Odd Problem with Sealife DC500

[Tollie]

Santa was good to me this year and left a Sealife DC500 camera for me.

I’ve had it out twice and while I’m pleased with the pictures I’ve take so far I have encountered a problem and I wonder if any on this board have had a similar experience.

After about 10 minutes in the water… at less than 20 feet the camera becomes unresponsive to button pushes. It then stays on for the duration of the battery life until it shuts itself off. On my first dive I got 27 shots and on my next dive a day later took 10 pics.

I’ve checked the settings, the manual, and the firmware date, on line tech support from Sealife all to no effect.

I have a call in to Sealife and one to the online vendor… well its Jan 2ed so perhaps they are not yet up to speed.

Any advice…

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

Well, you've posted you've checked the firmware date, so maybe what I have to offer won't help, but just in case it can, I'll post it anyway.

We had a diver on our boat in Saba last month with a similar problem and a DC 500. The camera would just plain lock up and become unresponsive. Evidently there is a firmware upgrade needed from the info she received, and oddly enough when we were in Houston over Christmas, we went to a dive shop and mentioned this and it was the dive shop that same individual had purchased her camera from and returned for the upgrade to be implemented (small world!). The shop owners told us Sealife had sent a notice to DC500 owners but evidently not everyone received the notice. We have no idea whether whatever solution they implemented fixed her problem, as we haven't heard back from her recently - we e-mailed and shared the pictures my wife took with our DC310 since her DC500 wasn't working.

Best of luck!

 

[Tollie]

Hi,

Many thanks... yes it is a lock up problem that occurs I think, when I have the camera in "shark mode". This is a pre focus feature that also reduces battery drain.

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

The diver on our boat in Saba had "lock up" whenever not in "land mode", so of course she wasn't able to diagnose it before trying it underwater (unfortunately).

I'm sure once you get through to Sealife they'll help set you straight. I'm not sure how long it will take though once you contact them. Our Saba trip was over Thanksgiving and our Houston trip was over Christmas, so one month lag and the diver on our boat hadn't had her camera fixed yet, though it was in the process of getting fixed.

 

[bperrybap]

I'm curious which F/W revision that you have.
I've taken mine down 4-5 times and didn't have any lockup problems.
I wasn't using shark mode though.
My f/w revision is: 1.01PIE11
which I know is not the latest. I'm just curious if this is an old
bug or a new bug that is introduced in the latest f/w.

--- bill

 

[Les]

I am considering upgrading my DC310 to the 500. This is good info to know before I buy. Is the camera sent back to SeaLife for the upgrade. I just wonder if I buy from the shelf in the store if it is ready to go or do I find out u/w and get dissapointed.
thanks,
Les

 

[shuurltt]

I was going to upgrade to the DC500 also. Glad I read this. I think I'll wait. But I guess I will go ahead and buy the external flash for my DC250. It will work with the 500 right?

 

[fpoole]

Not to sound like and idiot here, but I used to have a similiar problem and it turned out to be bad batterys... I got some decent recharges and haven't had a problem since...
this was, of course on a different camera, but it might be something to play with...
Some batteries, Sun Pak, went bad after about 10 minutes and the camera would start acting screwy... on/off, wouldn't take photos but appeared to be OK for juice..

Just a thought here, I'm sure it's not that, but you never know...
I replace batteries after every dive as they used to (haven't bothered to experiment lately) drain in the middle of the 2nd dive... heheh.. just when the whale shark bumps into me...
good luck..

 

[Tollie]

Here is a quick update on the DC500 lockup problem I have been experiencing.

I had on Jan 3 a useful exchange of e-mails with sealife and a telephone conversation with a service rep. they were prompt and responsive.

Sadly, the fix that was recommended which was a reload of the firmware did not resolve the problem.

I now have three dives with the camera… the first to 10 feet and I obtained 27 shots before lockup; the next day a dive to 15-20 feet with 10 pics and the third dive the day following to 50 feet with no pics and an immediate lockup.

I wrote sealife about this and they suggested that there may be a pressure sensitive aspect to the problem and asked me to send back the camera and housing which I will do tomorrow.

While I an really disappointed in the cameras failure… I am really pleased with the response I have received to date from Sealife.

 

[Tollie]

I just want to update this thread.

Here is how it ended.

First the service people at Sealife (Pioneer research) were wonderfully responsive. Several days ago I received a new camera from them, as mine apparently was one of an early batch that had a pressure related sensitivity that would cause the lock up. I did not enquire deeply about this but over the past several days took the camera out and put it thru its paces.

I wanted a pocket-sized camera that I could use while leading tours and to take the occasional picture of a student. I took a variety of shots and attached is one of a student checking her spg on dive 4..

I took several movie clips as well on one dive and they turned out surprisingly well.

I don’t have the hang of the zoom yet and I think the problem with the extreme zoom is the limited field without a macro framer… also the site had a good bit of surge the day I was out.

So I’m a happy camper.