Epoque EHS-1000HD underwater housing

About two months ago I bought both a Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1000 camcorder and a matching Epoque EHS-1000HD underwater housing with the idea of making a mini documentary about cave diving in Mexico's freshwater cenotes.

Unfortunately the housing flooded after only seven dives, thereby totally ruining my camcorder. On a subsequent test dive the housing remained dry, indicating the fatal leak was probably caused by an unseen impurity of the main O-ring. Just bad luck or is Epoque's underwater housing prone to leaks? Your bet is as good as mine. But if anybody got a similar experience, I sure would like to know.

FYI I've done hundredths of dives with a Sea&Sea DX8000G, so I'm not new to taking a digital camera underwater and how to care for it.

The same problem here. Housing flooded on dive#8 and destroyed camera completely and was dry again on dive #9. I still have no idea what caused the flood though I was taking special care. Very frustrating

The same problem here. Housing flooded on dive#8 and destroyed camera completely and was dry again on dive #9. I still have no idea what caused the flood though I was taking special care. Very frustrating

I'm looking to purchase this camera and housing as well. Any new information on this matter?

From the looks of both posts I take it that you applied amble silicon grease to the o-ring before each dive etc, so that we can eliminate user error?

I've been in touch with the U.S representative for Epoque recently, so if you guys can provide some updated info and more details of the "disaster" I'll be sure to point him to this thread and find out if there are any specific issues with this model housing (and if so, what can be done about it).

I've thought of two possible causes for the leak:

(1) An unseen impurity on the main O-ring? Even though I didn't see any before (obviously) nor after the fatal flood. And believe me, I always take extreme care cleaning and double checking the O-ring before each dive.

(2) An improper closure of the housing? All clamps were properly closed but the housing being made of plastic it could actually have been slightly bent out of shape... e.g. by a silica bag causing a pressure point somewhere?

Other points to be considered before buying this set-up:

- Despite its relatively compact size, the Epoque EHS-1000HD is rather bulky and very uncomfortable to hold.

- Fitted with a WAL this housing becomes very front-heavy.

- Inside the housing, the HD1000's auto-focus becomes very noisy, rendering any underwater tone almost useless (unless you shoot in locked focus mode).

- Epoque's screw-on WAL is a pain to remove & replace underwater. Personally I much prefer e.g. Sea&Sea's quick & easy bayonet system, but alas that's not an option in this case. Still, I recommend using a WAL.

As for the actual video quality, I think it's quite acceptable for such a small camcorder, especially considering the underwater shooting conditions I had to deal with, i.e. total darkness! (for a short cave diving video sample, see: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wnC6VXaShXE )

According to some german forum posts from an underwater photography shop in Austria, great care must be taken when placing the Sanyo Xacti HD1000 inside Epoque's housing, otherwise the housing's lid might actually not be properly closed (even though all clamps are shut!). They've apparently had several customers coming back with flooded camcorders, and have now put an explicit warning on their website stating Epoque does not take any responsibility no matter the cause of the flood.

Not to mention that the first Epoque housings (pre 02/2008) for the Sanyo Xacti HD1000 require some internal parts to be replaced (read: production error). Which by the way was done for my housing - to no avail.

More floods reported in this thread: http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=24410 , e.g. in posts #10 & #11.

Hello,

first, sorry for my poor english!

so, i was very interest following the problem occured with your housing EHS-HD1000!!

In fact, I had exactly same problem recently while i dived in Zelande (Nederland). excepted i was just the third diving with the equipment ...and the flood arrived at no more than 1meter under surface!!!! I was realy desappointed, i'm not a newbide with such of equipment...just before this unluck dive, i had a good check on the seal ring (that i have removed and well inspected before to put again)...There wasn't any problem to well and easly close the housing. Also, at the moment i put the camera, i was very sensibilised to well put it inside the housing before to close this one.

Now, i didn't still try again the housin...empty...but i will do nextly

i hope i have been well understanded!!!

friendly yours

jean-michel

Do not burn your head. A friend of mine, did detailed tests in a pool, after our two floodings.

The problem is not the care you have preparing your equipment, the o-ring, silicon grease, ...or the tipical things, with this kind of equipment. In fact, the housing never floods when it is empty!!! (but that is not the game, isn't?)

The problem is how you alocate the camera in the housing, due to a design problem. Epoque delegates the responsibility of fitting well the camera to the user, instead of making a good and fit design, without looseness.

I heard they are now going to sell a new version of the Housing, in a few months, without the fitting problem; and i really don't understand why, if they say there is no problem when you claim .

How many claims should they have, to create a new version, in a short period of time, of a product that is quite new in the market??

hello!

Yes, design problem seams very clear. At this time, even if I don't beleave Father Christmas, it should be nice to take in account a minimum ristourn for a new..next housing for all actual user..were troubled with flood!

friendly yours

hello!

