O Rings

Just wondered if it is good practice to leave O’rings in place and close up the housing when putting camera into storage out of season ?

Currently after a dive trip I remove the O rings, on the assumption that if left permanently under compression they may flatten off, and ultimately fail.

Any comments?

In case relevant it is a twin O ring housing, inner O ring a square shaped seal, the outer a standard round O ring.

Long term compression of O-rings is not considered a good idea. The more obsessive have two sets of 0-rings. One that they store their housing with and one that they use when they submerge their housing.

I just make sure everything is dissembled when not in use.

If they are flattened abit, take them out for a day or two and leave sitting, they go back to their normal roundness no problems.

Well mine do.

I leave the oring in place, but dont compress the latches and store the ports separate..

Almost all instruction or care manuals I have read say to remove o rings during long storage periods, lube them, and put them in a ziplock bag or something.

In fact a few manuals even suggested this to be the online time you need to lube them at all in order to stop them from degrading over this time. But of course we all love to play with our lube when getting ready to shoot.

What is long-term storage? My housing goes on a dive trip every month and wears out long before the O-rings get flattened!

What is long-term storage? My housing goes on a dive trip every month and wears out long before the O-rings get flattened!

HI John,

we are not all that lucky, but we can all wish for a trip every month . I try to dive most

months but my camrea does not always go. Back to the tread, on my last liveboard this subject

came up & one of the group said that he cut an old Oring up & just used small lenghts around the

housing.

Andy

cut an old Oring up & just used small lenghts around the housing.

Thanks, a cool idea, never thought of it. Now if I can just remember to put in a good one before getting wet. that takes care of two of them. What do you do about the 30 some others on a DSLR housing that you can't get to easily? O-rings are a never ending issue, I've noticed lately that you have to watch even "new" o-rings. The last new set I bought for the Nikonos was so old it was deteriorating in the bag. Just another reason to go digital

Steve

What do you do about the 30 some others on a DSLR housing that you can't get to easily?

Steve has discovered the the key issue here. If you don't worry about all the control o-rings, then why are the main seals such a big deal? Bottom line - its not a problem so lets all relax & have a nice glass of merlot. Before you got your housing, how long was it sitting on a shelf somewhere closed & sealed with all o-rings in place? O-rings are very simple items - just keep them clean & don't play with em. If buna/neoprene lightly grease as required.

HI John,

 

we are not all that lucky, but we can all wish for a trip every month . I try to dive most

months but my camrea does not always go. Back to the tread, on my last liveboard this subject

came up & one of the group said that he cut an old Oring up & just used small lenghts around the

housing.

Andy

I use a cut up O-ring in the housing back during air-travel (otherwise the housing can be almost impossible to open afterwards) but I put the good O-ring in a little plastic bag inside the housing with the camera so there is no chance I will forget to replace it in its groove.