02 May 2011

Canon Powershot G12 and WP-DC34 - leak

This was my first holiday with my new Canon Powershot G12 - The camera performed very well. Yet I have had BIG problems with the housing. At the moment I am preparing to send the housing to the dealer, as it has caused me much grief.

On my 5th dive with this housing, the one where I shot the video of the turtle, I noticed the housing started leaking. I could not believe my eyes... several droplets at the bottom of the new underwaterhousing. On this long, shallow dive about the last third of the dive I have been in stress on if the thing was going to flood or if it was going to be save.

At 17 meters max depth there was absolutely no reason for this to happen and as I had been using similar housings from Canon since 2004/5 (with the great Ixus 430) I could not imagine user error...

I returned to shore washed and cleaned the housing opened it and removed and dried the camera as fast as I could. Finally a lucky brake, no water inside the camera .. only a few drops on it.

After the whole housing was dry enough, I cleaned it some more, checked everything for possible damage, did not find anything... and decided to take the housing with me on the next dive. No leakes on the first two dives, so I decided to have the camera in the housing. Next two dives, still no issue, I was able to take some pictures again.

Then, again, leaks .. just about 5 drops. No problem with the camera, cleaned the housing, tested it again .. no issue, rinsed and repeated... after a few dives .. exactly the same issue. This lasted until my last dive in Egypt.

The WP-DC34 is now on it's way to the dealer. I took about 450 pictures, about 800 less than normal. I still won't trust this housing, probably not even when it is repaired.

update: 5-5-11
Today I received the mail that Canon has sent me a replacement for the housing, under warranty arrangements. I guess they came to the same conclusion: there must be something wrong with the housing... I cannot wait to test the new housing this weekend (if it arrives on time) Great, THANKS CANON, GOOD service!

1 comment:

SM said...

Lucky you! Yes, there seems to be a problem with Canon Housings and they are weell known here on the internet, yet in my case Canon didn't assume anything and sent me the information that they do not give warranty to the camera housings...
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/canon-corner/315202-canon-housing-leaks-easy-diy-fix.html

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