Friday, May 04, 2012

Where Good Cameras go to Die

Last year, I was given a lovely Ikelite underwater housing and a nice new Canon IXUS 130 camera to put inside of it.   I love taking photos underwater.  

Something has been going wrong though.  I am doing something wrong.  I have killed TWO cameras in the housing so far.  The housing has flooded with salt water and murdered two cameras.  Digital cameras cannot survive being touched by seawater.
Ikelite housing 

The first flood happened on the 1st dive of our Egypt holiday last year.  I did 24 dives in the Red Sea with no camera.  I loved loved loved the dives, but I felt like I was diving without a contents gauge.  

Got home to the UK, cleaned the housing out. bought a replacement camera and started again being V.E.R.Y. careful the next time. 

It happened again.  On a dive in Loch Fyne.  I saw it happening and managed to stop the dive and save the camera. I had been pretty careful about keeping debris out and was upset that it had happened again.  Thankfully on that flood the camera escaped injury.

Which brings us to my most recent flood.  I had been merrily taking photos on a trip to Malta (more about that trip later - I promise) and on the last day, the housing flooded again!  I don't think I did anything wrong - but still it happened.  

I still have the boxes the cameras came in!
I e-mailed Ikelite about this.  I may have over-greased the O ring.  Using too much silicone grease would attract bits of debris that can cause an O ring to fail.  I'm packing the housing off to Ikelite in the US and they are going to have a look at it.  

The camera that fits inside is no longer manufactured by Canon.  It is off to E-bay for me.  Somebody will be selling an old one.  I may buy two!