My Sea&Sea 12HD keep powering off U/W

[SUMURPHY0300]

I am new to U/W photography, but this is more about why the power to the "Sea and Sea-12HD" camera shuts off and won't power up while underwater. The camera is new and all the push buttons were tested for stickiness beforehand; the battery was fully charged; a newly formatted 8GB memory stick was used, and the camera for underwater "Sea and Sea" setting was selected.

But in each of my four shallow dives, I managed to take less than 10 pictures and 3 minutes of video, then the power of the camera will go off. Granted, there is a power saving mode that will turn the camera off, but the mystery is that it won't power back up again. I tested every condition I could think of on land that could have caused this to happen, but everything I did that I tested worked fine. This camera cost a pretty penny, and my contact to the Sea and Sea folks two days ago did not even get an acknowledgement -- which is concerning. If anyone can help shed some light on this problem, it will be greatly appreciated.

 

[SEA&SEA]

Following is an email sent to you this am. In addition, we would suggest visiting or posting this type of thread in the SEA&SEA manufacturer's forum.
_________________
Hello Suzana-
The number of email inquiries per day exceeds the ability to reply to each and everyone within 24 hours or immediately. We do our best to reply to all as quickly as possible. Your only inquiry received was from 7/7, 72 hours ago.

To address your question: If the camera is powering off, as you mentioned, you can adjust the auto-off feature to a more lengthy delay. In regards to the inability to power on again: Does the camera turn on/off encased in the housing on land actuating the housing power button? I.e. is the camera lined up and function properly on land in the housing? If so, it would seem to be a circuit board issue or a camera electronics issue - both very hard to diagnose via email or phone.
Like any malfunctioning or problematic product, your DX-1200HD camera only should be returned to us for warranty evaluation. Please visit the following link to download the return forms and instructions.
Sea And Sea USA
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[basha6]

I have had the same problems. The distributor, TUSA, replaced the first one after it shut down and wouldn't turn on again. This while on a great dive trip to Bali with a total of maybe 15 images over 7 dives. The "new" one shuts down underwater but I can pop the battery out once up and it resets itself. but thats an impossible task underwater obviously. Discovered this while on a fantastic dive trip to the Maldives with even fewer images to show for it.

This is a shortened version of email I sent company...

Last late November (2008) I purchased a DX-1200HD camera outfit from (name withheld, not my dealers fault). I bought this along with much other dive equipment for myself and my son. That mid December I took on a trip to Bali to capture some incredible diving we were doing. This being my 12 year olds first real diving I was especially excited. I looked for a wide angle lens for the camera in the States but couldn't find in stock and ended up having one shipped from the Singapore distributor to my hotel in Bali. While the diving was beautiful the camera's performance was not. As explained to emails to Sea & Sea and Andrew (and forwarded to you) it was basically useless. Never got through the first dive. Locked up and not even a change of battery or reset would solve the problem. This was relayed to you by Andrew and you graciously sent a replacement camera to hopefully solve the problem.

I returned the defective camera to Andrew this past summer while in the States on vacation.

I did no diving until this past August when I took my son to the Cayman Islands for another diving trip. First dive I got a few photos and again it just locked up. Shut itself down with lens still extended. Once topside if I popped the battery out and put back in it reset itself and turned on again. After 2 more dives like this I was very frustrated. After some thought I turned the power save switch OFF to experiment. This seemed to fix the problem on the next dive but was a relatively shallow dive of 25-30 ft. The next dive over 50 ft it locked again and again on the final dive.

I got back to Louisville on Friday night and flew out on Sunday to Doha where I'm presently working.

I just returned today (9/24/09) from another dive trip with my son to the Maldives. I have maybe 10 total photos of the 7 dives we did. Again the camera constantly locked up and shut itself off with lens open and extended. While a simple battery removal and replacement reset it, that is an impossible task underwater. There has to be a design flaw somewhere. I Googled the camera and found many instances of the same problems I had and with the same camera. It operates just fine when snorkeling but go to any depth at all and it just stops working...

 

[basha6]

And with mine, it works fine above water and while snorkeling. Just not at any depth at all.

 

[SUMURPHY0300]

Basha6: Sorry to hear about your experience. 'Fustrated' hardly seemed sufficient to describe what you must be going through. Now, my Sea&Sea 12HD did get replaced; I took it for a 'test-drive' in the Gulf of Mexico before leaving for my dive trip in the beginning of September and it worked fine. Because I am still getting familiar with the camera, I am not using light attachments at this time and my dives are made in depth of 40ft. When it works, it worked beautifully! Now I am wondering how it will perform at deeper dives.

I will be heading out to Mexico in the first week of November to dive in Yucatan. I usually do a 2-tank dive in my backyard pond -- the Gulf of Mexico -- at least 2 weeks before leaving on a dive vacation. Maybe I will take the camera to a depth of 50'- to 65ft and see what happened. I definitely would want to know since it is still new before 'user fault' clouds the issue. I heard that a cold front is moving into our area this Wednesday but will be beautiful again in the weekend. Let's hope the weather will cooperate. Question is: what option do you have in way of fixing the dept problem of your camera.