Flooded D300 and nikkor 1224 1 minute silence please

I got my salt encrusted d300 and 1224 lense, my old subal d200 and brand new virginal d300 housings back from SEAOPTICs today.

I ordered my d300 before I flooded my camera, and SEAOPTICs are letting me return the d300 housing unused and I can get a credit towards getting the d3 housing of my choice. As subal have not even given them a quote yet. That was about 3 weeks ago to wait or a quote.

I put the query below into the contact form on Subals website, I will try skyping them as well.

Dear Subal Support

My great dealer SEAOPTICs have no respopnse from you.

I asked over a week ago for some answers and support and nothing.

I am getting very annoyed at your lack of response.

Your service is very poor.

Please see this WETPIXEL thread about my flood.

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showt...25289&st=20

This contact form is rubbish.

Can someone in customer service who speaks english call me 61295229007

First email from subal

Hello Mr.

Your e-mail still came in yesterday evening. In the future please use austria@subal.com again for corresponding as [address deleted by moderator -- please be respectful] is my private address on my private computer which is not checked all the time.

We read your complains on wetpixel and meanwhile also got your e-mail passed to us.

Please note that it is not always possible to reply immediately. Here it is summer vacation time and your e-mail you sent via our homepage did not come to us directly.

Our dealers have price lists and we did not have a special inquiry from Seaoptics concerning a D3 housing for you neither were we informed about your flooded housing.

We do not really understand from the conversation in wetpixel which housing was flooded. Was it a brand new D300 housing or a rebuilt D200 housing?

Second email from subal

Hello Mr.,

We pass a copy of this e-mail to Seaoptics Australia as well to find out what happened with the e-mails. We definitely did not get one.

Subal did nothing or was ever informed about any rebuilt and we therefore are not in the position to overtake any responsibility. We have never seen what was done with the housing and we hope to get more infomations by Seaoptics Australia.

Third email seaoptics re subal and flood except

In regards to Subal we have spoken to them again and it is their

opinion that they are of no obligation for anything due to your

housing having been modified since it was supplied which voids any

possible obligation from them effectively and that your leaving the

LCD cover on the camera body caused it to leak, your housing was

designed to be used with a D200 not a D300 Body which is different.

My last email to subal excerpt main question directly to them and still no answer

Hello Subal,

....

Can you just confirm if the lcd cover causes flood or not on d200 and d300 ?

Or is it just my modification ?

thankyou,

I followed up the emails with a skype call to Sigrid, Subal are closing down for summer vacation and are back 18August and they will get back to me then. I am also away on lady musgrave island until the 20August. They are polite and friendly on the phone and I will wait patiently for an answer and maybe just maybe a subal d3 housing instead of a nexus d3. Its taken this long to get an answer, no point getting impatient now. I cannot wait to get the d3 and 14-24 mm under water in a housing of course, I also picked up the 24-70mm 2.8 lense and I think its pretty sharp and fast.

Bugger! You've out classed me again! I've only got a dead D200 with 12/24 in a flooded Subal housing (un noticed rotated dome port problem).

I know it doesn't help, but I have always removed bits that stick out like rubber eyepieces and screen covers. I believe that the instructions that came with several of my housings (Nexus, Sea & Sea, Aquatica, and probably Subal) strictly tell you to do this. I'm not sure but when all else fails, I read the instructions! Maybe you dealer was remiss.

Bugger! You've out classed me again! I've only got a dead D200 with 12/24 in a flooded Subal housing (un noticed rotated dome port problem).

 

I know it doesn't help, but I have always removed bits that stick out like rubber eyepieces and screen covers. I believe that the instructions that came with several of my housings (Nexus, Sea & Sea, Aquatica, and probably Subal) strictly tell you to do this. I'm not sure but when all else fails, I read the instructions! Maybe you dealer was remiss.

hi John, sorry to hear about the d200 and 12-24. After my flood I reread the instructions. My d200 instructions made no mention about lcd cover needing to be removed. My question to all housing manufactures is why not make housings a flood resistant as possible. Is an extra 2mm clearance for an lcd cover or port locking devices that much more difficult ?

