Steve Jones

Steve Jones is an internationally published photojournalist, professionally active since 1996.

Have you ever flooded a camera system in the field? Do you carry a spare camera body or housing?

I’ve only had one minor flood, back in 1994 with the pre-used housing that I started SLR underwater photography with. I could see it happening so got the housing out of the water before any damage occurred. I then switched to Seacam in 1995, and have never had a leak with their housings. However I have had the cameras inside the housings fail several times, both Canon and Nikon! My D4 actually failed whilst on assignment only a few months ago and needed the shutter mechanism replacing. Of course, it failed right at the start of a spectacular 70 metre dive on warship wreck! I used to just carry two camera bodies, but now I travel with two completely redundant systems – spare camera & housing, arms, strobes etc. This works fine for me, as if conditions allow, I’ll dive with two cameras, set up with different lenses. This approach has saved assignments twice in the past 2 years, as I also had a complete D700 camera failure in 2013, midway through a month long assignment in Indonesia. My trusty old D2X stepped in to save that trip!

Do you use a vacuum leak check system?

Not yet, as I was waiting for SEACAM’s to arrive, but will get one. When I’m technical diving I have many things to pay attention to when I jump off the boat for a deep rebreather dive, and the camera is at the bottom of that list so it removes one more worry if you know your camera is airtight.

How often to do maintain your O rings in the field? What does this maintenance involve?

I’m a bit OCD when it comes to o-rings – probably far more than I need to be! When I initially set the cameras up I first wash the o-rings in tap water to get any residue off, then dry them and lightly grease. I clean all the sealing surfaces as well. I use lens tissue to clean as it leaves less residue than normal household tissue paper. After that, it depends on the conditions. If I’m diving in sandy areas, and can see that the o-rings are dirty when I open the housing, I’ll remove and thoroughly clean them and the sealing surfaces. If they look clean however, I’ll just inspect and close the housing

What sort of pre-dive checks do you carry out with your camera and housing?

I check the camera controls all work, check strobes are working, check autofocus, and take a test shot. I don’t do any leak tests

How do you rinse your camera post-dive?

Fresh water soak for 5 or 10 minutes, operate the controls, towel dry, and tissue dab the optics on the viewfinder and port, to prevent glass corrosion.

When traveling, do you leave the housing O ring in or take it out? Does your camera body travel in the housing or separately?

O-ring is installed, and camera is loaded into housing. Housings travel as hand baggage. The housings are not air tight at this stage, as the viewfinders are removed for travel convenience.

How do you clean your dome ports? Are they glass or acrylic? Do you clean the inside or not?

I always dry with an absorbent tissue after the dive. I’m careful not to drag the tissue over the port, especially if salt water is present, so I just dab. I clean the inside as little as possible, and will always use a blower as my first option. It’s very rare that I’ll use lens tissue on the inside. The outside I treat like a lens and I use a blower first, then non-alcohol lens cleaning fluid and lens tissue for the final clean. Importantly I’ll also ensure there’s no debris in the neoprene dome cover that could scratch. All my ports are glass apart from the Seacam Fisheye macro port, which is acrylic.

Tony Wu

Tony Wu is permanently disoriented and more often than not, waterlogged. See his journal for miscellaneous ramblings and occasional images.

Have you ever flooded a camera system in the field?

Yes, of course!

Do you carry a spare camera body or housing?

I usually have three camera bodies and two housings at a minimum, more if circumstances allow. Most of my trips are a month or more in remote locations, so there are few options for getting replacement equipment on site. Carrying backups and being prepared for reasonable contingencies is a must. That goes for all the ancillary stuff too: strobes, batteries, chargers, o-ring grease, screwdrivers, screws, disk drives, card readers, CF cards, etc.

Do you use a vacuum leak check system?

Yes, with my Nauticam housings. Not with other housings.

How often to do maintain your O rings in the field? What does this maintenance involve?

Very little. I make sure they are clean when I put everything together, and then forget about them, unless there is a reason to check them. Most of the stuff I do now is in open water, so I don’t end up with much sediment, etc., around the housing. If you’re muck diving, it’s a different story. When I was doing a lot of that, I checked and cleaned my o-rings once a day. For normal reef diving in clean water, I rarely check the o-rings.

