12 replies to this topic

[eg2011]

Hello Everyone,

My very first underwater setup arrived in the mail today... I ordered a Canon S100 and a Fisheye FIX100 housing, along with a Fisheye UWL-28 wide angle convertor.
Anyhow, in reading over the manual for the FIX100 housing, it says that after each and every time you get the housing wet, later, after it has dried, you must remove the O-ring gasket and rub a provided oil on it and then put it back on the housing. It also says that you must never leave the housing in the hot sun, and that you must never enter the water with the housing in hand - instead you must jump in first and then have someone hand the housing down to you.

My question is, are each of these things just the Fisheye company trying to cover themselves over liability in case the housing floods, or are these really important things to do after each and every day of a dive trip to make sure that the equipment remains water tight? Or maybe some of them are important and others aren't?
I'm just trying to figure out a routine that I need to follow on my first upcoming week-long trip (so if there are any other big big important things to do each day, please feel free to mention that too).

Thank you so much, and sorry if this is a silly beginner question.

Cheers,
EG

Edited by eg2011, 29 July 2012 - 03:18 PM.

[bvanant]

The o-ring thing is clearly not that important; many folks clean and remove the o-ring after every dive but many do not. As for leaving it in the hot sun I think everyone agrees that is a bad idea for lots of reasons, cooking your camera is not smart. Of course if you are in Antartica it might not be so bad, but in the tropics, leave it covered with towel, preferably a wet one. As for jumping in with your camera again I think most folks if they can have someone hand it down, you don't want to jump in let go of it and watch it sink, nor do you want to pop off a dome port by too vigorous an entry.

Enjoy your new toy and post some pictures.
Bill

[tdpriest]

I grease the main o-ring daily: the grease is often specific to the material from which the o-ring is made.

Sometimes you just have to go in with your camera - in a current, for instance. You can dunk the camera and roll out from a Zodiac, or hold the camera above your head if jumping from a bigger vessel; both are pretty safe.

I used to use a wrist lanyard, but now I'd suggest clipping a lanyard between the camera and a D-ring. I unclip to use the camera near the bottom, but stay attached in the blue.

Tim

[scubamarli]

The oring maintenance really depends; I have been doing a lot of shore diving on Bonaire, and the fine sand that gets in around the oring is an issue. I have to remove and clean it every time that I open the housing. There are those that say don't fix what isn't broken and those that err on the sdie of caution. I tend to go with the latter notion. Have fun with your new system

[johnjvv]

Dont take my advice but I jump of the pier holding my camera above my head and all ok thus far. It is clipped to my bcd.... have a look at opticaloceansales, they sell the best lanyard I have been able to find, it does not have finicky pieces of plactic on it and it is made of a material that you could cut with a knife if you had to, unlike a cable... http://opticaloceans...nyard-clip.html

As a rule of thumb I always remove and check my o-rings when I have cracked the seal after the housing has been in the water.

Other things to remember....stupid as it might sound...
Check your camera before entering the water, make sure all the buttons are lined up, make sure your memory card and battery are in, you dont want to fiddle around once you are ready to go in the water!!
Dont use too much grease
Use the right grease, the wrong type can damage your o-rings!

Have fun!!!

[PatW]

I took a course on underwater photography. The experts said that one should carefully inspect the O rings each time you crack the camera open. But cleaning the O rings and regreasing is not always necessary.

I generally clean and regrease on a daily basis.

[Steve Douglas]

Wow, I just noticed that it has been 4 years since I wrote this. Never the less, it should explain the process to you. Hope it helps.
http://www.kenstone....gs_douglas.html
Steve

[allan]

Dont take my advice but I jump of the pier holding my camera above my head and all ok thus far. It is clipped to my bcd.... have a look at opticaloceansales, they sell the best lanyard I have been able to find, it does not have finicky pieces of plactic on it and it is made of a material that you could cut with a knife if you had to, unlike a cable... http://opticaloceans...nyard-clip.html

As a rule of thumb I always remove and check my o-rings when I have cracked the seal after the housing has been in the water.

Other things to remember....stupid as it might sound...
Check your camera before entering the water, make sure all the buttons are lined up, make sure your memory card and battery are in, you dont want to fiddle around once you are ready to go in the water!!
Dont use too much grease
Use the right grease, the wrong type can damage your o-rings!

Have fun!!!

I'm  sure that every underwater photo person with housing has had the pleasure of finding any one of the following non disaster things happen:

Lens cap on
Memory card missing or memory card filled
Lens not set to correct position for focus
Buttons not aligned
Battery dead
Battery not in
Strobe batteries in backwards

All can be avoided with pre dive check-so why does it happen to me?
Allan

[pompeygreg]

Dont take my advice but I jump of the pier holding my camera above my head and all ok thus far. It is clipped to my bcd.... have a look at opticaloceansales, they sell the best lanyard I have been able to find, it does not have finicky pieces of plactic on it and it is made of a material that you could cut with a knife if you had to, unlike a cable... http://opticaloceans...nyard-clip.html

As a rule of thumb I always remove and check my o-rings when I have cracked the seal after the housing has been in the water.

Other things to remember....stupid as it might sound...
Check your camera before entering the water, make sure all the buttons are lined up, make sure your memory card and battery are in, you dont want to fiddle around once you are ready to go in the water!!
Dont use too much grease
Use the right grease, the wrong type can damage your o-rings!

Have fun!!!

Similar to what I use to attach my housing to myself and works well for what I need.

How do people attach strobes for safety? Other than with the arm of course :-)

Greg

[johnjvv]

Greg

I dont have a safery fix for my strobes but you could use a stainless steel Gripple and a 1.5mm wire rope I imagine...guess what I sell !

John

[gee13]

I'm sure that every underwater photo person with housing has had the pleasure of finding any one of the following non disaster things happen:

Lens cap on
Memory card missing or memory card filled
Lens not set to correct position for focus
Buttons not aligned
Battery dead
Battery not in
Strobe batteries in backwards

All can be avoided with pre dive check-so why does it happen to me?
Allan

All of these apparently more important to us photogs than actual pre dives check! lol

Edited by gee13, 16 September 2012 - 07:24 AM.

[KirkD]

I clean the o-ring everytime I open the housing. I sometimes dont open it daily, but every other day to pull out the memory carc.

[Behold]

Interesting thread. I Only remove and clean my o-ring once a holiday unless I get it dirty. I will clean and grease the back side of the ring and after each open I will wipe the front and regrease. I'm carefull to open where there is no dirt to avoid sand or grit. If I do get it (once in 3 years ) ill remove it and wipe down.

What I see it you need to ensure no splits or foreign objects. That's gonna cause the leak. JM2PW