Leakage #1 concern

[jar546]

You can have the most expensive equipment in the world but if you have one simple leak, all of your equipment is toast.

Marketing for cameras and equipment seems to revolve around quality of photographic capability but I rarely see anyone stressing leak issues.

Are there any cameras/housings that appear to be above the rest when it comes to keeping the equipment dry? Looking for a product with a great track record of leak and trouble free. Quality of photographs is #2 in my book since most of that is the nut behind the lens and not the camera.

Thanks!

 

[ptyx]

I don't have much experience in that domain, however the dozen or so leaks I've witnessed on SLR housings (mostly Ikelite, but a couple aluminum housings as well) were all due to user error.

I think it can be considered a given that once you move past the basic cheap compact housings:

• Stuff just doesn't leak on its own
• Gear is insured even against user error

Given the price of those housings, they'd better work!

Ikelite has some 'marketing' on the subject, saying their clear housings allow to check the back o-ring after the housing is closed and identify even small leaks immediately (no need for an electronic leak detector). Not sure how much of that is marketing and how much is real - although I religiously check my back o-ring every time after I close the case.

 

[pjhansman]

There are many quality UW enclosures that won't leak, but if the operator screws up, any one of them CAN leak.

After losing one camera in a Canon enclosure due to operator error (no fault of the enclosure), I am MUCH more carefule when assembling my Ikelite encosure for a dive.

 

[jar546]

I am actually glad to hear (so far) that this is mostly operator error. I did click on the Ikelite ad on this site and took a look around. I don't know much about underwater photography so I was wondering if most cameras have to have a separate housing or if some are integral to the camera itself.

Please keep the comments coming, I love to learn from the experience and opinions of others more knowledgeable.

 

[HerraduraDivers]

I have 2 Ikelite and a Patima housing and made houndreds of dives with them and not a single drop inside them.
I take 5 minutes of "no disturb time" to close the housings BEFORE i leave the house, that's it.
Probably most of the floodings occur in the rinse tank and not under water!
Hints:
- take the o-ring out (very easy on Ikelite housings) and check it for lint/hais/sand
- clean troughly the groove or seat for the o-ring (Ikelite housings don't have a groove)
- don't overgrease the o-ring, it has to be slightly shiny and slippery but not greasy with visible traces of excess grease
- With the hoisng closed check the o-ring for even pressure/evenly squeezed (only possible on transparent (Ikelite) housings)
- don't jump in the water with the camer with you, let it hand over from the crew
- don't use the rinse tank and especially don't leave the camera inside the tank.
you may use fresh water to rinse the camera between the dives but i see no reason to rinse the camera between 2 dives in one day.
- Get a box or a hard cooler to store your camera while not in use and pad it with a thick towel.
This also will reduce fogging greatly!
- The camera may bang around due movement of the boat while storing the camera floating in water

Chris

 

[jar546]

Wow!

Let me get this straight. My Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT is about 2 years old and cost around $600. The Ikelite housing is discontinued but I found some new ones still available. OK, the cost is around $1,200 for the housing itself.

 

[fjpatrum]

Wow!

Let me get this straight. My Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT is about 2 years old and cost around $600. The Ikelite housing is discontinued but I found some new ones still available. OK, the cost is around $1,200 for the housing itself.

Welcome to the world of underwater photography! That doesn't even account for lens attachments and strobe arms and all that stuff...


This is why I just decided to go with the sealife dc1200 (or something similar from sea and sea) instead of buying a housing for my Nikon D40.

 

[jar546]

Welcome to the world of underwater photography! That doesn't even account for lens attachments and strobe arms and all that stuff...


This is why I just decided to go with the sealife dc1200 (or something similar from sea and sea) instead of buying a housing for my Nikon D40.

I was more than surprised at the price which makes me understand why some of the setups such as Sealife and Sea & Sea are such a deal.

I used to develop my own film years ago (must be huh), am a rather experienced photographer and have a Canon AE-1 that has traveled the world with me (no longer in use of course). Never, ever took one single underwater photo. Again, all I can say is WOW!

 

[Larry C]

As housings get more complex, you have more stuff to check. On DSLR housings, you have a back o-ring and a port o-ring. You have to check each before closing to make sure they are spotless. A hair or a grain of sand can make just enough space for a flood. When you close them, you have to make sure the latches are all closed and there is nothing between the sides, like the little string on your port cap or flashlight. It becomes a routine. After every dive day I rinse everything at the site, then when I get home, I soak it in the sink for about half an hour and work all the buttons to get the salt out. About every two to three uses, I unscrew the strobe sync cords and clean the threads with a foam q-tip, then I regrease them with marine anticorrosive goo. I take the back o-ring out, clean the groove with the foam make-up tips and wipe the flat surface with my washed finger. Then I put a little o-ring lube on my fingertips and run the o-ring gently through them, checking for grit to wipe off and getting the whole o-ring just slightly shiny.
It sounds like a pain in the butt, but I've never flooded a housing (knock!knock!). I've come close, and it's always my fault.
OTOH, I've flooded every strobe I've owned. It pays to read here which ones are most susceptible and what the issues are. Strobes have smaller o-rings on their battery covers and really don't like the sudden pressurization of jumping in the water. I always have the camera/strobe set-up handed to me or on my boat, I hook two lanyards to it (I dropped it once with only one) and hang it off the tube while I roll in. At any given time, my rig is holding about $6K worth of stuff when you count housing, camera, lens, strobe, port, arms... so I treat it as such.

 

[Nemrod]

I was more than surprised at the price which makes me understand why some of the setups such as Sealife and Sea & Sea are such a deal.

I used to develop my own film years ago (must be huh), am a rather experienced photographer and have a Canon AE-1 that has traveled the world with me (no longer in use of course). Never, ever took one single underwater photo. Again, all I can say is WOW!

Marine housings have always been very, very expensive. I bought my first SLR housing in the early 80s and had housed cameras before that even building my on from kits. Yes, there used to be kits. They were always expensive. One thing, the old Nikons and Canons, really did not care if a drop of water got on them or even if they got a little wet, today's electronic computer cameras are DOA under the same conditions a real SLR from days of yore would shrug off as all in a days work.

It was in part the expense and secondly the bulk that led Nikon to develop the Nikonos cameras. The original Calypso and Nikonos camera were all manual, no batteries required, tough as nails, compact and superb. Oh, they were expensive but not quite as much as a housed camera rig.

Typically, housings run about 2 to 2.5 times the cost of the camera for a real, pro duty, marine housing. Then you have to add to that domes, strobes, ports, trays, lenses etc.

I have never used a digital age SLR in the water, well, actually I have, but I prefer, currently, the smaller pro-sumer P&S like the G series and S series Canons as they can produce quality images and even the feel and size of a Nikonos.

FIX90 and Canon S90 with Inon UFL165AD fisheye wide angle lens on my old Oceanic Nikonos marine tray with Sekonic Marine Meter and single strobe arm, can you say, deja vu:

You know, as a old film guy no doubt a 35mm film or a large sensor can produce the best images but the small sensor cameras like the S90, frankly, my photos never looked this good, this easy in my film days.

N