First camera questions

[PapaBear]

Hi all,
I have just bought myself a new camera, the canon ixus 950, and decided I would like to be able to take it diving with me.
I know I can get a canon case specifically for the camera but was looking for some advice on maintenance? what needs to be done to make it really last and get the best from case and camera?
Also why do canon sell a weight to go with the case? is this something that I should buy as well?

Sorry if I am asking noddy questions that have been asked many times before, but I really dont want to break my new shiny toy too soon

[big_si]

Hiya Papabear,

I can't answer all the questions to any great detail (but I know there's plenty around who can)

I'd suggest the best way to look after it all is to make sure you keep your grooves clean and your o-ring greased. This all helps keeping the seal in good condition and stops a nasty flood! :S

I guess they sell a weight as it's probably positively buoyant without it. I don't really know the pros and cons of such a weight. The camera I had didn't have a weight and it was perfectly fine to use.

Hope that helps a bit and gets the thread rolling

Enjoy your photography!

[Cussy]

Treat it with kid gloves. As soon as it's been in the sea wash it in fresh water, while doing so press every button to make sure the salt water comes out. The glass on the front lens is special, look after it; scratch it and you are buggered. Keep it clean, take the o-ring out if storing for a long time and while on a boat treat it like a new born baby. Don't lend it to anyone and make sure anyone that touches it treates it like a new born baby. I clean and grease the main o-ring every dive day, others don't.

Best way to get a lot of use out of it is learn everything about it, enjoy the diving, and enjoy the photography. There aren't many rules and just stick within the limitations of the camera. Most frustration comes when you try and do things that your setup can't do.
HTH,
Rob

[dct]

Hi Papabear,

The weight will keep the camera perfectly netral in the (salt) water. Very advisable...

What happens is.. you turn round, and see a camera just like yours floating in front of your face, heart jumps to mouth and you grab it... The alternative is it shoots to the surface.

Makes it sink in fresh water though (luckily cenotes are not tooooo deep!)

Dan.

[Mike Ward]

My preference is for slight positive buoyancy - and I mean slight, just enough so if you let go the camera heads upward eventually, more chance of recovering a lost camera on the surface than in the depths in my opinion.

Other than that, Rob was spot on and all I can add is a suggestion that you don't use too much O ring grease, just enough to lubricate the ring but not enough to see it on there, and leak test the assembled housing prior to each dive. Before you get in the water submerge the camera for 2 secs (Hang it over the side of the RIB or use the camera rinse tank) and check for bubbles, then pull it out and check for water inside, then repeat but submerge the camera for 30sec. No bubbles and no water inthe housing and you've peace of mind.

[triplefin]

Hi PB
You'll find a lot of info on this site as well if you havnt already discovered it.
Digigreen

[meathead_dave]

One further thing, dont be tempted to take it out of the housing until back on dry land. I have just returned from a trip to Lundy when a mate of mine, who has the same camera as yourself, kept taking it out of the housing on the boat after the dives to get a better look at the piccies he had just taken. He now has a camera where the lens doesnt retract. Only the slighest bit of salt water can do the nastiest of things to a camera!!!

Also LOOK AFTER the O ring. I clean and regrease mine after every time I open the housing, it may be overkill but I have yet to have a leak (touch wood).

regardingh the weight my son has sFuji and it makes the housing nuetrally bouyant, try it without and if you dont like a floaty camera, by the weight!

[Ferg3333]

Originally Posted by PapaBear

Hi all,
I have just bought myself a new camera, the canon ixus 950, and decided I would like to be able to take it diving with me.
I know I can get a canon case specifically for the camera but was looking for some advice on maintenance? what needs to be done to make it really last and get the best from case and camera?
Also why do canon sell a weight to go with the case? is this something that I should buy as well?

Sorry if I am asking noddy questions that have been asked many times before, but I really dont want to break my new shiny toy too soon

Ikelite make good housings, a bit more expensive at £200 but all the buttons are glanded and servicable whereas the canon ones cannot be serviced. I got the ixus 75 and corresponding housing

[ChristianG]

Originally Posted by Ferg3333

Ikelite make good housings, a bit more expensive at £200 but all the buttons are glanded and servicable whereas the canon ones cannot be serviced. I got the ixus 75 and corresponding housing

Good point, although I'm unsure of what you mean by "glanded". I also quite agree with Mike that camera systems should be a tad positively buoyant for the reasons he gives but also, coming from the hugely heavy Nikonos RS AF, I've had it up to HERE with u/w camera systems which largely replace your weight belt.

Ikelite allows wet lenses to be attached to their housings, most manufacturer supplied housings don't (they're too small) and, trust me, you will want a wide angle wet lens to fit to the front. An Inon <http://inonamerica.com/products.php?prodcat=2> one sounds good to me.

I have a "bit of a paper" on the Digigreen Board (being fiddled with at the moment so I can't give you the actual URL) on O Ring and general maintenance care:

<http://www.digigreen.net/forums/>

Someone wrote that a scratched lens can be a disaster, or something like that. This is not necessarily the case, water often gives such a good "fill" that the scratch is not discernible. It IS however a disaster if the scratch is within the housing because air is not that co-operative.

[Tim Ingmire]

The Digigreen fiddling has now stopped and Christian's excellent article on 'o'-rings can be found here: O Rings and General Gear Care - Digigreen