Backup camera

Great post.

I'm the Murphy's Law guy. A few weeks ago, I flooded my 20D on the first dive of 9 days of diving. My backup camera saved the trip. Imagine that, paranoia paid off

One thing to note is that you should pack a set of micro screwdrivers with your kit if you want to attempt any surgery on your electronics. Hardware stores might not be accessible.

I'm rethinking the backup situation now. I'm leaning towards the camp of full redundancy with a high quality point and shoot rig. Something like an Oly 8080 or Coolpix 8400. The alternative is to get a used rig which I'm not into. I would be more inclined to carry a complete small rig as carry on and lose maybe 10 pounds from my shoulders, and checkin the big and heavy stuff. (Cathay weighed my carryon backpacks and they came out to about 20 kilos. No wonder I'm usually limping and hunched over at the end of a trip.)

Anybody here also looking at this approach? what rigs are you looking at or suggest? I'm heading to Sipadan/Mabul in July and want to get something tested and understood before then.

The main reason for me to have a second body is the oportunity to make some surface shoots while on diving trips .

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I second that. If you do both, topside and uw shooting, it’s a real pleasure to just shoot topside if you want without opening the housing many times during. To have a backup is nice for me too. Got a second 10D for half of the price I’ve paid for the first one. So it was a no brainer to get a second body. But I won’t buy a second 5D now.

Julian

My wife and I both use a D2x in a Subal housing. We have a backup D2x that doubles as a land camera. Like others, our primary goal on trips (mostly liveaboards) is photography, so a flooded d2x and/or housing would just put a bit of a damper on the thing.

I have a field repair kit from subal that will replace any electronic part in the housing in case it floods.

I feel pretty confident a full flood wont happen. but both my wife and I have had a minor (few drops) leak with the D2x, which is kind of interesting as neither of us ever leaked our F100/Subal or D100/Subal, or even our 3 Nikonos cameras.

Im much more worried about flooded strobes, so we always bring 2 spare strobes.

Cor

I have a field repair kit from subal that will replace any electronic part in the housing in case it floods.

 

I feel pretty confident a full flood wont happen. but both my wife and I have had a minor (few drops) leak with the D2x, which is kind of interesting as neither of us ever leaked our F100/Subal or D100/Subal, or even our 3 Nikonos cameras.

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Ryan, Dave, do you sell this Subal repair kit?

Cor, I never had any drops in my housing. Where do you see the drops? Inside the housing or over the camera? When I open the housing, water (from the back cover) usually drops on the back of the camera (good that it is sealed).

Luiz

Luiz, I should have said 'im supposed to have the field repair kit' . It's on backorder. Backscatter told me Subal sells em, and Subal should be shipping one to my house. I already paid for it. As far as I understand it's got a bulkhead, wires, electronics, etc.

We've had 2 actual leaks. Julie once had the leak detector go off inside the pre-dive fresh water bucket. We couldnt detect a problem, but it was most likely the main o-ring.

Mine was a bit strange. At the end of an hour+ dive, my leak detector started blinking. I knew it couldnt be a bad flood at the end of the dive, so I just surfaced normally, and when I took it apart there was 1 drop exactly on the leak detector. This may have actually fallen in someplace before the dive and then find its way to the detector.

It's just kind of funny that we've never had any leak ever, and now we both had 1 (small) leak within a month of using the d2x. Maybe we've become sloppy

Cor

I have a backup circuit board/hot shoe for my Subal D2X. William and I had this conversation the other day. I carry a CP 8400 in an Ikelite housing as a backup. For compatibility I had Ikelite bulkheads installed on my Subal housing.

My backup will be my trusty 5050. That is just as soon as I get a housing for my 5D. The cost of a second 5D body is approximately equal to the cost of the trip, so in case of a catastrophic flood, I will switch to my 5050 and schedule another trip Consider the first trip a "dry run".

Most housings are quite easy to repair in the field - even without special kits - as long as you have the tools. On our recent Bahamas trip one of our group had a major flood in his subal (the most water I have seen in a housing for a long time).

It fried the leak detector and the TTL circuitry (so it wasn't all bad!) but I was still able to rewire and solder it up and get it working again. Most housings have synch plugs that are quite well sealed on the inside of the housing. And nearly all boats and resorts are going to have soldering irons etc (in fact Jim Abernethy gave me the choice of gas or electric!), so repairs, even without kits aren't too much of a problem.

Luckily that photographer had a spare body so was able to keep on shooting.

Alex

Most housings are quite easy to repair in the field - even without special kits - as long as you have the tools. On our recent Bahamas trip one of our group had a major flood in his subal (the most water I have seen in a housing for a long time).

 

It fried the leak detector and the TTL circuitry (so it wasn't all bad!) but I was still able to rewire and solder it up and get it working again. Most housings have synch plugs that are quite well sealed on the inside of the housing. And nearly all boats and resorts are going to have soldering irons etc (in fact Jim Abernethy gave me the choice of gas or electric!), so repairs, even without kits aren't too much of a problem.

 

Luckily that photographer had a spare body so was able to keep on shooting.

 

Alex

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This is quite a timely thread - I am in the process of getting my D200 setup in addition to my already housed D70. Haven't quite decided yet on which housing, but I should have it within the year.

