Water resistant camera + Otterbox for depth?

[miketsp]

Water is hardly compressible while air is highly compressible. Otterbox is not completely rigid.

Small squeeze in air doesn't increase pressure very much while the same squeeze can change the water pressure heavily.

If Otterbox squeezes for 1% that doesn't increase the air pressure that much. But 1% squeeze in water is significant change in pressure. What I am trying to say is that water inside Otterbox will transfer pressure easier then air.

Nice logic that the camera itself will suffer less increase in pressure, however the camera seals are made to resist water ingress under pressure and not necessarily air under pressure.
I've seen people using compressed air to blow water off their housings after dives and in fact blowing water inside past the seals.
So the risk is that the internal camera pressure will slowly rise up to the pressure inside the Otterbox at depth (with effects on components like LCDs etc).
The other risk is that you must not forget to alleviate the pressure when you come back up through the depth at which you pressurized it otherwise you will have a box containing compressed air.

The box is probably made to resist a higher external pressure and not a higher internal pressure.

 

[edenn1423]

Very interesting everyone. On the note of why not just buy the waterproof housing, I got the camera three years ago for around $350. The housings are nearly $300. I have a high-grade digital SLR I would sooner buy a housing for than this little dinky camera. I have the waterproof camera and the otter box so this is mainly convenience not so much necessity.
It sounds like the best thing to do is to borrow an extra computer and just do the test. I had thought I lost the camera in the river a few weeks ago and I wasn't extremely upset so maybe I will just bite the bullet and dive with it. I liked the idea of filling the box with air, even though it will pressurize, at least it will just be wet and not flooded.
I took the camera apart to look at how it is waterproofed and if just a little bit of water got in it, it would be nowhere near anything important. As a testament to Olympus, this is a well built camera. Everything has been thought out on it, many gaskets. I would love to see one like it designed for at least 50 feet. I figure if a watch can achieve these depths a camera should be able to. It sounds like the main problem is the squeeze on the buttons. the camera would start to act funny like buttons are being pressed before it crushes/floods. I don't know how close that difference is and I would rather not find out.
let me know if you have any other questions/ ideas.