My Ikelite housing is falling apart! only 6 months old!

[h3o]

well not really, nothing major... but little things keep coming off that shouldn't come off a $550 housing! I have an Ikelite for an Olympus C-730.

The little rubber thing for the shutter control, the actual part that presses the shutter on the inside keeps falling off... a couple times while I was underwater too. The bent metal wire mechanism thing (the shutter control within the housing) is sharp without the rubber thing on and I ended up pressing the shutter anyway after it fell off while underwater and now my digicam shutter button has coarse scratches on it.

On my last dive, the whole coiled wire spring mechanism, the thing that makes the shutter control go back to it's original position fell off as well.

The two problems I've had are all in the inside part of the housing, I have had no problems with the outside construction, leakage or anything like that. Has anyone had similar problems with Ikelites? I bought this because Olympus doesn't make a housing for the C-series and because the Olympus housings are not rated past 30 meters.

 

[ssra30]

I had similar problem with the rubber cap on the shutter release thing. I just replaced it with a spare cap that came with the housing and have not had a problem since. I wonder if I can just superglue it rather than keep replacing it when it becomes loose.
Otherwise, so far so good.

 

[cmdasia]

I have a sea and sea Nx80 housing (quite a bit more money than the ikelite) and I have the same problems - I had to superglue it back on - I also have switches that need to be "jiggled" a lot.

None of them are marvels of engineering.

 

[James connell]

super glue isn't the best thing to use - try contact cement.

they will come loose, but it's a sealed housing - how far can it go?

 

[scubaho]

It is not a big deal to get the rubber tips. 317-923-4523. They will probably send you the tips free! There is no reason to make it sound like the housing fell apart into 50 pieces. If there is more than the tips wrong, Ikelite will gladly and rapidly fix it!

 

[Clutchcargo]

scubaho once bubbled...
There is no reason to make it sound like the housing fell apart

I'd be a little ticked off too, if the housing added a blem to my camera. For the price, you'd like to think that a little more engineering was built into the thing to hang on to the rubber caps.
Cjh

 

[caymaniac]

I'm still stuck in the film mode, I bought my Ikelite housing in 1982, it still works great, second camera though! One day i'm going to get a digital SLR.


Caymaniac

 

[h3o]

scubaho once bubbled...
There is no reason to make it sound like the housing fell apart into 50 pieces.

That is why I said in my post that I've had NO major problems with the housing itself as far as leakage or anything like that. Either way, little things shouldn't be falling off a $550 housing that is only six months old with only about 25 dives which the housing was used. Kind of reminds me of the time I got a brand new chevy truck and little problems like the windshield wipers would only work when they felt like it (i.e. no rain-sunny days) and my horn would honk every time I made a left turn... Nothing major, but still... things that shouldn't happen to brand new stuff!