Flooded PT-020

Hi all,

I've had a friend who has had two PT-020 housings flood within a month.

Same problem both times, the O ring at the bottom left corner popped into the housing. Both times she had been down for in excess of 30 mins and at a depth of no greater than 15 metres.

She is highly experienced, has been diving and doing U/w photog for many many years and even had an Oly 3040 with an Oly housing for a couple of years before going to the '5060.

So just wondering if anyone else has had or heard of this issue? Is there a design flaw with the PT-020 or is it maybe a batch issue?

I know heaps of people who have Pt-020's and have had no issues, and its a camera and housing set I recommend often to people who wouldn't spend the extra for an Ike housing (much better imho), thats why this repeat issue interests me.

Cheers,

Aengus

Hi Aengus,

I know a couple of people who use the PT-020 and they have not reported this problem. You do mention that she is an experience UWP but she does have the correct o-rings in the correct grooves right?

Aengus

I used my 5060/PT-020 rig for 11 days straight, 4 dives a day recently in the Solomons. Had a problem with the 5060 but nothing whatsoever with the housing. It was brand new prior to that and I simply put the o-rings in and left them there the whole trip.

That reminds me, I need to take them out now that the housing is going to be in storage for the next few months!

Lee

I've done around 30 dives with the PT-020 without any problem. When I came home to Sweden I changed the housing because my "old" PT-020 had a minor crack in it. The new one I got, hade the inner o-ring popped out in the lower left corner.

Thats a good point about the O rings, but after the first flood, Olympus sent her a brand new unit, she tested it in a bucket overnight, no probs.

From lack of responce to this topic and so many PT-020 users on the forum, I'm reading that it may have just been a batch issue or just pure bad luck repeating itself.

No reason not to keep telling people about the '020 but, more reason for me to persuade them to go Ike.

Aengus

I think the small pegs that are used to secure the port are of major conceran. Having broken one of myself they seem to be way to fragile for there intended purpose. I see the pegs have been beefed up slightly on the PT-023 housing. Maybe the realised the problem of it was just down to the huge lens port that comes with the PT-023! Anybody have experience of this?

Just wanted to let all know that Olympus have been able to replicate the issue for my friend so they are now taking her seriously and they are approaching the problem constructively.

Accordingly, might be best for me to say no more until they sort it out.

Aengus

I have flooded a c-5060 three weeks ago. The design of the housing was to be blamed. The thinner o-ring was quite loosely fitted on the groove and could easily be mis-positioned.

had the same thing happen to me, just got the 5060 and was wrapped in it. seems the o-ring popped out of the top left corner. I think it would be useful if the 2 o-rings were different colours as when i checked it appeared okay, I was seeing the good o-ring and not the missplaced one.

I was on a local 3 day dive trip with a guy using the 5060 in a new L&M housing. He said he bought it because he had taken 2 PT020s on a trip to Alaska and they both had leaked. He didn't say flood though; as I believe he saved his camera both times. This was earlier this year.

Customer in Singapore just flooded her PT-020. Ruined the camera. Olympus exchange the whole lot.......... NO questions asked. Makes me think they know this housing has some serious issues. Actually we have been told that they are now difficult to find in the shops. Could it be Oly have pulled the housing?

I've also had the thinner o-ring pop out of its place at one of the corners - I noticed it in time...

One good thing about the 5060 is the long battery life. I never open the housing during a day of diving. I close it the night before, and don't open it until after the last dive. Never had any kind of fogging either.

Actually we have been told that they are now difficult to find in the shops. Could it be Oly have pulled the housing?

I know from a reliable source that Olympus have discontinued production of PT-020, PT-023 & PT-024.

/Anders

Kinda long winded, sorry.

Very interesting that Olympus would discontinue the PT020.

Not surprizing since mine has been troublesome at best. (see my posts under "I'm new! What..." and "PT020 issues".

First problem with my PT020, right out of the box, was a zoom adjustment. I had to send BOTH the housing and camera in for repair. They adjusted the housing and cleaned and inspected the camera.

The second problem was a camera problem that came about the second time I tried to bring the setup in the water. I was floating on the surface and turned the camera on. It came on in view mode and when I switched to P mode it lost focus. The camera remained in this state despsite innumerable attempts (fiddling with the buttons) to make it work. I ended up buying a $15 disposible and using it with film for the rest of my month in Hawaii. After bringing the camera home and letting it sit for a month at 7,000 feet (mostly procrastination - the explanatory letter was 4 pages) I was fiddling again to make sure I was describing the situation right for the Olympus repair rep and miraculously it started working again (an hour or so before boxing it to send in).

This made me think maybe there is a part vacuum sealed to the atmosphere that had a leak or something and with time for the air to move out again it started working...I don't know...I am both an artist and an engineer (former) so I have an inborn need to solve problems and can get pretty creative with my theories...;^)

I'm sure Olympus isn't going to tell me what caused the break. So I am wondering...

Do you think some misfit in the PT020 could have caused this?

Also, how reliable is your source? And...Do you think there is a possibility that Olympus might issue a recall?... Or if one complains enough Olympus might refund some cash so we could go buy Ikelites? (I know this is pretty much wishful thinking but I can dream can't I)

Hope these questions are not out of line for this forum.

This whole thing is very disapointing. I LOVED that camera until all this started happening. Now I have serious reservations about the whole setup. I teach PADI's Underwater Photography specialty and don't thnk I can recommend this to my students until I get some good explanations.

Regards to all and sorry again for the long winded post,

Tom