Insurance

[Cussy]

I have a question about insurance of underwater photographic equipment. In the UK, it seems only Dive Master will insure a camera. In their policy it states that you have to show that the camera housing has been "serviced in accordance with the manufacturers recommendations."

I'm looking at getting another Oly setup to go with my Sea & Sea YS25 strobe. Anyone got any idea what the recommendations on servicing for Oly housings and S&S strobes is?

Unofficially I was recently told that one shop has never offered servicing as housings are so cheap there is no point. But that's not the sort of advice you pass on to an insurance company.

If I tot up how much the premium is likely to cost (plus getting all the rest of my kit insured) and guess at servicing costs based on the only costs I can find for Nikonos kit, I get an annual outlay that means the insurance and servicing will be about a third of the cost of the camera setup.

Any advice/knowledge of insurance?

Rob

[TimIngmire]

I asked Ocean Optics about this a while ago for the PT-015 housing and they told me they don't do it - they service the bigger expensive housing but not the plastic digicam stuff. I'm not even sure what the recommendations are for the housing is any thing in the manuals?

[Mike W]

This is only my opinion, but...

If (When?!) a digital camera housing floods it ruins the camera inside(Unless you're lucky - hairdrier/airing cupboard worth a try, just don't expect miracles!) but the flood is most likely user error not a fault, so rebuild and all should be OK.

This means you just need a new camera.

If the camera is under 12 months old an identical replacement would probably be available, and probably cost you not much more than the insurance premium. If the camera is over 12 months old it'll probably have been replaced, so you need a new housing as well. Thing is, technology will also have moved on, so replacement will also likely be a better camera.

Bottom line, I don't think insuring compact digital cameras is worth it until the market settles down, and I'd think carefully about SLRs, though the generally higher cost and the fact that if you flood a modern SLR you also b*gg*r the lenses would probably sway me into finding the cash.