Subal Rear Plate

So, I think the leak on my Subal is not o-ring related. I now suspect it's about the rear housing lid not closing all the way.

(It's the Subal for a Canon 10D.)

I don't know why I didn't think of it before but I now strongly suspect that the rear of the camera is sticking out too far and pressing against the back of rear housing lid and causing it to leak.

When I put the rear housing lid on the housing without the camera it sits flush. But when I put the camera in and put the rear housing lid on before I lock the clips I can rock the rear lid the long way. It's not a huge amount of play but it is significant.

I am assuming it should be flush, right?

I've tried bolting the "camera saddle" as far to the rear as possible and vice versa and it's still the same. (There's very very little play in it that part, if any.)

Oh, and I have already taken the eyecup off the camera, too.

So, I'm guessing the mount screw that goes into the camera is a bit off. (The rear lock closes perfectly.)

Do you think trying another camera saddle would help? Of do you think it's something else?

I'm hoping upon all hope that there's a quick and easy solution to this.

What should I do?

Thank you in advance,

Craig Joiner

Wow, I've never had any problems with mine sitting flush. Have you checked the rubber donut around the back dial to make sure it's seated all the way down? Have you tried diving the housing empty to see if the o-ring seals are in fact good? Everyone who has ever posted feedback on here with a Subal C10 has only had great success with theirs.

One other thing I just remembered. You know the little circuit board that has the battery on it that's taped to the inside of your housing? Mine has been coming off for a while. make sure that's not sliding in front of your camera body preventing it from going all the way in.

Oh, and the zoom gear. Just wiggle it on slowly, it will get there - just be patient. You'll have to experiement as to which way is forward and how far up the barrel to push it so it lines up with the inside gear. Just play with it without a port attached so you can see the gear and it's alignement.

Marty

My gut feeling is that there has to be something jamming the camera mount or the camera's entry into the housing.

This is odd. Subal stuff is nomally beautifully machined. Make sure that the leak detector if fitted isn't impinging, that you've got the MSC switch control equivalent in the right place and in fact that all the controls are correctly engaged.

Seriously, take it back to whoever sold it to you and get them to show you how to assemble it.

Have you tried mounting the camera without a lens attached to see if you can eliminate one area that might be causing your problem?

Hugh

Below is the email I just got from uwphototech where I bought the housing. Bummer there's not quick fix. But it's good to know it's not something I'm doing wrong.

Craig,

We noticed that some of the eye pieces of the back plate of the housing are sticking out to far and hitting the camera. I believe this is your problem. It is an easy fix for us to repair. Please send your housing back to us and we will take care of it for you.

We are sorry for the incontinence and we will take care of it immediately.

Regards,

Fred Dion

Underwater Photo-Tech

603-432-1996

https://www.uwphoto.com/

Sorry for incontinence, are you diving in a dry suit, I thought it was OK to pee in your wet suit.

Bill

Sorry for incontinence,  

Bill

Presumably either they are referring to the housing leak or the fact that Gregarius must be thoroughly p*ssed off by now.

Here's my situation. It may help you. My Subal was easy to assemble. I could assemble in any order I choose...ie. port first or camera in, then put the port on. I recently acquired a Titan Light & Motion housing and now I have to take extreme care when assembling. Why? If I put the port on first, it is hard to slide my camera forward so I can close the back. The port focus gears abutt with the ring gear on the lens (they do not easily align) while placing the camera into the housing. The result is a camera that would otherwise not allow a good engagement of the back plate. I can force it in, but it till push my ring gear out of alignment and it becomes unusable for that dive.

Conclusion: Try removing your port, do all of the other stuff, then make the port your last assembly task.

Good luck. I feel your pain. I had horrible issues with my Subal that were only recently fixed.

Joe

Hi Kelpfish,

I'm expecting my first Subal housing any day. I'd like to hear more about the "Horrible" issues you had with your Subal. I was under the impression these were well engineered housing. Your post is a bit confusing to me. At the beginning you praise it then slam it???

Rand

Hi Rand,

I think you misunderstood my post. I "slammed" the Titan housing because it is very specific in assembly order, not Subal. But I did have horrible issues with my subal, 3 floods from non-user serviceable o-rings and a shit load of TTL problems. Now in fairness, it wasn't the Subal housing more than it was the servicing. I won't name companies, but I had my Subal in 8 times in 3 months because of the poor work done by this "reputable" company. It just happened to be a Subal housing, I am sure any housing would end up useless if it were to be serviced in the same fashion. The TTL plugs were pieces of crap, and once I'd get that resolved, there would be another problem with the brand new bulkheads. I can say that one company in Santa barbara is out of business because of this. Another will not get my business again. You'd think when you send back a housing as many times as I did, they'd get the picture that something was wrong and our customer has to be unhappy. I was.

So, I will conclude that Subal in itself is a fine product. Many people I know use one. Just be sure you are comfortable with who services it.

Joe