Olympus 8010... How low can it go

[Scuba-Joel]

Hi everyone, first time forum writer long time diver. I just purchased an Olympus 8010 for my adventures and would like to know will it be ok if I dive to 80-100 feet? I know it can only work at depths of 33ft... but will it break if I take it lower?

 

[pjones]

Hi everyone, first time forum writer long time diver. I just purchased an Olympus 8010 for my adventures and would like to know will it be ok if I dive to 80-100 feet? I know it can only work at depths of 33ft... but will it break if I take it lower?

I have the Olympus Stylus Tough-8000 (waterproof to 33ft as well). When I take it diving the rear display protector pushes into the LCD display screen at around 30 feet. I've gone down to about 40 feet with it but I don't dare to go any lower than that. the camera will display a warning to you when you get down near the max depth and the zoom function appears to stop working when below about 30 feet. My concern would be that the casing of the camera ("Rear display protector") will push in against the LCD display and crack it if it is brought down too far. You can clearly see when the Protector screen is touching the display because it looks similar to water sitting inside the housing and pooled in the middle of the screen.

I would suggest that if you decide to push the cameras limits and drop below the recommended max depth than to keep an eye on the LCD display and watch for signs of pressure, however, I would not recommend bringing it down past 33 feet as I have done (it gets the nerves going and quite frankly it wouldn't have been worth the shot if the camera broke as a result).

I also found out that the floatation wrist strap only makes the camera float if you are above 6' fsw (approximately)

Probably not what you wanted to hear but you can get an ikelite housing for it to do deeper dives as an alternate and safer solution to achieving your depth requirements

Underwater Housing for Olympus Digital Camera

 

[Scuba-Joel]

Thanks for the advice, I was considering bringing a waterproof bag under with me and just keeping it in there. I don't know if the pressure will push on the camera any less... I'm a simple internet marketer, not a physicist.

 

[skynscuba]

Without a rigid case to protect it, the camera will get all of the pressure.

 

[cruisediver69]

I have the 6020 which is the less robust version. On one dive I had it down to 37 feet. I had turned it on at the surface and everything worked fine (including zoom) through the entire dive. I then took it down on a second dive to 45 feet. I left it off until I was down about 35 feet and it wouldn’t come on. Once the dive was over and I was back on the surface I was able to turn on the camera and everything seemed okay. I will continue to take it down on shallow dives but won't be bringing it much below 30 feet or so without the external case.

 

[driftwood]

I was looking at the Oly 770sw a couple of years ago. There was one thread on the Oly forum where the guy took it down to 20m without a flooding problem. It has already been mentioned that the lcd gets screwy at that depth. On the next dive down to 30m, he forgot he had the camera and somewhere between 20 and 30m the seals failed.

Don't if this will be the case with the 8010, but you can give it a shot and let us know how it works out for you.

 

[Scuba-Joel]

Good advice everyone, thank you