housing to Ikelite and the camera plus lens to Nikon forassessment. Nikon came back with a $250 repair estimate for the lens andreported my D-300 was toast; fair enough. Well, I dont want to give up underwaterphotography, so I authorized the lens repair and went to online sources for areplacement D-300. The D-300 is no longer manufactured by Nikon so Ibought another camera body from the local Craigslist and paid cash.
Ikelites Service Department techrepresentative, Steve Johnson, came back meanwhile and indicated that thehousing was the culprit and not the set-up. Amazing! On theD-300 housing, there is a mounting for a modeling light and apparently that mountingfailed. There were some additional minor repairs to the housing. Ikelite asked the for repair and replacement costs for the camera which Iprovided; of course, I couldnt provide a receipt for the D-300 body since Ihad paid cash for it. Bottom line is that Ikelite serviced the housing,made all repairs and sent me a check for the full cost of repairing the lensand replacing the camera body. The only Ikelite expense was sending thehousing and ports to them.
In todays world, one might haveexpected less. Ikelite could have repaired the housing and not identifiedthe cause of the failure. They also could have said that the housing wasout of warranty and charged me for the repairs. They did neither. My dive retailer, Steve Weaver of Weaver's Dive & Travel had told me they stand by their products and now I know it first-hand. Ikelite fully accepted the responsibility and provided me with service aboveand beyond my expectations.
Weaver had been the one to recommendIkelite to me years ago and Ive purchased several housings from/them. This recent experience is evidence of the reason for his recommendation. I want everyone to know that I appreciate a company withsuch outstanding business ethics and want somehow to convey my respect fortheir actions to the diving and underwater photography community.
