Brand New TG6 Screen Foggy After 15 Min. Use (dry)

SaraPia wrote:

embie wrote:

Hi,

If replacement is canceled, which I hope it's not, then I would :

Contact Olympus and ask for a replacement there.

If that's also denied than...

Check the screen for cracks or possible openings on the sides.

Open all camera doors and remove battery and sd card, put the camera in a box with a water absorbent, eg. silica gel kernels or other materials...even dry rice, for the latter...wrap the camera in a dry cloth, put in on a layer of rice and cover it completely with rice, close the box and keep it for 1 week.

When reopened, inspect all rubber gaskets inside the two camera openings for damaged.

If no damage is noticed, replace the battery ans sd card and...try it out.

PS : are you sure you closed the door(s) tied AND locked the safetylock ?

Success,

eMBie

Thanks for commenting. B&H will replace. Yes, everything was closed and locked. Hopefully this was a fluke and the replacement will work fine. I don't know what I was thinking. I didn't have great luck with the TG4. Seems for the amount I used it, it needed servicing two years in a row. I had the seals replaced last summer (2019), barely used the thing, and right off the bat this summer, the lens and rear screen fogged when using in the water.

If the lens was internally fogged, it probably wasn't related to the seals. More likely it involved humid air trapped inside the camera. It's a common problem with all underwater cameras. You open the camera in hot humid conditions, close the doors then take it into cooler water. If the water temperature is below the dew point of the trapped air, condensation will form on the interior surfaces as they cool off. This has nothing to do with camera design, it's just basic science.

As eMBie mentioned, you must prep the camera with dry air. I use rechargeable desiccant canisters. I open the camera's doors and seal the camera and a canister in ziploc bag. It doesn't take too long for the desiccant to do its job. In 30 minutes a freshly charged canister will dramatically decrease moisture content of the air. I normally prep the camera the night before and leave the camera in the bag overnight. I close the doors before opening the bag. Dew point can be under 10° F, which means it's immune to fogging in water. I've done this for years with my TG-3 and the lens has never fogged. I've only replaced the seals once, but it probably wasn't necessary. It's been on over 200 ocean dives and has never leaked a drop. I do methodology clean and inspect the camera after each dive.

Now, a fogged LCD is a different matter. It's impossible for the exterior of the LCD to fog underwater. So either the view through the LCD didn't appear clear due to the fogged lens or the LCD is internally fogged. If it's the latter, it's damaged or faulty. This was a issue with the TG-5, but I don't remember reports of the TG-4 doing this.

I was hoping - and had read - that the TG6 would be an improvement.

Again, fogging is a well documented issue with sealed cameras. Most underwater photography sites describe the problem and usually provide multiple solutions. The camera does require some special care to avoid this problem.