Help. Problems with bubbles on housing and lens.

Am looking for some help here. I have been using my Sea & Sea housing with a large dome port in my swimming pool and find that whenever i have the unit in the pool, small bubbles form on both the housing and the dome port. This is frustrating the hell out of me as they never go away! I constantly have to wipe the dome port to clear the bubbles and they just keep on reforming.

Just at a loss as to how i can get rid of them. Would an anode help?

The pool isnt deep, max 2m at the deep end.

Has anyone else come across this in a pool? Could it be something to do with the chemicals?

Any ideas really welcomed.

I never experienced this problem but i don't have a big dome, but in any case;

the housing and especially the dome (as it is glass) should not create bubbles by itself for any reason!
A anode will help to avoid galvanic corrosion but if the housing should produce bubbles because of that something is very wrong...
The bubbles are moste likely microbubbles coming from:
a) the air you exhale
b) introduced by the pool pump
c) people jump in the pool

They may stick on the housing and the dome and there is not really much to do except to wipe them off.
You may get a soft clean cloth with you to wipe the dome clear befor you push the shutter.

Chris

Thanks Chris.

Am sure it got something to do with the water and chemicals in the pool.

The bubbles start when i first submerge the housing. Not using scuba so no exhaled bubbles. Pool pump switched off. No one jumping in the pool.

Thing is, they appear, i wipe them off and then they just reappear again. Was in the pool for about 6 hours and had issues all the way through.

I first thought galvanic corrosion but the bubbles also appear on the dome port!?

I also initially thought it may be the heater as warmed the pool up but shot last time without the heater and still the same.

Just at a loss.

Cant test it out in the bath yet as away from home but will try that and see if they still form.

Its just frustrating as planning a shoot when i get back home.

Anymore thoughts from anyone?

I am sure they are bubbles caused by your pump/filtration system. I used to do a lot of pool work photographing babies commercially at various pools around the UK. Most were OK but then one would cause the trouble you describe which it hadn't done some weeks previously. Switching the pump off at the beginning of the day when it was first noticed did start to make an improvement several hours later but then, due to the throughput of babies and parents, the water started to go cloudy. I could handle that but the bubbles were a nightmare just as you describe. One pool engineer was very helpful and he explained that when the bubble syndrome occurs, it is because the pump needs servicing. He said that over time, the pump o-rings wear and get slightly sloppy which allows air to be introduced into the water via the pump. I think he was right because we had to abandon one shoot as the problem was so bad. We went back a few weeks later after a pump service and all was hunky-dory.

For a different issue but maybe rub baby shampoo on the dome.

Thanks Jim. Thats interesting. Will have a look at mine when i get back home.

And will also try the baby shampoo, see if that works.

Cheers lads.

While underwater with your mask on, have someone drop a few grains of sand in the water. If bubbles appear around the granules, then the reason bubbles are appearing on your housing is because it is acting as a seed for bubble formation because of gas diffused into your pool water by the pump mechanism. This can be remedied by turning off the pump for a number of hours prior to shooting.

Can also try RainX.

But the bubbles most likely are not forming due to a chemical reaction (they would most likely foam). I doubt there is air compressed, under pressue, into the water (think: soda carbonation), although there IS some dissolved air in the water, induced by the pump impeller (depends on the impeller pitch/speed/head, as to how much could be induced).

I know when diving, I often find bubbles on the dome, mainly from descending through other's exhaust. But they come right off.

Curious to know if your issue clears up.