Anatomy of a Flood
It has been said that, if you are foolish enough to put an expensive electronic device in a box and take it underwater, it is not if, but when, that water will find its way to the wrong side -- the inside -- of that little box. True? Who knows, I know a lot of people whose cameras have not flooded (yet), but rest assured the primary cause of floods is human error. My number came up on November 20, 2004, at San Clemente Island and, it was human error to the extent that, had I inspected the housing closely, I would (might) have noticed the cause of the leak.
I have a Canon 300D DSLR in an Aquatica A300 housing.
On the back of the housing are mechanical penetrations, most of which are push buttons, two of which are screw shaft hold downs. One screw shaft holds down the aperture adjustment, which is eminently helpful underwater. The other holds down the * button which, as far as I can tell, is utterly useless underwater. Never used it. Which makes the cause of the leak particularly bittersweet..
I always dunk my rig in fresh water before diving. I didn't do it this time, but ultimately that may have been irrelevant, although I might have noticed the back of the housing
I dropped in for the first dive, fantastic viz, beautiful blue water. I got two shots off before the camera stopped working. Looking through the back window, I didn't see any water. When I looked at the dome port, however, there was water sloshing around. Holy sh**. At 45 feet, now I had to get back to the surface as safely and slowly as possible while trying to save the camera, if possible. I held the rig dome down, so any water would collect in the dome and not in the camera. I could feel the rig getting heavier as water displaced the buoyant air inside. I ignored my computer's request to stop so I could get to the surface. By the time I arrived, there was about 3-4 cups of water inside.
I removed the camera from the housing, dumped out the water, removed the CF card and batteries, and the lens, and dried it all the best I could. The camera and lens were "wet," but not drenched. There were a couple drops of water in the card and battery compartments. Although the camera continued to work through the next day, salt water is invidious. It can dry and wreak havoc weeks after a flood. So even though the camera worked, I wasn't out of the woods.
The housing was toast, however, somehow the shutter mechanism was now broken, and the hot show would not fire the external strobe. Instead, all I got was an Error 99 message when the hot shoe was connected and the sutter released.
Eventually, curiosity got the better of me and I put the housing back together and dunked it in the fresh water tank. Although no bubbles came out (indicating a leak as the water displaced the air), I could see water on the inside of the back wall of the housing through the large dome, and consequently, the source.
Each screw shaft has a small E Clip (incorrectly named in the photo, btw) placed on the grooves of the shaft. When the shaft is unscrewed, the E Clip prevents the shaft from being unscrewed all the way. The shaft has two o rings where the shaft penetrates the housing, which are not visible from either side of the housing when the E Clip is properly placed. Somehow, the E Clip holding the * screw shaft in place popped off, allowing the shaft to come unscrewed so far that the internal o ring was exposed on the backside. Had I looked closely enough, I would have seen this on the back. I have absolutely no idea how long the E Clip was missing or how or where it came off.
On the last dive, I screwed the * shaft back in so the o ring was hidden and dove with the empty housing. No leak, however, with the dome port, it was quite buoyant. Ironically, I found a weight belt near the end of the dive. It was interesting finishing the dive with one arm floating up with the housing and the other hanging down holding the weight belt.
I replaced the E Clip using one from my PT-015 housing.
Epilogue: I drove the camera to Canon's Orange County, California service center. It was repaired under warranty (rear lens element replaced and body generally cleaned). I also sent the housing back to Aquatica in Canada. I had it back within 3 weeks (flooded on 11/20, dove it on 12/12) and to Aquatica's credit, they replaced the camera tray with an upgraded model, replaced the shutter release mechanism, redesigned and replaced the screw shafts, installed a new hot shoe, all under warranty, not even a charge for shipping it back. I was very happy with the service. I had made an insurance claim but didn't need to pursue any further, since the only cost to me was the $25 to send the housing to Canada.