It's not IF your camera floods..

[Scuba_Jenny]

Ugh.. Had a nice dive, no issues at all with the camera, s95. Sweet little camera. By the time I got home, probably 2 hrs after I exited the water, I noticed condensation inside the housing. ugh! I think camera is toast. Luckily, I have a spare. But the housing. Do I need to do anything to it? Rinse it out with fresh water or anything? I have it drying, but...

 

[JackConnick]

Kind of depends how much water was inside. I'd use 91% rubbing alcohol before I'd use water though and just kind of wipe it down. But you need to figure out what happened. If it hasn't been serviced for a while, I would get it done.

 

[Nemrod]

Ugh.. Had a nice dive, no issues at all with the camera, s95. Sweet little camera. By the time I got home, probably 2 hrs after I exited the water, I noticed condensation inside the housing. ugh! I think camera is toast. Luckily, I have a spare. But the housing. Do I need to do anything to it? Rinse it out with fresh water or anything? I have it drying, but...

Well, you can begin with figuring out why it flooded before another camera is ruined.

Flooding may be inevitable in those little bubble housings due to their light duty construction but it is not with a well designed aluminum or polycarbonate housing.

N

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

No idea why it flooded. It was over a two hour dive, in the dark and never had an issue shooting throughout the dive. It did close kinda weird though. hard to explain. Closed hard, opened hard. I did find something on the o-riing of undermined origin, like a piece of tissue paper, but no idea..

 

[jjwebster]

I used to get occasional water ingress with my Canon OEM housing, wouldn't call it a flood but I would get drops inside. No damage to the camera though.

I think it was the mode selector dial on the top on the housing, I found putting some extra silicone grease on the inside and outside of the shaft helped.

 

[Imla]

Is it flooded... or is there just condensation?

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

floodedd.. about a 1/4 cup of water was dumped out.. Sounds like a slow leak..

 

[Nemrod]

I know I would not waste another camera until a reason for the flood can be identified and fixed or your next thread will be titled something about recommending a new camera rig.

N

 

[jimw]

Jenny,

Carol had condensation in her S95 Canon housing about the same date--found a large blonde hair on the oring. You have very likely found the issue with your housing, but replace the oring if you have not--I think about once a year is good. I had to get one from Divervision in Taiwan, Canon does not have any. Shipping was brutal but it arrived quickly.

I think these housings are a little more hardy than Nimrod does--ours has hundreds of dives on it and ZERO problems up to this condensation issue--btw, no problem with the cam--it's diving again today! ANY housing would have had a problem with hair on it.

Lubricating with silicone grease--the same stuff you are using on the oring--is good in my view. I put a tad on the tip of a toothpick to lube sticky buttons inside the housing. A very small amount will do the trick.

See ya at the bridge sometime!

 

[snowdog61]

Dive it empty to depth says Capt Obvious. You likely found the culprit in the debris on the seal - too bad you didn't catch it after the off-nominal closure. I too love my S95/Ikelite and try to be meticulous in it's pre-dive assembly. Foam tipped swabs and low lint wipes go a long way but I believe it's time to get a backup camera AND do a complete overhaul of the housing. As you said - It's not if, but when I'd also avoid using IPA unless you're using it on a wipe to remove a buildup of grease. It will remove too much from the shaft seals if it just gets sloshed around in the housing.