My new Olympus PT-030 holds water well!!!!

[Ber Rabbit]

my book too Ber...sad to say lots of guests don't want to spare the dive :frown:
When they come up and all is well I hear them say...See, nothing happened....and she wanted me to test it first...

Too bad they insist on learning the hard way huh? You can't convince them that an ounce of prevention is worth...well you know the rest
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[GulfCoastdiver]

Skipping pictures on one dive is a much better option than flooding the camera and not getting ANY pictures the whole trip. In my book there is always a dive to spare
Ber :lilbunny:

Does this mean that on a 2 tank trip I should do the first dive with an emty housing and if it holds up then on the 2nd dive put in the camera :06:

 

[GulfCoastdiver]

If so what makes the seal on the 2nd dive any better than the first dive.

I confused...

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Does this mean that on a 2 tank trip I should do the first dive with an emty housing and if it holds up then on the 2nd dive put in the camera :06:

Would you rather flood the camera on the first dive and not have it on the second?

It's your camera, I was just telling my experience. When we bought a new camera and housing we took the housing diving first. I don't worry about it with a housing I've dove with before and determined to be free of manufacturing defects. Now our camera flooded because my husband had the o-ring sticking out--that's operator error.

 

[justleesa]

providinig there is a dry spot on the boat where you can do so, yes. On the first dive you are checking all seals (buttons, lid and port) if that goes well you put the camera in...the only thing that then can go wrong is human error and there is no guarantee for that

 

[GulfCoastdiver]

Ok I got it, I should of tested it on the first dive with that housing.
I "assumed" it would perform as stated. I know,.I know, assumed. eyebrow

 

[justleesa]

I "assumed" it would perform as stated. I know,.I know, assumed. eyebrow

exactly

 

[DesertEagle]

My PT-030 came on Monday. Had I not wanted the Olympus SP-310, I would have purchased a Canon and housing from Undewater Photo-Tech. They pressure test everything they sell. Unfortunately, they don't sell Olympus.

I think it's always a good idea to have 2 cameras. The current bargain is the PT-019. Adorama is selling them new for $49. You can buy a used C-5000 cheap on eBay. For me, the PT-30 IS the backup for a Nikonos/15mm.

 

[Larry C]

Another thing to watch out for is salt on the O-ring. After 3 or 4 times diving, and soaking between each time, surface checking the o-ring, I had some moisture in the housing after a long soak (OK, I forgot the thing in the sink overnight). I took out the o-ring and there were several salt crystals on the bottom. Now I finger wipe the o-ring and regrease it about every 5-6 dives. I also had the shutter button stick on me last dive. It came back after 7-8 presses and pulls, but I made sure and pressed it about 100 times in the sink in clean water after the dive. I read a maintenance thread about using syringe to squirt a little food grade silicone into the slot around the buttons. Any thoughts? And should that be inside or outside the housing?

 

[Boat Chick]

When I took my housing for a test dive, I left it on the boat for the second dive (and of course saw 3 turtles!). I didn't want to take any chances by trying to dry it and get the camera in, etc. and have human error (hair on an oring) fail on the second dive (which we wouldn't have had much time to anyway as the second dive ended up being a drift dive and we had to get geared up and off the boat fast. So I waited to get it rinsed, dried, etc. back at the hotel and then take the camera for a dive the second day (and it worked great)