UW housing button problem

[rietz]

Greeting fellow rubber clad people!

A month ago (mid Dec -08) I bought a new Canon Underwater Housing [#WP-DC26] to be used with my IXUS 870IS. Since then I have used this setup for some 30 dives ranging from a few meters down to ~30m (which is in the limits of what the housing is rated for [40m]). When using the housing it works fine at the surface, but I encounter a very frustrating problem with the buttons once I use it under water. The UW-housing buttons seem to get stuck in their 'IN' position, which results that this particular button is pressing on the corresponding camera button all the time. Since some of the buttons already seem to be 'in use' this then, of course, indicates that it is no longer possible to play around with the settings (such as change flash on/off or macro on/off etc.). A very frustrating behavior indeed. Also if the 'correct (=wrong)' button has jammed all you will see on the camera screen is a flicking through of all the menus - not very amusing when you think you have everything set up for just that 'perfect' shot ... once you manage to get the camera behaving properly you can just bet on that the 'perfect' shot no longer is there ...

Anyway, I presume you can see what the problem is here. I read that you can get some build-up of salt crystals around the buttons after using in salt water (which is the case) and I thought that might be the problem. However, once I get back home from a trip I dunk it in a fresh water container, let it lay there over night (or even a couple of days), make sure to press the buttons on occasion (to let the fresh water get into all places) and then once I open up the housing I store it as described in the manual. Doing this the buttons seem to work just fine and does not get stuck ... till next time it is time to take the setup down to the depths ...

So, since i am totally new to this field of underwater housings and cameras I just would like to finish up with a few questions:

• is this a known problem of Canon houses or can it be a manufacturer problem?
• would it be worth to try put in some lubricant or similar (grease, alcohol, oil etc.) in the buttons in order to try get them work better?
• is there anything else one can do before/during/after a dive to minimize this kind of very frustrating behavior?

I would of course appreciate any tips and hints I can get and I am looking forward to hear from you guys.

Thanks in advance!

 

[dhammer]

I would suggest, as you mentioned, lubricating the buttons. HOWEVER, use ONLY silicone lubricant. In this case a liquid silicone that can be applied as drops should be able to get down into where it's needed. It sounds like the button springs cannot resist both the outside pressure and the friction of the o-rings, and the lubricant may just do the trick

 

[under water]

Call Canon.
I am sure they will replace the housing for you. It should not malfunction at depth and you shouldn't need to do anything to make it work at depth out of the box.
I have never seen this problem mentioned, but you can always do a google search to see if it is a common problem.

 

[CompuDude]

Buttons can get stuck over time, but 2 months is not exactly "over time" in my book, unless you dive a LOT and serious neglect caring for the housing. If the housing is rated for 40m the buttons should NOT be getting stuck due to pressure at 30m. The one camera I had that used a Canon OEM housing worked fine down to 140' (just shy of 43m), and I've known people that have had theirs deeper with no ill effects (not promoting, just relaying).

I'd contact Canon for a replacement.

 

[rietz]

Thanks a bunch for the suggestions and ideas to what to do about the buttons. I tried out the housing last weekend and yet again the buttons seem to get stuck once you are down the depth. Therefore, I decided to return to the store where I bought it - explained the problem and the people in the store called the Canon people. Of course the Canon people have never heard or experienced this kind of trouble before, but they mentioned (just like dhammer) that it might be worth to put some lubricant on the buttons (springs) to see if it helps. Anyway, the also said I should send the housing in so they can do some tests and apply some lubricant if necessary, just to see if it can be sorted out ...

Hence, the housing has been sent to Canon and will hopefully return back to be used in a couple of weeks. If they replace it with a new one or fix it with lubricant (or some other way) the future will have to tell, but I may report back here once I know the outcome of the story. No more UW photography for a while though ...

Yet again - thank you very much for your kind support and suggestions!

