Broken Housing Repair? PT-023

I recently dropped my PT-023 housing and the lens port snapped off. The small plastic part of the housing that the clamp on the port attaches to was broken off. I was wondering what my repair options were. I was also wondering if anyone had epoxied the port to the housing and if this would hold for snorkeling?

Hi Gordo ,

This problem, you are not alone round the world

I fitted about 70 Housings Last year´s with the same problem......

have a look at this :

My Webpage

it is in German ( you may use the google translation ) but the pics you see will show you the solution.

Michael

Micheal, Thanks for the info. Very helpful. Just wondering if you sold the parts required to perform the repairs?

Is it possible to glue the port on the PT-023? Of course, you'd never be able to change it for the wide port, but assuming you didn't want to.... this could avoid the problem with it coming off when under water if nothing else.

It might seem like an odd suggestion, but it is something my friend and I talked about recently as I am thinking about buying a housing for my C-8080 and don't want to spend £400 on an Ike followed by another £250 on a strobe (because you can't use the built-in flash with the Ike) when £200 will get me the PT-023 and a wet camera

The other option is to get him to buy a housing for his Canon IXUS 55/Powershot SD550.

Now, I think that my Oly would take way better pictures that his little Canon - but the Canon is a lot smaller - especially with a housing.

Yet another option is for me to buy an Olympus mju 500 and borrow my friend's Oly PT-026 housing. I can't borrow the camera unfortunately as he is going to be using it when I next dive, but I have borrowed the camera and housing once before and got some good shots from it....

So, it is an interesting question and really boils down to: am I going to see a good enough improvement in picture quality with my 8080 to warrant taking a humongous housing with me? [and maybe I should ask this question on another section of the forum?!]

My PT-023 broke in exactly the same way. The repair service declaired it unrepairable. I collected my insurance money from DEPP and bought an Ike housing like I originally wanted but couldn't afford at the time.

I wish I had bought the Ike housing the first time. It's more solidly built and allows TTL strobe control.

I broke my PT-023 by dropping it on dry land with the camera in it. It impacted on the lense port, shearing off the pin.

If you decide to glue it, get a dive shop to do a pressure test on the housing after you complete the procedure.

David

I've decided to return the camera to the shop instead

All the talk of the PT-023 being rubbish scared me off a bit, but I was still going to stick with it despite the size and problems.... until last night... I was trying to get used to the camera in my house and the performance indoors at night in a brightly lit room was terrible! That made the decision - it's gone back!

If I can't get a decent shot in my living room of the CD player from 3m away, how is it going to cope with a moving fish under 20m of water?!?! The shots that I took in bright sunshine looked great - best I've ever taken - but just about any camera can take a decent picture in ideal conditions.

Now I have to decide what to buy instead.

Hi ,

sell the parts you need for is not the problem this are only two little special VA pinns but the way to repair is a bit tricky :

First build a fixing plate to fix the housing at a drilling machine but I use a hand milling machine fixed to the drillmachine holder with a 3mm milling drill and at 10.000 rpm turn and drill the hole just not to go trough then I drill by hand to 3.2 mm and tap a M4 thread inside .... fill with epoxi resin and skrew the pinns in so you wount get any pressure to the PC material and a perfekt fitting, glued seat ..... the first housings I fitted about 2 years ago ( PT20 ) never got one back so it works like I hoped to do......

sorry for my poor technical l englisch but you will understand .....

Michael

I wouldn't call it rubbish, but you get what you paid for. I think you might have had something wrong going on. I was able to take indoors (and outdoors) photos on land with the housing without any trouble. Were you using the flash? I don't think it would have mattered, but did you turn on the housing accessory setting in the menus?

It cost half as much as the Ike, but its less durable, harder to repair, and doesn't have TTL.

Overall, I thought the PT-023 was very well designed, except for the critical flaw that allowed me and thread originator to break them. This flaw was fixed by the PT-027 which has a lug for latching the port instead of a pin.

David

All the talk of the PT-023 being rubbish scared me off a bit, but I was still going to stick with it despite the size and problems.... until last night...  I was trying to get used to the camera in my house and the performance indoors at night in a brightly lit room was terrible!  That made the decision - it's gone back!

.

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Hi David,

Sorry, I just re-read my post and realised it was misleading.

I didn't buy a PT-023 housing, I was thinking about buying one.

I bought a C-8080 last week with the intention of buying the PT-023. I returned the C-8080 because of its performance in general, but especially in low light. I didn't test it in a housing. I'm not saying the camera is rubbish either, i just don't think it was good enough to warrant the extra bulk and expense over a more compact p&s. If I'm going to lug this thing (with housing) half way round the world - it better be worth it - and I felt it wasn't. The quality issues with the PT-023 strengthened my decision.

BTW, I tried it with and without the flash for my indoor shots. Neither looked good but the focus time was the biggest problem.

I have not been watching this post. Last weekend I received my new Ikelite housing for my new Canon Digital Rebel 350D. I am selling my C-8080 on eBay now and have given up on the housing. Thanks "Mikedive" for the info, but it sounds like I have some spare "O" rings from a PT-023 housing if anyone wants them.

My underwater journey started with an Olympus PT-012, which has now become my backup housing. It served me well, and I assumed that the PT-023 you also be a quality product.

My PT-023 also broke on land, so the camera didn't suffer. It was human error that caused me to drop it.