Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/07/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I keep my Leicas with me everywhere and my job keeps me close to the sea a lot of the time. Down here, the two gulfs (Gulf of St Vincent and Spencer Gulf) are reverse estuaries - sea water enters and gets stuck, and with low humidity and very high summer temperatures, it gets saltier. Normal seawater is 35 parts per thousand salt (ppt) - northern Spencer Gulf in Summer can exceed 50ppt in places. Despite low atmospheric humidity, wherever salt crystalises, water accumulates because salt is so hygroscopic. Salt + water + rust. This means is that you have to be careful. I've taken M6s, an M7 and my current M8 into and near water in an Ewa marine bag (U-A, I think). These bags are great at keeping water out. They are, however, reasonably hard to see through and operating small controls on manual cameras can be a bit tricky. Auto exposure and wide lenses with hyperfocal focusing help - it's much easier to use an M7 and wide lenses in a bag than an M6 and/or lenses of 50mm or longer. A soft release makes pressing the shutter easier. Tis is a reasonable amount of fuss. A very good, easier alternative is a used Nikonos V (but make sure you get the amphibious lenses and not the ones that only work underwater!) but you need to either service it yourself and make sure all the seals are working properly or have it serviced prior to use. Whatever equipment you get, test it first in the bath at home, then (if possible) in a freshwater body near your house before going into the sea. Fresh water is less problematic than sea water. For underwater use make sure you take weights. For any use near water, make sure you have silica gel packs that go in the bag with the camera (take plenty!). Maintenance is important; after any seawater contact, wash and rinse the camera housing and allow to dry thoroughly before taking anything out. If disaster strikes and you have a flooded camera, get it out of seawater immediately and put it into a bucket of freshwater. Don't let it dry out - keep changing the freshwater and take it home wet. Send it to a service person wet with a note explaining what's happened. With mechanical Ms, a seawater flooding is not a doomsday scenario if you flush the salt out quickly and without it drying on anything. If you're only going to be near the ocean, rather than in it, you can scale this back a little. An industrial-grade ziplock bag glued to a suitably-sized UV filter (a homemade Ewa bag, in effect) is often sufficient. Make sure you have a proper waterproof case for all your gear and plenty of dry silica gel (a lot of the time when you buy silica gel it's already full of water and you need to dry it in a cool oven to get it working again). Feel free to mail me offline if you have any questions. Marty Feel free to flick -- We've Got Your Name at http://www.mail.com! Get a FREE E-mail Account Today - Choose From 100+ Domains