 

Yes, design problem seams very clear. At this time, even if I don't beleave Father Christmas, it should be nice to take in account a minimum ristourn for a new..next housing for all actual user..were troubled with flood!

friendly yours

I've been on >10 deep dives (130ft.) with my EHS-1000 housing without any trouble. I must admit that I'm alarmed by the repots on this Forum. I do pay a lot of attention fitting the camera into the housing, and this is a pretty tricky fitting, indeed. it's very easy to mis-position the camera, but if you carefully check the alignment of the camera lens inside the housing, you'll quickly see whether the camera is in the right place before you close the housing. Best of luck to all (including myself ;-) !

I've been on >10 deep dives (130ft.) with my EHS-1000 housing without any trouble. I must admit that I'm alarmed by the repots on this Forum. I do pay a lot of attention fitting the camera into the housing, and this is a pretty tricky fitting, indeed. it's very easy to mis-position the camera, but if you carefully check the alignment of the camera lens inside the housing, you'll quickly see whether the camera is in the right place before you close the housing. Best of luck to all (including myself ;-) !

This is Epoque Japan's feedback to the issue:

Thank you for your message.

Actually we had some flooded problem month ago, but even most of them are NOT manufacturer's faulty,

but due to severe tolerence of front parts of housing there were some trouble on inserting digital camera

into the housing.

So after some analization and test, we have modified all of parts at front lens port end of Sept, 2008 and

after then we have not had any claims at all and we have not had any trouble on flooded at all.

Actually there are some quantities of old models in market, but basically no problem if customers

would put digital camera into carefully.

Also for the production we proceeded from Sept end, there is no flooded problem at all and

you can use the unit we shipped to you last without any hesitation and the unit will not be flooded,

even if customers would put the digital camera carelessness.

Sorry to worry about it.

Best regards

Nori Nakano

Epoque World Co., Ltd.

Basically early buyers were used as test divers by Epoque, who of course denies any possible design or construction faults, so as to avoid any responsibility, pushing in stead all the blame on the incompetence of its trustful clients, thereby adding insult to injury. Thanks a lot Epoque! Especially for supposedly fixing the non-existing problem anyway, by improving your EHS-1000HD housing so as to prevent any misalignment issues.

Basically early buyers were used as test divers by Epoque, who of course denies any possible design or construction faults, so as to avoid any responsibility, pushing in stead all the blame on the incompetence of its trustful clients, thereby adding insult to injury. Thanks a lot Epoque! Especially for supposedly fixing the non-existing problem anyway, by improving your EHS-1000HD housing so as to prevent any misalignment issues.

I appreciate the information you guys have posted here. Any update on use with the supposedly fixed/updated Epoque housing? This is assuming that you weren't fed up with the horrible losses of the equipment.

I just purchased an HD2000 and am considering a housing. The patima is over $1k, and I wasn't too keen on spending that much for a housing. However, the Epoque is somewhat reasonable at under $400. Looking for direction. Thanks!

Haven't heard nor read anything about the supposedly improved version of Epoque's housing... and considering the way they treated me and many other early customers, I'm not about to buy and try anything ever again from either Epoque nor Sanyo.

Been doing fine with a cheap Panasonic compact in a plastic housing ever since.

All, I just saw this thread and figured I should post my experience. I've had the Epoque housing for about a year, and I have somewhere North of 200 dives with it. Most of my dives are between 50 and 130 fsw, so I've not taken it deep. Haven't had too many issues, and no leaks while the camera is installed (see below). I did have the little rubber "grabber" on the zoom lever break off, making it difficult to zoom (but I don't actually use the zoom much anyway - is that just sour grapes? ;-). Also, for some reason I cannot format the SD while the camera is in the housing - I can get to the menu, etc. but when it comes to selecting the "okay, format" it doesn't work. I can access all the other menus, etc. Strange - but I've got an 8GB card, and that's usually enough for 2-3 dives. I also only shoot in Full HD - and that means trouble with editing apps. You need a lot of CPU, memory , and disk. I use a quad core, 3 GHz, 8 GB RAM, 2 x 1.5 TB 3GB/s RAID 0 drives and it's "not bad" - I can hardly edit at all on my Macbook Pro (Core Duo 2.66 GHz)

The Xacti (I have the HD1010 needs light. For a while I was using an HID with an arm I built out of alum angle stock. Now I upgraded to some significantly better in terms of spreading LED based lights. It's a whole different world down there for me now.

What I do for maintenance:

- I clean and re-grease the o-ring at least every second outing.

- I soak the housing with the camera in it for at least an hour in warm water after I dive

- I don't try to put the housing in the water without the camera - it does leak then (I don't quite understand it, but I've tried to dunk just the empty housing a few times, and it always leaks. Never had a leak with the camera in the housing.

- I've taking the housing on diver trips all over and while I try to carry it on, I have had to check it with the rest of my dive gear, and haven't had any problems.

So far, I've been very pleased with my setup. As a noobie, I think it's the best "low end" entry to the mark that is usable.

I appreciate the information you guys have posted here. Any update on use with the supposedly fixed/updated Epoque housing? This is assuming that you weren't fed up with the horrible losses of the equipment.

 

I just purchased an HD2000 and am considering a housing. The patima is over $1k, and I wasn't too keen on spending that much for a housing. However, the Epoque is somewhat reasonable at under $400. Looking for direction. Thanks!