Having a second camera and housing for major trips for me is going to be important. Most trips so far (Mexico, Bahamas, Roatan, etc) are reasonably close and while if I lose my camera, it would not be the end of the world. But I do have a trip planned towards the end of 2007 to Truk and Palau, and if my camera died along the way, I'd be quite distraught, to say the least. And as well, having a second camera for topside is a bonus.

On my last trip to Roatan just recently, I had a minor flood with my D70. The nut that holds the bulkhead connector in place on the back of my Ike D70 housing had come loose. This was probably due to repeated soaking in rinse buckets aboard boats as the engine vibrations may have loosened it. I noticed water entering the housing at the end of one of my dives, so I ascended and was able to save the camera, and more importantly, my lens, from any real damage. I was lucky.

I contacted Ike service and informed them of the problem. They told me that that nut was not something that normally needs to be checked. But apparently it is. So now I check it periodically.

Anyhow, the point it, floods can happen. No matter how careful you think you might be. So, a backup is coming with me to Truk....

Great thread! On both of the Wetpixel bahamas trips that I've been on, someone flooded a camera on the first day. Now that I think about it, they were both D70's! Hmm... it must be a Nikon problem, ROFL! J/K.

But back to the point - both photographers were able to get the housings working again and get back to diving photography. A great outcome (the second trip, thanks to Alex's repair skills).

I don't think bringing along a different camera and housing is the best solution. If you have a D70 setup, bringing a complete D100 kit as backup seems silly - as you have to carry another heavy housing. I think the preferred solution is to bring a second IDENTICAL camera body with you, and use it as a topsides camera. For Canon shooters, this may mean bringing a 1Ds and a 1D as a backup/topside camera. Or perhaps a 5D with another 5D or a 20D if it can be used in the housing with an adapter block. Nikon shooters can bring 2 D2x's or one D2x and a D2hs or a D200 setup with a D200 backup or a D70 backup if it can be used w/ an adapter block.

Cheers

James

Now that I think about it, they were both D70's! Hmm... it must be a Nikon problem, ROFL! J/K.

No, it’s just that Neptune prefers good products as a sacrifice.

Great thread, I'm quit sure that for the next big trip I'll buy a second D70, it's a simple decision this days since it's cheap to buy a second hand body of this camera.

Does manufactures have an emergency kit that can be purchase with the electricity parts that may be damage?

Hi Alex

I have always travelled with some sort of backup system. From recently having my prized well-beaten Nikonos III stolen in Baja California Sur to the lowland gorillas and mouth-breathers currently working for the airlines, I cannot take a chance of losing out. I still have my first digital rig -- a Coolpix 5000 in an Aquatica housing -- which takes great shots; that, coupled with my steroidal D2x system, should allow some redundancy when documenting the knee-capping of that slack-jawed punk who stole my camera . . .

Glad I posted this. Has generated some really useful replies.

 

Alex

I always carry a small solder-iron with me on a trip. During the last trip I was able to revive a synccord (mine) and a strobe (not mine) this way.

Until now I never took a spare body with me. On the next trip I will take a spare D70, they become so cheap right now.

Soon after I went digital with the D100 and Subal housing I was offered a complete second rig at half the price I had paid for the first one and as I had a big trip to PNG coming up I decided it was time to lower the risk of a flood by having two complete set-ups - wide & macro. It really is nice on a liveaboard to have two rigs ready to go and I often either came back to the boat to change over or took both in with me.

However, the excess baggage I paid and the fact that I rarely used both rigs at the same time back home in Sydney made me reconsider the wisdom of having so much money tied up in hardware with a very limited shelf life....

When I upgraded to the D200 I decided on one housing and two bodies and use the second body as my general camera to take shots of the sites etc. I have done trips to PNG and the Banda Sea in the last few months and find this works pretty well and as somebody said to me - How do you guarantee NOT flooding your housing?

Answer: Buy the second body....

Don

I don´t have an spare D200 but, before I think on getting one, I will wait for the Fuji S5 to come out....

Well, with my converted Subal C10, my original 10D is now the back up to my 5D...and as I said before, conversion from 10D to 5D can be made to any 10D housing.

Stu

My wife and I booth shoot N90s with a third body back up. We're switching to two digitals the end of this year and can not spend for a third back up D 200. So our fall back plan is to get an inexpensive housed P & S and then in the event of a major failure we would take turns on the remaining D 200 and the other person could carry the P & S.

Sounds go0od on paper ......!

I use my old P&S system as my backup. The nice thing is that its a complete redundant system so it backs me up if anything goes wrong. The best part is that I already own it!

this is an intersting thread. i think backups are essential, but that maybe comes from previously

doing lots of weddings etc...imagine....oh sorry, your weddings not that important. i couldn´t afford

a backup.

the problem with underwater housings is that they are so specific to the camera type. a land

professional can survive with a D2x and a D70 for backup. no chance for the underwater

pro.

one day all underwater housings will be made of plywood and we can make home adjustments

when the latest cameras come out.

only joking....or maybe not!!

m

You know I'm sure it's open to interpretation, but I'm positive you guys are telling me I have to get a second 5D body, for topside and backup.

I knew this was a great place to hang out.

Martyn