I got a replacement d300 and d3 out of the insurance, don't ask how. I have been diving lady musgrave island for 10 days now, I was doing my predive check when my dome port came off in my hands. Its really easy for the ports to rotate and pop off, I am sure that some form of port locking mechanism has been suggested before. Now I am checking the ports fully close on every dive just before I get in the water. We are in rubber duck dive boats here, not even space for a camera tub. My camera and dive gear all has to get passed up, its handled by different people, and the ports not being lockable is a concern. I am also not taking the port covers off until in the water and even this action makes me nervous.

I hope you get a replacement and get back in the water soon. cheers.

It was a couple of years ago. The scars are nearly faded away now.

I was doing my predive check when my dome port came off in my hands. Its really easy for the ports to rotate and pop off, I am sure that some form of port locking mechanism has been suggested before. Now I am checking the ports fully close on every dive just before I get in the water.

Sure wish Subal would build a port lock, it would definitely add more security. No question it can be done if they want to, and if they care to. Aquatica have done it.

There's no question the port will rotate when out of the water and of course if one does not check it before getting in the water, just a little more and it can pop off. Once in the water, with pressure, there does not appear to be any tendency to rotate. I am in the habit of making sure the Subal logo on the port is always at 12 o'clock when I pick my camera off the table or put it back onto the table or rinse bucket.

Its amazing how time flies, STILL NO ANSWER FROM SUBAL, re my query on warnings and design issue.

Except yesterday they referred me back to my local supplier SEAOPTICS who are great, YES after all these months.

I have just asked them 4 months ago for a SUBAL offical comment on my flood, maybe they are just to busy to think about such a hard question.

Todays excuse for no reply was they are away at DEMA.

Does anyone know how I can commence legal action against SUBAL in Austria ?

I am very loyal to my local Australian supplier SEAOPTICS and would not think of hassling them over what I believe to be a manufacturing design issue of an Austrian company.

Yesterday I held the aquatica D3 with 9inch dome with my 14-24 and it look sexy and very large. Holding it up out of the water was like going to the gym.

I have an order in the pipeline for a NEXUS D3 housing. I will start a new post about these housings and anyones experiences.

Its amazing how time flies, STILL NO ANSWER FROM SUBAL, re my query on warnings and design issue.

 

Except yesterday they referred me back to my local supplier SEAOPTICS who are great, YES after all these months.

 

I have just asked them 4 months ago for a SUBAL offical comment on my flood, maybe they are just to busy to think about such a hard question.

 

Todays excuse for no reply was they are away at DEMA.

 

Does anyone know how I can commence legal action against SUBAL in Austria ?

 

I am very loyal to my local Australian supplier SEAOPTICS and would not think of hassling them over what I believe to be a manufacturing design issue of an Austrian company.

 

Yesterday I held the aquatica D3 with 9inch dome with my 14-24 and it look sexy and very large. Holding it up out of the water was like going to the gym.

 

I have an order in the pipeline for a NEXUS D3 housing. I will start a new post about these housings and anyones experiences.

Maybe I have the story wrong and I am no lawyer, but I am confused as to how you think that you could bring a suit against Subal when (I think) you were using a housing that had been modified by a third party so that you could use a camera in the housing for which it was not designed. If anything, I would suggest that you sue the guy that did the mods. He might have made the back too thick which led to the LCD cover hitting the backplate.

Confused here.

Bill

Hi Bill, Thanks for your comments. I would not sue SAM who made the modification kit, it was cheap and good value. I accept I took some risks in using it. I think it great that members of wetpixel who are clever enough to make these kits are encouraged. I hope all my comments about SAM have been positive.

I sent the housing with mod kit to the local SUBAL dealer.

