XHA1 + Gates Housing question

Hi Everybody,

We recently bought a new Gates Housing for our Canon XH-A1 and went for a couple of test dives at the Lembeh straits, we owned a couple of underwater video systems before these and are normaly familiar with underwater video.But there are some things we couldnt figure out with this new setup and need some expert advise .We would appreciate it if you can help us out.

1- White Balance underwater: we didn't have any problems manualy white balancing on land , but underwater the camera white balance icon didn't stop blinking although the white balance looked fine .Should we stick with this or are we doing something wrong ?

2- The Gates Power ring on the power dial is loose , frustrated us the first couple of times while trying to turn on the camera underwater, and got completely detached underwater leaving us without acces to the power dial and the camera ,after it auto shut its self down. I attached a piece of sticky tape inside the power ring to keep it on place afterwards and turned off the camera auto shut off custom setting, which helped out for the rest of our days , but should it be like this or is my power ring somehow defected ?

3- After diving a couple of dives with the gates housing we noticed water stains on the beautifull black coating of the housing which we didnt manag to get off altough the camera was soaked in freshwater after every dive. Is there way to get rid of these or should we live with it ?

4- We noticed fine sand building up on the top side of the orange main oring of the housing , which mentaly pushed us to remove the oring after each diving day rinsing it in fresh water and attaching it again to the housing which gave us an unsecure feeling because gates is advising in its manual to test dive the housing after the removal of the main oring? Should we cover up the top side of the housing so that no debrie or sand enters it ?

5 - Is there a custom preset you would recommend us to use underwater ?

6 - Am i asking too much ?

We really would appreciate it if you could help us out with your experiences on gates housings ,

Best Regards,

Tunc & Selen Yavuzdogan

3- After diving a couple of dives with the gates housing we noticed water stains on the beautifull black coating of the housing which we didnt manag to get off altough the camera was soaked in freshwater after every dive. Is there way to get rid of these or should we live with it ?

They do get discoloured with use. The most important thing with a Gates housing is to wash it really really well, otherwise you will get galvanic corrosion around the stainless steel latches, which means the aluminium body will gradually turn to white powder. After the main wash/soak in the rinse bath, my recommendation is to wash around the stainless steel clamps with the freshest water you can find. Even drinking water. Because the water in rinse tanks in remote locations is often not the freshest. Then DRY the whole housing with a towel, especially around the latches. Also keep the thick zinc washer on the bottom of the housing really tight so it does it's job properly. It's an anode (cathode? I can never remember which) and is supposed to sacrifice itself stop the rest of the housing corroding.

4- We noticed fine sand building up on the top side of the orange main oring of the housing , which mentaly pushed us to remove the oring after each diving day rinsing it in fresh water and attaching it again to the housing which gave us an unsecure feeling because gates is advising in its manual to test dive the housing after the removal of the main oring? Should we cover up the top side of the housing so that no debrie or sand enters it ?

That fine Lembeh sand does build up in crevices on housings. I had so much of it work inside the top window O-ring on my L&M Bluefin that it started leaking. I would definitely remove that main O-ring each time you open the housing. Clean out the o-ring groove with a toothbrush and then a cotton bud or towel and check it with your fingers and re-seat it carefully after cleaning and drying. I always used to remove it between dives on my Gates VX2000 housing. Don't worry about a test dive after each time you reseat it. That's Gates covering themselves. If you're careful it will be fine. Just don't get it trapped between the 2 halves of the housing before you close the latches, and don't put any grease on it. I always wished Gates would put the O-ring groove in the same side of the housing that the camera screws to. There would be less chance of it falling out and getting pinched during assembly if they did that.

p.s. I wonder if something very mildly acid-based, such as ketchup, might get the discoloration/deposits off housings. Always used to work with old coins! Also way way back on this forum, Dan Deck mentioned something for getting deposits off L&M housings. Some spray beginning with "CR..." perhaps??? Anyone remember???

I've owned a Gates / A1 combo for over 21/2 years here is some feedback

Hi Everybody,

 

We recently bought a new Gates Housing for our Canon XH-A1 and went for a couple of test dives at the Lembeh straits, we owned a couple of underwater video systems before these and are normaly familiar with underwater video.But there are some things we couldnt figure out with this new setup and need some expert advise .We would appreciate it if you can help us out.

 

1- White Balance underwater: we didn't have any problems manualy white balancing on land , but underwater the camera white balance icon didn't stop blinking although the white balance looked fine .Should we stick with this or are we doing something wrong ?

