| You’re not alone in your reluctance
to take your camera underwater in a housing. It’s only
reasonable to think that if you can move a control that penetrates
the housing, water under pressure should be able to enter.
This is reasonable until you appreciate the absolutely incredible
effectiveness of God’s gift to underwater photographers—the
O-ring. O-rings have been around for more than a few decades,
and since their introduction for use in sealing housings,
leakage has been all but eliminated. If you’ve been
reading this magazine lately, you probably know more about
O-rings than the guy who invented them. In brief, the circular
cross-section of an O-ring, when compressed between two flat
surfaces, seals along a very thin line. The per-square-inch
pressure which compresses the O-ring is therefore distributed
over a very small surface, greatly multiplying its resistance
to leakage. In fact; properly constructed and maintained O-ring-sealed
controls virtually will never leak.
A relatively quick and simple check of the O-rings that
seal the back to the main body of the housing and the O-ring
that seals the port to the front of the housing will reliably
insure that leakage will not occur at these points. Generally,
a little bit of lubrication is all that’s needed to
maintain their proper function. Follow the manufacturer’s
recommendations on these matters since different designs and
materials require different lubrication and maintenance procedures,
none of which is complicated or difficult.
Proper care of the housing and following a few simple precautions
will almost guarantee that disaster will be averted. I always
make it a practice to set the housing up and submerge it in
fresh water without the camera inside before taking it on
the first dive. If you’re at a resort, you can do this
in a swimming pool, Jacuzzi, or bathtub. If you’re on
a live-aboard, you can use the fresh water dunk tank. Contrary
to popular belief, probably 80 percent of all housing floods
occur at a depth of a couple feet or less. Just dunk the housing
and watch for bubbles. Air will often be trapped in handles,
around ports, and so on, so it’s normal for some bubbles
to be seen. It should be easy to determine where they’re
coming from. After a minute or two, lift the housing and check
for water inside. If it looks dry, you can leave it submerged
for a while longer to see if there’s a slow leak.
Jumping into the water with your camera system can be problematic.
Consider the following scenario. Wishing you had checked to
be sure the deckhand had properly secured the tank strap—you’re
thankful that you still have enough of your own teeth in your
mouth to hang on to the regulator, thereby preventing your
life support system from slipping out of the harness and going
to the bottom—you energetically dolphin kick your way
to the surface ten feet above.
It would have been difficult to flutter kick with your weight
belt around your ankles, which are now gingerly spread to
prevent the loss of the belt. You vow to check next time to
be sure that your air is turned on, as the newlywed couple
on the boat above, certain that you’re happily exploring
the reef below, gaze into each other’s eyes, join hands,
and make a united giant step entry into the water above you.
Although this little sequence of potentially life-threatening
"inconveniences" is a little farfetched, we’ve
all seen each of its elements play out on a dive boat somewhere,
sometime. It’s at least difficult, under these conditions,
to monitor the security of your new housing and its valuable
contents. It’s usually best to enter the water without
the camera and get your diving gear adjusted, then have your
housing handed to you. Check the housing as you descend, watching
for bubbles and occasionally looking inside to ascertain that
all is well. As you become more familiar with the housing,
you’ll find that the basic precautions are adequate
to ensure protection of your camera and require very little
time or effort. Your camera is arguably safer in a housing
100 feet underwater than it would be if you left it on the
boat or in your hotel room.
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