Regarding Maintainance of Housing while on Dives!!!

[Salil Sahani]

Hello Everybody,

Say If I have Enough space Remaining In The Camera's Memory Card and the Camera's Batteries are Also Nearly Full After a Day of Diving Will It Be Ok If I Dont Open the Housing for that Day and Use It the Next day ? I Mean Just Washing the Housing from Outside with Fresh Water Throughly and Using it for the next days dive

Or Do I Need to Open it Each and Everyday ?

Thankyou

[danclem]

Hi Salil:

I think maintenance will depend on the type of housing you have, but you should be fine just rinsing the housing and not opening it (plastic more than aluminum).

That said, I have been out on shoots where I thought I had plenty of battery life in my strobes, only to find they ran out of juice because I had some great subjects and took more shots than planned. Also, if you ever do have a camera flood, odds are you would lose the shots on your card since they were not downloaded.

Just returned from a three week dive/photo outing, and I left sync cords attached the entire time. I cleaned port "O" rings when I change ports, and the housing's back plate "O" ring after I removed the camera and downloaded photos. This is my SOP, and it has worked well for years.

Dan

[Salil Sahani]

Thankyou Very Much Dan

I Will be Using Ikelite Housing

Yeah Atleast I Got Some Idea

As I Am Completely New Regarding UW Photography I dont want to Overdo any of the Maintainance Thing out of Tension or Worry

Proper Care Is Must But Dont want to Overdo anything Which is also Harmful In a Way

Thankyou

[bvanant]

Hello Everybody,

Say If I have Enough space Remaining In The Camera's Memory Card and the Camera's Batteries are Also Nearly Full After a Day of Diving Will It Be Ok If I Dont Open the Housing for that Day and Use It the Next day ? I Mean Just Washing the Housing from Outside with Fresh Water Throughly and Using it for the next days dive

Or Do I Need to Open it Each and Everyday ?

Thankyou

I would strongly argue that it is better to take the card out, download it to your computer/whatever gizmo you use for storage. I would also change batteries before each day's diving. I know that you might think you have enough battery or card space but just when the whaleshark appears at the end of the second day your camera will have run out of power. The risk to opening and closing the housing is de minimis if you are careful but losing the pic of a lifetime to a low battery is as they say priceless.
Bill

[Salil Sahani]

Thankyou Bill

Yeah that True Very True

You Never Know

[scottg]

yeah, if you don't need to charge the battery and upload photos then your not taking enough of photos.

[Salil Sahani]

!!!

[smb2]

I agree, don't ever risk loosing strobe power while in the water. I recharge batteries before each day of diving and carry a spare 8.
I usually take more shots if I am doing macro as opposed to WA, but almost always use a 4 GB card. Can change cards in the field as needed, but I just worry about loosing everything on say an 8 GB card. Again as noted above start with a fresh card each day, so you have protected the previous shots and also take the time to review what you shot so you can if possible redo mistakes etc.
I also agree with cleaning O rings as you go. The back as you change cards (in the field I don't take the O ring out). Port O rings when you change lenses and sync cords about every 20-30 dives. Seems to work...

[Salil Sahani]

Thankyou Sir

Thankyou All of You

[adrisub]

Besides running out of batterie or space in your card I would be concerned with your photos that are already in the card. It is not good to have it all in one place. Can you imagine after a few days of diving loosing all the pictures instead of "just" some from your last dive?
I know it takes some time cleanning and all that , but you will get used to it until it is part of the routine.
I guess it is obvious I do wash, open and check everything....