Camera locks up at depth

I have a Canon 7D in an Ikelite housing. I've had it for probably 6 years. For the first several years the only diving I did was in the Florida Keys and thus very shallow. I didn't take it any deeper until my honeymoon about 4 years ago. On that dive I had a 60mm macro on the camera with a flat port (giving lots of specifics just in case). When I started the dive all was well, but the moment I started getting deep the camera suddenly completely froze. Turning it off and then back on didn't help a thing. I could see the autofocus point but it wouldn't activate or move or take a photo. The top lcd screen on the 7D showed some standard info, but I don't remember specifics. As I returned to shallower water at the end of the dive, the camera started working normal again. Same thing happened on the next dive. I didn't dive in deep (relative term here) water again until last year. I was diving in deeper water again and ran into the exact same problem. This time I know it happened somewhere around 30 feet. If I dropped below it, the camera locked up, if I went above it the camera was fine. This time I was using a 10-17mm fisheye with a dome port, so I don't think the lens or port are related. I did have an Ikelite strobe attached that time (night dive), but I don't remember if I did 4 years ago when the problem also happened. And since this dive had me changing depth around that mark multiple times, I could see the camera going in and out of the frozen mode a few times during the dive. Next dive same thing. I tried researching the problem online but without any luck. This is my first time actually asking for help since I plan to be diving in the same spots this coming May.

So has anyone ever experienced anything like this? I have no idea if it is the housing somehow letting too much pressure in (no clue how since it doesn't leak any) or if the camera itself is faulty. Until I can solve it I'm stuck with only my GoPro for anything deeper than 30 feet which is insane. And now that I live in Chicago and not the Florida Keys, it is very hard to justify an upgrade. :-(

Thank you everyone for any insight you can provide!

This is not an uncommon experience; what happens at depth is that one button with a slightly less strong spring will push in a bit; activating some setting that won't allow a picture to be taken. This can also happen when the camera is slightly (and I mean slightly ) misaligned leading to the same problem. One thing you can try is to remove the rubber tips on any of the buttons that push on the camera and see if the problem goes away. Painful to do all of them one by one but you might get lucky.

BVA

I agree with bill. it is a button being pushed that is causing your problem. How long has it been since you have had the housing serviced. Maybe you should send it back ti ikelite and have them service the housing and replace all the springs.

Hi,
if the housing is now 6 years,
i would handle it like Blibecap said.
Change the orings and springs.
That should help.

Had the problem around 15 years ago with a Samsung compact camera in a acrylic housing.
Depth ratet to 60m, was the reason to buy it, but deeper as 40m every time the camera froze....
First day of a live aboard trip red sea it died, overload......

So better make a service ;-))

Regrds,
Wolfgang

This is not an uncommon experience; what happens at depth is that one button with a slightly less strong spring will push in a bit; activating some setting that won't allow a picture to be taken. This can also happen when the camera is slightly (and I mean slightly ) misaligned leading to the same problem. One thing you can try is to remove the rubber tips on any of the buttons that push on the camera and see if the problem goes away. Painful to do all of them one by one but you might get lucky.

 

BVA

 

+1 on removing any rubber tips. I have a similar problem with my Ikelite housing and G16 on really deep dives and contacting Ikelite they told me to remove the rubber tips for deep dives. This was diving the wreck of the Gulfstream off Lund, B.C. where the prop lies in 120fsw and the bow in 170fsw. The camera worked to 120fsw but then froze when I went deeper. Once back above 100fsw it worked fine again.

I have not actually tried removing the feet but I will do that when I return to dive the Gulfstream.

Wow thank you everyone! I'll admit the housing has never been serviced (these days I'm lucky to use it one week per year sadly) so I will look into that right away. I'm glad I asked early enough to give me time for that. And as a backup I can the tips.

Thank you all again!

The secret to reinstalling the tips is to put a drop of superglue in the hole in the rubber tip before you install it.

So I am currently in Hawaii for scuba diving. I took your advice and had my housing serviced by Ikelite before the trip (note to self, next time package it better since a crack did happen on way to them, but they fixed that too). While for several years my camera would lock up at 30 feet, just yesterday I found myself taking photos of garden eels at 100 feet. So it worked! Thank you guys so much!

Yay! I can imagine that was a huge relief.