Housing problem

[namabiru]

I bought an Olympus C-5000 camera and the accompanying housing for my recent trip. However, I had a major league problem with the camera, which was mildly upsetting.

So the camera itself works fine. No issues there.

However, the problem arose when I tried to use the housing.

The camera, in housing, worked fine on the surface.

However, when I got to depth, it would work for perhaps 2 minutes, and then magically stop. When I tried to push buttons to do things such as change resolution, take a photo, etc, nothing would happen.

To troubleshoot to make sure that, yes, it was the housing, I took the camera out one evening, and shot pictures of random stuff until the cows came home. No troubles whatsoever.

Is this a defective housing?

Or is there something I can do to fix this? I think I have a pretty good camera, but the housing problem really cheesed me off.

Are u/w housings really that finicky?

[NitroWill]

Did the camera turnoff? Maybe it powered off after inactivity?

[namabiru]

Nope, didn't turn off. The camera was on and seemed like it was fully ready to go. Only when I would try to take a photo, or press the menu button, nothing would happen. It was almost like the camera had frozen up.

[FishFood]

Sounds like the buttons on the U/W housing aren't reaching the camera.

Although, I would think that would also happen on the surface? Maybe the pressure warped the housing just slightly...

EDIT:

PLay with it in the housing for a while, on the surface. Make sure all the buttons work.

[diversteve]

I saw a diver on a boat with a similar problem once. It turned out that the problem was that one of the other buttons - after being pressed at depth - was not returning to it's normal position which resulted in locking the other camera functions. He figured it out by pushing/pulling on each one till it cleared.

[PlatypusMan]

If it's not a stuck button as previously suggested, check the camera manual and see if the camera is designed to shut down if the humidity it experiences goes above a certain level.

I had this problem until I added dissicant packs inside a housing, after that everything worked fine. It also spends time in the soak bucket if possible prior to the dive.

Does the housing have any separate batteries in it to power some sort of on-board circuitry? Had that shut down a video camera housing on a dive trip once--now I take spares and the tool needed to change the batteries out.

[AUTiger]

I once had an olympus 5060. In the housing, the wide-telephoto zoom button did not always return to the the center position. Those times when it was "stuck" off-center, no other button, or the shutter, would function.

One time I was taking some photos of an octopus whom I nicknamed Sean Penn. He got tired of my paparazzi-like behavior and attempted to relieve me of my camera. He reached out of his crevice and grabbed the camera with five or six tentacles and pulled it toward him. Luckily, I was stronger. During the wrestling match, one of his tentacles was on the zoom button on the camera, preventing me from taking any photos during the struggle.

Here's Sean:

[Cheddarchick]

Awesome David..

[namabiru]

Originally Posted by AUTiger

One time I was taking some photos of an octopus whom I nicknamed Sean Penn. He got tired of my paparazzi-like behavior and attempted to relieve me of my camera. He reached out of his crevice and grabbed the camera with five or six tentacles and pulled it toward him. Luckily, I was stronger. During the wrestling match, one of his tentacles was on the zoom button on the camera, preventing me from taking any photos during the struggle.

Good times, good times.

Back to the housing issue. The camera never shut itself off-- I could just not take any photos. I had dissident packaging in the housing, and never saw any fog or condensation.

Perhaps a button *was* sticking. I will try that out on another dive.

We finally did figure out it must be because the buttons are not reaching the housing. I don't know if the housing got warped or what. It was a housing rated for 40 meters and all that.

I can see your point, though-- if a button gets stuck, then perhaps it freezes the camera. I was using zoom a lot to get in to close things. It just may be that the zoom function froze up. Sometimes the camera would work itself out if I changed functions (went from auto to portrait), but other times it wouldn't.

What are the odds of a camera housing "warping" during a dive?

[Dive-aholic]

The housing shouldn't get warped during the dive. Did you try it out on land before the dive? Exchange the housing. When you get a new housing, play with the camera in the housing on land a bit. If all works well, take the housing on a dive without the camera. I always do this to make sure the housing isn't going to leak. Better to find out without a camera in it. And I did have a housing leak once! When you take it on a dive, press all the buttons several times throughout the dive to make sure the o-rings don't leak either. Once you've gone through this, take the camera down with you.