Just got back from a 10 day dive trip to Gods Pocket Resort off Port Hardy, Vancouver Island, with my semi-virgin PT-015/Oly 5050/dual S&S YS90DX system. The following are notes & observations from the adventure.
The PT-015 had only 11 dives on it prior to the trip. I started to notice very minor salt deposits on the mode control at this point.
Off to Port Hardy for some chilly diving. It was a cool 46 deg. Visibility varied from 30-40 ft. Depths from 20-90 ft.
The housing was closed & sealed with both door o-rings installed during all flights (San Diego/Phoenix/Vancouver). Opening the housing in Vancouver was a non-problem.
Everything started out just fine. The whole system was working without a glitch. Until dive 15 (26 for the housing). At this point I noticed the start of weepage past the o-ring on the small mode control shaft.
Since I didnt fully trust the housing I took a spare. Did an early morning 35 ft dive off the dock to pressure test it without the camera. Everything checked out ok. Back to real diving again.
Once again all was well. Lots of neat photo opportunities. I wasted lots of pixels on this trip trying to adjust the strobe power for proper exposure. Every night I downloaded my 1 GB micro drive. Only shot 1600+ pics, but like I said, a lot were used to set up the strobes. Still a guppy in this area.
After 13 dives with the second housing everything looked good no salt or weepage yet. But sooner or later........
The housing was opened every night to remove the camera for download. The door o-rings were carefully inspected, & the housing resealed. Later that night or the next morning the camera was reloaded with fresh batteries. Again the o-rings were checked. They were never removed or greased.
Regarding camera battery life. I averaged 45 min dives (3 each day), with the camera being on about 40 min each. Average 60 pics/dive. Only had a problem on one dive 2/3 of the way thru the trip. Camera was dead at the beginning of the third dive. Could have been a bad cell or one that did not get a full charge for some reason. After that I started to turn off the lcd when I wasn't shoot for awhile to conserve energy. In general thou the lcd was mostly turned on.
I was very careful to rinse the housing & work all the controls in the process. It is easy to have the camera slightly misaligned in the housing. This condition will torque the small mode control shaft. Inner shaft is slightly angled compared to the larger outer shaft. After closing the back door of the PT, turn on the camera & check the lens position relative to the lens port. I assume that Olympus intended them to be concentric. If they are not, the camera is misaligned & the small shaft is probably torqued. A torqued o-ring is not a happy o-ring. The sealing surface is minimized. This one is very small to begin with. Wiggle the mode control on your housing & see how much it can move. This is not good. Olympus may have a QC problem here, but they definitely have a design problem. Granted some PTs may work just fine - you guys got the good ones, some do not (like mine). Just keep a watchful eye on the control. Weepage today, a wet camera tomorrow.
If I primarily just did local diving, the PT-015 might serve the purpose if I didnt mind changing the o-rings a couple times a year. New seals dont guarantee a fix thou. I had a set with me but opted to go with the new housing instead.
Bottom line I dont trust the PT-015. Based on my own limited experiences & numerous posts that I have read, I would not take an extended trip with my current system. The 5050 & YS90DXs are great. The PT-015 is not. I bought the housing as an entry level system to see how serious I wanted to get with digital stills - I normally shoot digital video. This trip was a good learning experience with the new still system got lots of practice. Now I have a bigger problem how to edit all those pics.
The Tetra is on order, along with a spare ROC card & sync cord. (I dont trust electronics either.) I need a reliable system that I dont have to worry about every dive. Something comparable to my Gates video housing.
Good luck everyone!
The PT-015 had only 11 dives on it prior to the trip. I started to notice very minor salt deposits on the mode control at this point.
Off to Port Hardy for some chilly diving. It was a cool 46 deg. Visibility varied from 30-40 ft. Depths from 20-90 ft.
The housing was closed & sealed with both door o-rings installed during all flights (San Diego/Phoenix/Vancouver). Opening the housing in Vancouver was a non-problem.
Everything started out just fine. The whole system was working without a glitch. Until dive 15 (26 for the housing). At this point I noticed the start of weepage past the o-ring on the small mode control shaft.
Since I didnt fully trust the housing I took a spare. Did an early morning 35 ft dive off the dock to pressure test it without the camera. Everything checked out ok. Back to real diving again.
Once again all was well. Lots of neat photo opportunities. I wasted lots of pixels on this trip trying to adjust the strobe power for proper exposure. Every night I downloaded my 1 GB micro drive. Only shot 1600+ pics, but like I said, a lot were used to set up the strobes. Still a guppy in this area.
After 13 dives with the second housing everything looked good no salt or weepage yet. But sooner or later........
The housing was opened every night to remove the camera for download. The door o-rings were carefully inspected, & the housing resealed. Later that night or the next morning the camera was reloaded with fresh batteries. Again the o-rings were checked. They were never removed or greased.
Regarding camera battery life. I averaged 45 min dives (3 each day), with the camera being on about 40 min each. Average 60 pics/dive. Only had a problem on one dive 2/3 of the way thru the trip. Camera was dead at the beginning of the third dive. Could have been a bad cell or one that did not get a full charge for some reason. After that I started to turn off the lcd when I wasn't shoot for awhile to conserve energy. In general thou the lcd was mostly turned on.
I was very careful to rinse the housing & work all the controls in the process. It is easy to have the camera slightly misaligned in the housing. This condition will torque the small mode control shaft. Inner shaft is slightly angled compared to the larger outer shaft. After closing the back door of the PT, turn on the camera & check the lens position relative to the lens port. I assume that Olympus intended them to be concentric. If they are not, the camera is misaligned & the small shaft is probably torqued. A torqued o-ring is not a happy o-ring. The sealing surface is minimized. This one is very small to begin with. Wiggle the mode control on your housing & see how much it can move. This is not good. Olympus may have a QC problem here, but they definitely have a design problem. Granted some PTs may work just fine - you guys got the good ones, some do not (like mine). Just keep a watchful eye on the control. Weepage today, a wet camera tomorrow.
If I primarily just did local diving, the PT-015 might serve the purpose if I didnt mind changing the o-rings a couple times a year. New seals dont guarantee a fix thou. I had a set with me but opted to go with the new housing instead.
Bottom line I dont trust the PT-015. Based on my own limited experiences & numerous posts that I have read, I would not take an extended trip with my current system. The 5050 & YS90DXs are great. The PT-015 is not. I bought the housing as an entry level system to see how serious I wanted to get with digital stills - I normally shoot digital video. This trip was a good learning experience with the new still system got lots of practice. Now I have a bigger problem how to edit all those pics.
The Tetra is on order, along with a spare ROC card & sync cord. (I dont trust electronics either.) I need a reliable system that I dont have to worry about every dive. Something comparable to my Gates video housing.
Good luck everyone!
