Cracked rubber band...

Apparently underwater photographers are divided into two groups. Those who have already flooded and those who have not yet flooded their equipment. However, this division is probably made by those whose enclosures have just been flooded in order to comfort themselves and look like deep-sea veterans. Because, according to independently conducted by Ikelite and Nauticama statistics, yes, the equipment floods, but in the overwhelming majority (over 99% of cases) it is a matter of errors, negligence or carelessness of users, and not a defect of the products.

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There can be many reasons for a flooded housing or lamp. Of course there are accidents of manufacturers, but they are marginal cases. Dominated by users’ mistakes, which can be caused by haste, inattention or carelessness. How often does the service centre receive damaged or even destroyed equipment, which has broken down as a result of a seemingly trivial incident.

Ikelite case sent for service. Attached is information about the increasingly difficult to press buttons and the need to do something about it….

Like my friend Jack, who during his week-long stay in Sharm, Egypt, on the evening before the dives laid out all the toys on his desk, siliconed the o-rings, charged the batteries, wiped the ports and went to bed with the satisfaction of a job well done. And he slept. In the fervour of the morning’s bustle, he gathered up his equipment and set off in the direction of the assembly point. He went under water without seals in the housing and two lamps… Canon 5D, Canon EF 16-35 and two lamps Ikelite DS160.

It was only after removing the button and knob sockets on the top surface of the Ikelite case that a structural crack, dangerous to further use, became apparent.

Or another case, although also involving a Canon 5D and Jack, although not the one before and in cold Scapa Flow rather than sunny Egypt. During a break between dives the hero of our story wanted to fix something in the housing. Rushed by his waiting colleagues, he quickly finished the job and lined up to jump into the water. As soon as he bounced off the aft deck, while still flying into the water, he realised that the Seacam housing he was holding was not locked with two, but only with one latch.

This o-ring sealing one of the knobs on the Nauticam housing had clearly had enough after 4 years of service. It was only a few dives away from full cracking and consequently full flooding of the housing…

However, it is not only haste or distraction that are the enemies of divers, and especially of their photographic equipment. One of the most frequently mentioned (after mistakes in assembling the set before the dive) in the mentioned statistics are service issues. So what if we put on the o-rings perfectly, if they are already at the limit of their usefulness? Not many people, especially in our part of the world, can answer the question how often we should service our photo equipment. While in the case of, for example, cars we have no doubts in this matter and, in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations, we come conscientiously to change the oil and filters, and in the world of, for example, diving equipment we take care of our breathing apparatuses, the matter of housings and lamps we relegate to a dark corner of oblivion.

Uncovered after removing the buttons, the sockets show unpicked salt. We don’t see this every day…

Yes, in most cases we try to take at least superficial care of the photographic equipment by rinsing it in fresh water after diving in the sea, and the more enlightened ones rinse the main O-ring and the port O-ring separately and then hide them in a separate bag so that they are not pressed together. But this is usually the end of our concern. And after all, the case is not just these two seals. Each button or knob has 1 or 2 O-rings, springs and pushers. They work under load, after diving they are usually still in salty environment (because it takes a lot of time to wash out the salt from the button sleeve) and because of that they quickly lose their properties.

Service of the Nauticam housing for Sony A7 II is 2 full days of work for a service technician. There is a lot of work to do…

Hence, the requirements of equipment manufacturers concerning safe operation of the offered solutions and service requirements described in manuals. Different for various manufacturers, however quite similar in their meaning. Yes, there is mention of careful knocking of the casing. Maintenance of visible seals. But first of all, about performing a SERVICE of the case / lamp / torch or other device, from time to time. And so for Nauticam housings it is between 2 and 3 years or 250 dives (depending on what comes first), for Ikelite every 2 years etc. You will immediately hear that housings without service last longer. Sure. It’s like with a car. It keeps running even though we haven’t changed its oil. But by how much does the life of an engine shorten? In an enclosure it depends on many factors. It depends on the frequency of dives, on the water we swim in and on how we take care of the housing.

Cases with a mileage of 5-6 years without service are sent for service. Although sometimes some knob sockets can no longer be unscrewed in them and the service is not performed. There are also cases in which the o-ring of one of the knobs was broken in 95%. The user was literally nanomillimetres or nanoseconds away from flooding the equipment with another dive…

This knob socket is completely unwilling to be unscrewed from the Ikelite housing. Only the outer part has come loose, allowing the inner x-ring to be replaced, and at the same time showing the degree of salinity inside the socket.

Now each of us can make an internal examination of conscience and consider how old his or her equipment is (it is good to check it, because subconsciously most users claim that they have just bought the equipment and still have time to check it, although it is already 4-5 years old! And the people who are saying that photographers are divided should remember what happened to their equipment before the unfortunate accident took place. Perhaps a new division should be introduced: into those who take care of their equipment and use it perfectly for years and those who only talk a lot but do little in this matter.