 

[limbo]

rietz,

Would be good to see what Canon came up with, isnce I'm experiencing exactly the same problem it seems, although my guarantee has run out.
Very frustrating indeed. I was planning on upgrading to a 10 pixel IXY plus housing but seeing what kind of problems I'm experiencing right now, it's about time to look into a different brand.

 

[Nemrod]

One of the buttons on my DC-12 would stick. I put pure liquid food grade silicone, a single drop, and that helped but the real problem was that the spring was weak. I took the gland apart, stretched the spring a bit and put it back together, now it works correctly.

BTW, I have had the housing to almost 150 feet several times but now I am in the process of rigging out my Ikelite housing for the same camera, making a port adapter to try and mate my Inon AD lenses to the 67MM threaded port, what a PITA. I have three 570s. One I bought for 12 dollars. I really like that little camera.

N

 

[rietz]

Alrighty - a brief update of the UW housing and jamming buttons saga ...

After sending the housing to Canon about two weeks ago I received it back from them as today. They did not replace the housing but performed some 'repairs' and tests so according to them it should now work properly again (hopefully). Their description of what was done reads:

Work Completed
Cleaned all buttons and the waterproof case PASSED water integrity (equivalent to 40-meter depth) and air leak test (equivalent to 5-meter & 60-cm depth) performed in the workshop. There was no water leak inside the unit after the test has been done. Cleaned and relubricated rubber seal after test.

Hence, I guess there is nothing much else to do than bring it along to the dive trip this weekend and see if things improved. Hopefully the lubrication Canon did will solve the problem. If thinks are not getting better or even if the same problem start appearing after yet another 20-30 dives I think I will go with what Nemrod did and see if it would be possible to stretch the springs a bit (if they are not strong enough). Also I guess in such case it is time to see if I can find some liquid silicon to use as lubricant as that seem to do the job a bit as well ...

I will update you more later once I have had a chance to play around with housing and camera at depths again.

Thanks for your advices and suggestions!

 

[rietz]

In case someone is interested - here is a final update of the story ...

Once I got back the housing from Canon I took it on a new voyage to the depth. Unfortunately I experienced the same problem with the buttons jamming on the first dive (~22 m) and did not get any better over the weekend. Therefore, went back to the store and discussed the problem again. The store calls Canon representatives and apparently the last 'repairs' had not been focusing on the buttons at all, but merely leakage and water integrity (despite the fact it was clearly written on the problem description it was buttons jamming that is the problem). Nevertheless, the store decided to send it back to Canon again for yet another round of repairs so of it went ...

Additional three weeks later I got a call it should be back in the store and when I get there it turns out Canon sent me a totally new unit. By this time I had done some more research regarding the housing and this particular problem and, in combination with the fact that of the roughly 11 weeks the housing had been in my possession it was either in the store or at Canon for repairs 5 of them, I decided to skip the Canon housing over all. After some discussions with Canon and the store I managed to get a refund and the housing went back to somewhere else ...

Instead of a new Canon housing I spend a bit more money to by an Ikelite housing instead, which so far (~10 dives) seem to behave much better. It is a bit more expensive, of course, but looks to be a bit more sturdy and in particular buttons seem to be not as 'plastic' ... future will tell if this was a good way to go or not though ...

Case closed for this time!

 

[Bubbletrubble]

This is probably a little too late, since it looks as though you went with an Ikelite housing. Nice choice.

I own a couple of different Canon UW housings. I also just bought an Ikelite housing for a Canon P&S. Although the Ikelite housing works great and will last a looooong time with the proper care, I can't help but be a little annoyed by how big/heavy the housing is. I'm not afraid to admit that I kind of miss using the small and light Canon UW housing.

In case you (or anyone else out there reading this thread) ever get your mitts on another Canon UW housing, you should know that the buttons are quite user-serviceable. A local diver here in San Diego has created a webpage which takes you through a step-by-step tutorial for removing a button and lubricating the o-ring. Here's the link.

Enjoy.