Flood !! The REAL story behind the Catalina Pic's

[onbelaydave 0]

As the saying goes "not if, but when". I've never had a problem as long as I've been carrying a camera (which is about every dive since '98). Buttt !! On my first dive, aboard the Vision on a 3 day Channel Island trip, as soon as I got to the bottom and tried to take a shot of a cooperative Garibaldi, I saw a strange blinking ERR message in the finder. I'd double /triple checked that every thing was "good to go" as usual so I couldn't imagine what the problem could be until I saw the huge puddle forming in my housing !!! I knew that the damage was done so I slowly made my way to the surface, took my waterlogged Fuji S2 out of the housing, said a few choice phrase's, grabbed my gear, and jumped back into the water. After all, it's the dive experience that counts most.

 

Fortunately, Ken Ashman, of CaliforniaDigitalDivers was aboard, and seeing my plight, offered to loan me which ever of his 2 cam's/housings he wasn't using at the the time. Talk about trial under fire (or is that underwater) !! I grabbed his D100 in a Tetra housing w/who knows what strobes and jumped back into the water. New camera, new housing, new manual strobes, who cares !!! I had a camera in my hands and the basics apply to any camera. It only took about 5 shots to figure out what was what and then I was back in my element. But then I'd trade off to a D70 in an Aquatica w/ totally different strobes and have to learn everything over again !! It's a vacation, I was there dive, and I had a lot of new "toys" to play with, but at least I was getting a few shots. Another diver/photographer that I'd met last year, Richard ..., offered to call to Samy's Camera in Santa Barbara as soon as he got cell reception on our way back and managed to find another S2 (used/body only $450) that was waiting for me if I could make it to the store 1/2 hr after we docked !! I did, and the followup 4 day landbased trip to Catalina was salvaged. But, there were a few hesitant moments, the first time I took my own rig rig back U/W, but as usual, I never had another problem.

 

What caused the initial flood ? I ever so slowly dissected the housing looking for a clue, a hair, a nick in an O ring, anything !! But everything looked perfect. Who know's! It really is "Not if, but when" !!

[anthp 0]

Man that's FRIGHTENING!

 

At least if you had figured out what caused it you could be doubly careful in the future. I feel for you mate.

 

Best of luck to you and dry cameras from now on.

[fdog 3]

That truly sucks, Dave!

 

It's not knowing why that's irritating, I would imagine. It would drive me crazy.

 

All the best, James

[Paul Kay 51]

In my experience there are two types of flood.

 

The first is a small dribble of water (not camera threatening) and is usually a weeping 'O' ring, either a control 'O' ring or a main or port ring that is slightly breached (muck, hair, etc.). This type indicates a good clean and service is required.

 

The second is a catastrophic flood and usually indicates a severely failed 'O' ring - in most cases either the main or port 'O' ring, and, dare I say it, this is usually down to a significant breach (lanyards caught in the main seal account for more cameras than you'd think) or an 'O' ring which is not seated properly or is pinched. A poorly seated or pinched 'O' ring is diificult to identify after the event as it is normal to undo the housing quickly to get the camera and lens out.

 

If you cannot see the problem and the housing works fine after the event, then suspect a poorly seated or pinched 'O' ring. As a matter of course I always examine the 'crack' between housing halves and the base of the port before diving (don't use bootlaces as lanyards - I've seen a flood caused by a bootlace stuck in a housing before now - no, really!). Any variance in the width of the 'crack', or a not fully locked down port means that the 'O' ring may be not seated or even pinched. Yet another rigmarole to go through in the pre-dive check.

[TimG 62]

Oh man, what a sickener - my sympathies.

 

I almost gave birth to a cow on the first dive day of my recent round the world dive tour. As I put my system in the dunk tank prior to the first dive, that jolly little leak detector LED started flashing its socks off. Thankfully I got the camera out in time.

 

Like you I could not work out what on earth I had done wrong - I had been so careful on set-up. And then realised I had not removed the rubber viewfinder eyepiece from my D100 - thus preventing a complete seal on the housing. It was impossible to detect the gap with an visual inspection. Phew, what a lesson learned.

[Arnon_Ayal 1]

Let me add another unknown case.

I flooded my strobe last night dive, the strange thing it's that the strobe worked very well all the dive, after we returned to the hotel room I rinse the gear and put it all in fresh water for the night. at the morning I found the battery chamber, full of black liquid from the batteries

I suspect its was really small leek so its took more then few hours to do the damage, but of course this is only suspicion

My conclusion from that case: rinse the equipment for long time only when the housing is empty without the camera.

[TuriLed 1]

Well Arnon, that's what you get for diving on Yom Kipur. You should have done what the rest of us usually do - sit at home and watch all the starwars movies on DVD (Lord of the rings is good as well)

[Paul Kay 51]

Arnon

 

I've had exactly the same problem with a flash battery compartment! (What flash was it?). I put it down to a reverse leak - ie the water is sucked into the battery compartment whilst soaking (as your flash evidently worked on the dive) probably as the air in the compartment cooled in the fresh water (clearly the seal was ok under pressure). Once some water gets into the compartment pressure will increase as the batteries gas off in the water and more water can enter through the seal which can then be blown. In my own case the increased pressure forced water into the main body of the flash too and resulted in the seal failing here as well!

[Arnon_Ayal 1]

Turi, I'll blame the red frogfish I sow half a year ago before I’ll blame this date

 

Paul, Your explanation looks logical although it's quit odd, My strobe is SB-105.

I remember that there where a lot of recommendation to soak the equipment for long time after dives, so what now? do it? don't? for sure its will be better to soak the strobe without the batteries and the housing without the camera inside but its seems that there is a possibility of leaking in the soaking process so I'll have to really think about it again, it's make me feel like a fool to destroy my equipment in the soaking bucket

[Paul Kay 51]

Arnon

 

If a seal holds during a dive, then it is operating correctly under pressure. The problem with piston seals is that they may shift under reverse pressure and if they do, their sealing properties may cease to be viable. My suspicion is that as you ascend, the warmer air in the battery compartment may be at a higher than surface pressure so the seal is reverse pressured at the surface. Placing the flash in cold fresh water may then suck water into the battery compartment if the excess pressure in the battery compartment has pushed the 'O' ring outwards and broken the seal. Once water enters the battery compartment, it gases in contact with the batteries and pressure builds up, etc.

 

I've had the same happen to an Inon, and I cannot see any other explanation, but if anyone has one I'd love to hear it!

[Lndr 0]

I had a similar thing happen to a Sea&Sea - strobe worked fine for dive, was rinsed off and left to dry o/nite. By next morning had hemmoraged NiMH batteries.

 

I thought it could have been from condensation. Warm batteries off the charger assembled on a warm afternoon and then submerged in cold water. This might cause condensation - not enough water to be instantly damaging, but enough to start the batteries corroding (in that prety spectacular way that NiMH do!)?

 

cheers

Lndr

[ikelite 0]

ANY battery that has been submerged should NOT be used, or at least not left in the sealed device except when in actual use. The water will have started an internal short circuit condition in the cell which can cause the battery to explode months later.