I recently purchased a new Olympus PT-019 housing and a slightly used Olympus C-5000 camera. It was the best bang for the buck that I could find. I will be using it on my honeymoon in St. John (USVI) this fall.

So what is the best way to clean the camera and keep spots off the lens portal on the casing. We will be doing a lot of snorkeling, and won’t have immediate access to fresh water to wash the casing after our “dives” (very shallow dives, at that ). So what would you recommend? Should I bring a water bottle to give it a rinse on the beach, then when we get back to the cottage, give it a nice bath in fresh water?

My other question has to do with the O-ring. The camera housing I purchased is new, but it’s obviously an older model. It’s probably been sitting around a warehouse for a while. So will the O-ring need to be replaced up front, or should it be in good shape until the housing is used in the elements? What about lubricating it with the silicone gel? To my eyes, the O-ring appears to be in good shape out of the box.

Please excuse my ignorance. I think I’m a pretty capable photographer on land, but underwater is new territory for me.

Thanks.

So what is the best way to clean the camera and keep spots off the lens portal on the casing. We will be doing a lot of snorkeling, and won’t have immediate access to fresh water to wash the casing after our “dives” (very shallow dives, at that wink). So what would you recommend? Should I bring a water bottle to give it a rinse on the beach, then when we get back to the cottage, give it a nice bath in fresh water?

Rinse it with a water bottle is a good idea and a good soak back in the cottage should be fine (particulalry since you do not have any other options it sounds like ) ).  You could bring a cooler and fill that with water, but probably not really necessary and more of a PITA.  Make sure you do not open the case on the beach, you do not want sand getting in there, or if you must open it be real careful.  The spots, if any, should probably dissapear when you get back in the water (the salt build-up which may have occurred) fairly quickly. 

My other question has to do with the O-ring. The camera housing I purchased is new, but it’s obviously an older model. It’s probably been sitting around a warehouse for a while. So will the O-ring need to be replaced up front, or should it be in good shape until the housing is used in the elements? What about lubricating it with the silicone gel? To my eyes, the O-ring appears to be in good shape out of the box.

You probably will want to buy an extra O-Ring at the very minimum.  Using the lubrication as recommended by Olympus is something you should do, but do not put too much on it.  And make sure you test this in the water before hand.  Play with all the controls and see if water gets into the housing.  You may want to have a shop look at it ahead of time (not sure who services the Oly housings off the top of my head, Backscatter and Subaqautica may do these)

You may also want your first dive to be without the camera in the housing, put a piece of tissue in the housing (and probably add the weight on the bottom so it does not float too much) then play with all the controls at depth.  If water is getting in you will feel it on the tissue.  (Colored tissue paper also works well since it will get darker where it is wet and is a bit easier to see.)

BTW, it is not plagarism

Drew,

Thanks for the advice.

Kevin