Should camera fit in housing better?

[JW13]

I just purchased the Ikelite U/W housing (model# 6240.88) for my Canon SD880 camera. I have gotten as far as water-leak testing it in my bathtub and, so far, so good. But one issue I foresee is trouble with the knob and attached u-shaped lever that controls the zoom function because the camera does not seat itself well when placed in the housing. There seems to be a high spot in the middle where the camera body contacts the barrel shaped part of the housing that accepts the zoom lens when the camera is turned on. The result is that either the left side or the right side of the camera does not sit down flush with the ribs inside the case. This is readily apparent when the door to the case is open and you can wiggle the camera by hand. Not so apparent when the door to the case is closed, but the zoom knob / lever does not work well (though it does work).

I assume that I will need to shim the camera on one side or the other (whichever one makes the zoom function work properly) so that it does not teeter-totter inside the case. Any suggestions on what to use for shims or any other advise to fix this?

 

[Ikelite Staff]

Correct operation of the control relies on the camera to be placed completely inside of the case and the back closed. Without the back closed, there will be movement in the camera which affects the operation of controls.

Regards,
Jean / Ikelite
IKELITE Underwater Systems

 

[JW13]

I didn't mean to imply that I had not closed the back of the case to test the actual function of the zoom knob / lever. It was the first thing I did and when it did not work well I tried to investigate the reason. With back closed, the zoom knob will spin 360 degrees because the lever in the case only slaps against the camera zoom control. I expected the camera zoom control to stay centered within the case's u-shaped lever and that the knob would only rotate about 60 degrees. My thought was that the right side of the camera should be moved forward within the case to make that happen and that shimming might be the way to accomplish that.

Does Ikelite intend for the zoom control knob to spin 360 degrees as part of its proper functioning?

 

[Ikelite Staff]

The control is not self-centering or limited in rotational movement. You will able to spin it 360 degrees. However, it should engage the camera's zoom control when positioned properly with the "legs" on either side of the camera's zoom control "bump".

If it is not operating the camera's control, we would be more than happy to take a look at the case and repair or replace the control as necessary.

Regards,
Jean / Ikelite
IKELITE Underwater Systems

 

[JW13]

Thanks for the above description of what makes up the intended functionality of the zoom control. The camera does indeed work as you described.

Based on that, I took the camera/housing on a dive trip to Bonaire the last week of May and had it in the water for about fifteen dives. From the first dive to the last, I experienced another, different problem. The top button that is used to turn the camera on or off would not work correctly -- ever. On about 3 dives, I could not get the camera turned on at all and I was not able to operate the camera during the entire dive. On the remaining 12 dives, I was usually (but not always) able to turn the camera on after pushing on the button very hard, to the point where my thumb and fingers were getting very sore (my wife was not able to do this). I'm sure this can't be good for the housing -- I'm afraid I'm going to break it. And with the cameras auto-shutoff feature, I had to do it many times per dive.

I can see that the button on the housing lines up well with the camera on/off button, it just seems to not reach far enough into the housing to properly contact the camera button.

Any suggestions? Can the distance the plunger travels inside the case be adjusted? Thanks for the help.

 

[BrettF]

Please e-mail your previous post and correct postal mailing address to "brett@ikelite.com". I will mail you a longer control tip to better reach your camera power button.

Regards,

 

[JW13]

Thanks for the help Brett!