Trouble with Oly 5060 and PT020 Housing

I'm a newbie and boy, do I have a question.

I bought the 5060 and the PT020. But I've got a problem. When zooming in on something, with the camera in the PT020, the zoom lever does not return completely to neutral resulting in two things. First, there is one zoom-in setting - Maximum. This problem can be mitigated by manually returning the zoom lever to neutral and catching the zoom at the point you want it. Secondly, if you want maximum zoom and just let it go you cannot take a picture because the zoom is partially activated and the "shutter" release is deactivated. Again, manually returning the lever will fix this. The owners manual has a couple of warnings to make sure the camera is properly inserted or the zoom will not function but there is only one position to insert it and it seems pretty idiot-proof. I called Olympus to see if this was a "feature" as opposed to a fault and got a man on tech support that ended the call as soon as I said PT020. He let me explain what was happening, took my number, and said he would call back after researching the problem. He never called.

Second call got me to someone who tried to help. He put me on hold and went to one of his gurus. When he came back he said to adjust the screw on the inside of the zoom lever. And then pressure test before using it with a camera. With him on the phone I tried and could not budge the screw. He said to either send the housing in to Olympus or send it back to where I bought it and get a new one. I sent it back for a new one.

New one arrived today. :x SAME PROBLEM :x

I also suspect, because of the numerous cautions in the instructions to make sure the zoom is lined up properly, that this may be a weak spot in the overall design of the housing and you have to be sure (lucky if you buy across the internet) to get one that is tweaked to fit just right.

Has any one else had this problem? Or any ideas on what I am doing wrong? I'm wondering if the zoom lever on the camera itself is positioned wrong or something?

I am also not ruling out that I could have actually defeated the idiot-proof insertion of the camera into the housing. (Thereby proving the old maxim that idiot-proof isn't). In which case how do I insert it in the case correctly?

Thanks.

BTW even though I haven't had it underwater yet, I LOVE the camera. Massive leap forward from my Sony Mavica FD80. And I bet light years beyond my Reefmaster film camera :oops: if I can ever get the housing right.

Tom

The housing's zoom lever should self-centre. Assuming your camera's zoom lever centres outside the housing and you have correctly inserted this lever into the 'recess' of the housing's zoom lever I'd say it's a defect with the housing.

Hi, sitting here with my 5060 inside its PT020 housing, and playing with it right now I can say that the zoom lever does return to neutral when you use it in either direction. I checked and I tend to agree with you that the insertion is pretty much idiot proof, there seeming to be no other way of putting the camera inside, so the zoom does not work properly. I would echo the comment above that if your camera is doing it properly outside the housing, then you definitely still have a housing problem.

Brad

Centering spring is internal on their PT-020 housing. Seems to work on the one we bought. It may be simply sticking from friction of the "O" ring which will go away if you move it before installing the camera. We have resisted supplying a centering spring on Ikelite housings, feeling it is safer to simply manually return to center position after zooming. I know this method works if the customer remembers........................

Thanks for the input.

Talked with a specific rep at Oly that had been extremely helpful when I was doing the 5050/5060 tradeoff analysis. He thinks that the housing is at one end of the allowable tolerances and the camera is at the other end...resulting in a misfit malfunction. So he wants me to send BOTH the camera and the housing to Oly so the tech can see whats happening exactly. We went on vacation (non-diving and I love the camera so much that I couldn't go without it) so now that we are back I will send both off and get it resolved (I hope).

Will keep you posted.

Thanks again.

Tom

Hi Guys,

A coustomer of mine has the same problem we solved it by justify the center spring it is a problem of serial mount because the spring has only a tolerance of 1 mm to reach neutral setting....

Michael

Sent both camera and housing to OLy.

They adjusted the spring. Inspected and cleaned the camera and all was fine.

Then I went to Hawaii for a month. Got 1 dive with the setup and the camera failed.

Check my posts under "I'm new..." jor "PT020 issues" and "flooded PT020" for details.

Tom

PADI MSDT including Photo specialty

Oly 5060wz and PT020

Reefmaster film with strobe

$15 cheapo for a month in Hawaii :^( but at least it worked