 

Make sure you white balance on the way down, if you leave it till 15m it won't white balance, play with the presets and red filter and should shouldn't have a problem to get the right colour down to 40m

 

2- The Gates Power ring on the power dial is loose , frustrated us the first couple of times while trying to turn on the camera underwater, and got completely detached underwater leaving us without acces to the power dial and the camera ,after it auto shut its self down. I attached a piece of sticky tape inside the power ring to keep it on place afterwards and turned off the camera auto shut off custom setting, which helped out for the rest of our days , but should it be like this or is my power ring somehow defected ?

 

Get another from GATES, mine has been used constantly and it locks firmly, they may be a problems with yours

 

3- After diving a couple of dives with the gates housing we noticed water stains on the beautifull black coating of the housing which we didnt manag to get off altough the camera was soaked in freshwater after every dive. Is there way to get rid of these or should we live with it ?

 

Sunscreen does leave a slight mark but just give it a wash with a little soapy water

 

4- We noticed fine sand building up on the top side of the orange main oring of the housing , which mentaly pushed us to remove the oring after each diving day rinsing it in fresh water and attaching it again to the housing which gave us an unsecure feeling because gates is advising in its manual to test dive the housing after the removal of the main oring? Should we cover up the top side of the housing so that no debrie or sand enters it ?

 

I remove and clean the o ring after every dive, you will always get some sort of sand on the top of that o ring. I do dunk the cam in fresh water before I dive with it most days if I can be bothered.

 

5 - Is there a custom preset you would recommend us to use underwater ?

 

Yes I do... will have to check the camera and let you know.

 

6 - Am i asking too much ?

 

It's a great camera housing combo, they are tough as old boots and very resilient, I would have done over 1000 dives with mine and it has never failed me.

 

We really would appreciate it if you could help us out with your experiences on gates housings ,

 

Best Regards,

 

Tunc & Selen Yavuzdogan

Dear Nick Dear Jonny,

Incredible information thank you so much for the quick replies , this forum always amazes me in that matter ,thanks!

@ Nick: I checked the latches and yes you can see the corrosion beginning thank you for the good advise will stick to it !

@ Jonny: Yes it is an amazing housing , i allready was in love with the camera even tough i had my eyes on the Canon 5D . I would really appreciate it if you can sent me the custom preset for underwater , would be great help.My Gates dealer in Singapore already contacted me about the Power ring and told me the replacement is on his way , ( before i had the opportunity to contact him )he was following this thread also ,amazing customer service i must say

The white balance issue is interesting, we did exact the same thing , but could it be a custom preset - white balance issue ?

Thanks again to both of you ,

Best Regards,

If they would make a housing for the Canon 5 or 7D to fit the ergonomics of a video housing, I'd be out buying mine now. Don't know why they don't.

Steve

Tunc,

PM me you email address and I will send you a folder of all my presets for the camera which you can load on an SD card. I have around 18 that I use and it will save you a stack of time. And they are all very different depending on the look you want.

J

tunc, who is your dealer in Singapore?

Hi Nick ,

My dealer in Singapore is Scubacam , i was allready amazed with their customer service during my purchase , and now David has literaly shoked me again I hope its no problem to mention this here , is it ?

Hi steve ,

I believe they have no other choice to do some additional Vidslr housings , as the market is drasticly shifting that way. We were in Raja Ampat 2 weeks ago and a German documentary team was using the 5D as their primary cam in an Aquatica housing , the name of the camera-man was Roberto by the way ! I think he too is on Wetpixel .The results were incredible.

Regards,

Dear Jonny ,

Is there a wide angle lens/port option for this setup which gives satisfying results without spending to much for the Fathom lens ?

Regards,

Unfortunately not, the Canon WA lens is great but does not fit behind any of the ports. Best bet is to try and pick up a second hand SW44, there are a few knocking around. If you find one with a scratch you can get Fathom to change the front element for $900.

J

If you use the red filter you should not have a problem to get the white balance locked. If you don't have a red filter you need a lot of light in order to set white balance.

If you have a sunny day you can point the camera towards the surface which works well for me. I use a Sony FX-1 in a gates housing.

As for the settings it really depends on the conditions you shooting in, there is no magic setting that gets the shot right, you have to try this out and find what works best for you.

Best regards Klemens

Latches: I also get corrosion around the latches but simply clean them with a old toothbrush and ordinary vinegar which you can get wherever you are.

WA lens: There is a wide angle lens from Sony which you can straight on the camera and use it with a standard dome port but the result wasn't that much better than without.

So I straight away sold it again. The only option if you really need the wide angle is the fathom port which you can get second hand at around 2000+ euro.

Hope that helps a bit.

Best regards Klemens