What sort of pre-dive checks do you carry out with your camera and housing?

It’s important to me to set everything up the day before I dive, and go through the process of turning on and using every function as if I were in the water. The morning of going into the water, I do a second full check. I make sure to check every setting, fire strobes if I’m using them, use all gears if I’m using any, check the shutter, aperture, ISO, focus area settings, release mode settings, etc., and actually take a few photos. Then I format the card to wipe everything clean. The few times I haven’t gone through this routine, something has screwed up (like leaving a lens cap on the lens, for instance).

How do you rinse your camera post-dive?

Bucket of fresh water if available, shower if not. I don’t worry too much about this until I get back, then I give my equipment a good, long soak if I have time. Often I don’t have time in between trips, so my gear goes for months without a long soak. Haven’t ever had any problems.

When traveling, do you leave the housing O ring in or take it out? Does your camera body travel in the housing or separately?

I’ve never removed o-rings, except when I clean them. Some o-rings I’ve been using since 1995 with no problems.

Camera bodies and lenses I always carry separately from housings, though that’s more due to personal preference than any specific rationale.

How do you clean your dome ports? Are they glass or acrylic? Do you clean the inside or not?

All my domes are glass. I try not to touch the insides, as I don’t want to damage the optical coating. If I have to, I use a small cloth or kleenex to blot the area I need to clean. I’ve rarely had to do this. The outside I don’t worry about much.

Julian Cohen

Julian Cohen is constantly traveling and rarely without a camera. He likes flowers and puppies and longs for world peace.

Have you ever flooded a camera system in the field? Do you carry a spare camera body or housing?

Yes I certainly have. It’s part of the risk of underwater photography but that risk can be reduced considerably. I don’t carry a spare body or housing; I should but there’s only so much one can carry.

Do you use a vacuum leak check system?

Absolutely. I have been using one for years and haven’t had a major flood since I started to use it. In fact with one housing I had it was because I couldn’t get a good seal with the pump that saved my camera, as when I tested the housing in the rinse tank with a rolled up T shirt inside it, the T shirt was saturated in seconds. Without a vacuum seal I would never have known there was something wrong.

I have had floods with the vacuum seal system but that was due to my crass stupidity and not the vacuum seal. Amongst the many idiotic things I have done, once I left the tube in place without the pump on it and the boys passed it down to me like that. Thankfully that was only a minor flood.

How often to do maintain your O rings in the field? What does this maintenance involve?

At the start of each trip I clean the O ring and apply a small amount of silicone gel. Then I run it through my mouth (a bad habit I picked up from Alex Mustard) to make sure there’s nothing on it and set up the camera. Any time I change lenses I do the same thing with the lens port O rings but pretty much leave the main housing O ring alone. If I can get a seal with the vacuum pump then I’m happy with the O ring. If the trip is more than a couple of weeks then I will go over the main housing O ring again.

What sort of pre-dive checks do you carry out with your camera and housing?

I check the seal by unlocking the housing and lifting it from the locks. If it holds then I’m happy. I take a couple of shots to check strobes and look through the viewfinder to make sure the lens cap is off. Made that mistake too many times to mention!

How do you rinse your camera post-dive?

Quick dip in the rinse tank or spray under a hose if there is one available. At the end of a trip I take the whole rig apart and soak in a warm bath for 24 hours.

When traveling, do you leave the housing O ring in or take it out? Does your camera body travel in the housing or separately?

I always remove the main O ring, lightly grease and store in a ziplock bag inside the camera housing. The camera body and lenses go in hand luggage. The housing, strobes, some ports and all the rest go in a Lowepro camera suitcase in the hold.

How do you clean your dome ports? Are they glass or acrylic? Do you clean the inside or not

Mine are glass and I clean them inside and out with the Lens Cleaning wipes that you use for eye glasses before the start of a trip when setting up.

Page 1: Douglas Seifert, Allison Vitsky Sallmon and Andy Sallmon, David Fleetham.
Page 2: Steve Jones, Tony Wu, Julian Cohen.
Page 3: Shawn Heinrichs, Alex Mustard, Rico Besserdich.