I asked SUBAL if leaving the lcd cover causes a flood on the standard d200 and d300 housing ?

If no, then its just my tough luck with the modification kit. It was still cheaper than a new housing!

Then if yes could they put on a warning for customers to remove the cover, the eye piece ?

I have heard of a similar flood on an earlier model SUBAL housing and the design issue was relayed to SUBAL. No action or acknowledgement. Maybe the tolerances in the design are so fine the lcd cover has to be off. If so then why not have a warning. Also if yes then I believe they should own up.

What I really wanted from SUBAL was an answer to my questions from someone knowledgable in the housings design. I hoped they cared enough about customers to check. My experience so far is they don't. I believe it was at least worth raising in case it prevents a similiar flood.

The housing is still 99.999% SUBAL, the modifications are so minor to accomodate the d300 and all the main controls work fine. The backplate is the original SUBAL. This experience also taught me that some manufactures bring out tested modification kits like NEXUS, to help you upgrade from d200 to d300. I only used a third party kit because SUBAL does not do this. I was very grateful that SAM made the modification kit. Its great. I just got back from Palau and had a great trip with my d300 and my subal d200 housing. I have binned the lcd cover just incase.

Not getting any answer for 5 months from a top brand company that charges higher prices for a very well designed product. I still love shooting with it. The ergonomics are fantastic. Its just that I really expected after sales service and support after paying such a premium in the price. I thought that was a reasonable expectation.

The likely answer I expect from SUBAL is we looked into the lcd cover flood you experienced and its not an issue with non modified housings. I thought it would really easy for then to check and say something official. If it happened to be a problem then at least they could put on a warning and or change the design. No answer is not an option.

Not getting a timely answer has increased the cost of a replacement housing by 30% over this 5 month period. The Australian dollar has crashed around 40% in the current financial crisis. Out of the insurance claim I went to a D3 and I put on hold my order 5 months ago for my new d300 subal housing, which I ordered before the flood. And around this time I also purchased second hand SUBAL extra macro and dome ports and extension rings. So my investment in SUBAL is considerable.

I have never sued anyone before and I hope my continuing emails and posts get an answer and some fairness.

Wow.. It took me a while, but I read through everything and I may actually have a handle on what happened.

I'm sorry for your loss in the flooding. I have both the ND20 and ND30 Subal housings and have been on several dives with them.

Here are a few observations that may be helpful to others. First, my ND20 manual says to take off the plastic and eye piece. The ND30 housing was less clear, but because of the ND20 practice, I did take them both off. But besides that and even if your manual said nothing about taking those off, every time the housing is opened, it needs to be tested again before diving. Even if you are on a dive boat with no way to dunk it.. test it on the surface once the camera is handed to you but idealy test it in a rinse tank. I know I am probably preaching to the choir now, but just for others that may be reading.

Second deal with the ports being twisted. This can be easily checked by having an index mark on your port that always needs to be on the top of the camera. If it isn't then it has been twisted. I have been on many dive boats and I always have my stobe arms folded in a way that it is the only part of my camera housing that they touch. I have them hand it down to me that way and take it back on the boat that way so NOBODY should be touching the ports. If for some reason it has been, you can easily see that by checking your index mark (use a silver sharpie to make one).

I am not clear about this last item though.. Subal allows for either lubricating or not lubricating the back o-ring. My personal experience is that it is better to lubricate it so to reduce any chance that it hasn't set down in the channel evenly. The lubrication with the oring grease helps it find its way in the groove and makes sure it is all even before putting the back on.

I've never had any floods with my cameras. I am somewhat anal about things, but it has served me well. I hope others will take the time to check things and be anal also to help prevent these kinds of preventable accidents.

Just my 0.02.

I've had two total floods in 34 years of underwater photography. (This doesn't include various leaks and drips.) Both were due to pilot error.

Talk to any working pro and you'll get pretty much the same story.