Muck diving & camera tether length issue

[Architeuthis]

It is, of course and as always, a matter of personal preference. The diving style of hedonist must be very special, I have, so far, never seen an UW-photographer diving like this. Maybe a photo exists (I mean this serious, just interested to see how it looks, maybe I can then understand better what the reason is)?

 

I cannot imagine how I drag a complete system camera rig behind me, just attached via one or two lanyards. Even when no flashes would be attached. With a GoPro this is o.k., but not a huge rig...

Second thing is what are divers without camera doing with their hands? Many have them entangled before their body, some entangled at the chest. There is no real use for the hands during most of the time. The two handles of the rig are the natural places where to put the hands, so they get some use...

I only release the camera while I am e.g. setting a buoy. Then the rig hangs on the lanyard (interesting to hear from Dave that he has fabricated a backup (photo?); the lanyard of Lisi, my wife, already once broke during setting a buoy, but I could rescue the rig instantly, as I was close to her).

Additional use of lanyard is, of course, for all kind of emergency. I clip the rig to a D-ring on my vest immediately after I got it from e.g. people on a boat and I clip it out just before handling it over back to the boat after the dive. The lanyard is, in fact, seldom used, it is mostly for backup purpose..

 

 

Wolfgang

Edited September 16 by Architeuthis

[fruehaufsteher2]

15 hours ago, Dave_Hicks said:

Use a coiled lanyard. Problem solved. I reinforce mine with a loop of 4mm bungie snaked through the coils as I've had these coils detach after some years of use.

 

I am surprised that the TE feels so attacked. I think we've certainly had sharp personal attacks here in the forum, but I don't recognize any such attacks in this thread. Hopefully we can get back to the topic at hand, which I think is very interesting.
I do 2/3 freediving and 1/3 scuba. I use a coiled lanyard as described by @Dave_Hicks, which alternatively acts as a hand strap or as an attachment to the BCD. Even though the instructors on the boat and fellow divers are always concerned, the camera has never been in danger of being lost.
Important side effect: My camera is negatively buoyant (no float arms for the flash). I use it as part of my own buoyancy control. If I really had to come up faster when freediving, I would rather drop the camera and have half a kilo more buoyancy.
When swimming fast (manta rays, whale sharks, humpback whales...) I hold the camera with one hand under my belly, where it has the least drag in the water. 

Edited September 16 by fruehaufsteher2

[hedonist222]

12 hours ago, stiebs said:

... this is an interesting discussion. I have hardly ever considered using a lanyard for anything other than stowing my camera at the the of the dive.

 

From the moment I jump in with camera in hand, or it's handed to me from the boat, it stays in my hands without ever being tethered.

 

 

I suppose what I reveal now will explain the need to be hands-free.

 

As blasphemous as this will sound on an underwater photography forum, I sometimes do a handful of dives without even turning my camera on. Yep. If the perfect scene does not present itself, I will not even bother taking a picture. I'm okay with finding cool stuff but not getting a photograph. 

Other reasons I'll not bother taking a picture :

 

Too much backscatter, something I've photographed before, I'm indifferent to nudis and will only take pictures of ones I find appealing (that's usually 1 out of every 10 different species), or difficulty from current or surge.

 

So being able to stow my rig while I hunt for little critters is important. 

 

Also, most times I'll be wielding a magnifying glass and a reef stick and therefore need my hands free of a rig. Not throughout the dive though, only in certain areas where I'm hunting for something. 

 

 

 

 

[Floris Bennema]

I like a minimum of lines etc. Therefore I use a thin short rope as on a hand-held (!) camera to avoid losing the camera.

 

In more challenging situations, like when I am expect to shoot up a SMB, I use a longer laynard, waiting for use on a D-ring.  The lanyard I construct myself, most carabiners are to narrow to attach to a strobe arm and are quiet heavy. So I use the cheapest aluminium climbing carabiners I can get and fixate them to a rather thick rope.

However, I  have to make a new one, my previous lanyard lies on a liveboard in Indonesia..

Edited September 16 by Floris Bennema

[hedonist222]

9 hours ago, Architeuthis said:

It is, of course and as always, a matter of personal preference. The diving style of hedonist must be very special, I have, so far, never seen an UW-photographer diving like this. Maybe a photo exists (I mean this serious, just interested to see how it looks, maybe I can then understand better what the reason is)?

 

I cannot imagine how I drag a complete system camera rig behind me, just attached via one or two lanyards. Even when no flashes would be attached. With a GoPro this is o.k., but not a huge rig...

Second thing is what are divers without camera doing with their hands? Many have them entangled before their body, some entangled at the chest. There is no real use for the hands during most of the time. The two handles of the rig are the natural places where to put the hands, so they get some use...

I only release the camera while I am e.g. setting a buoy. Then the rig hangs on the lanyard (interesting to hear from Dave that he has fabricated a backup (photo?); the lanyard of Lisi, my wife, already once broke during setting a buoy, but I could rescue the rig instantly, as I was close to her).

Additional use of lanyard is, of course, for all kind of emergency. I clip the rig to a D-ring on my vest immediately after I got it from e.g. people on a boat and I clip it out just before handling it over back to the boat after the dive. The lanyard is, in fact, seldom used, it is mostly for backup purpose..

 

Wolfgang

 

Just yesterday I was doing a shore dive at a sandy bottom site with no coral. The only life there was shrubs, grass, and seaweed. 

To actually be able to find anything meant getting as close as possible to the finger-high sea grass. With my rig dangling with the length of my lanyards meant I had to hold the camera away from my torso and outwards to my side.

 

This is a photo I found on the internet that depicts what I'm talking about: 

 

My system would be dragging through the sand even at the distance from the sea bed in the below photo. Being able to raise it even 10 cm means I can get closer. Incidentally, yesterday's site resembled this one. 

 

 

[hedonist222]

I found a few photos of me actually raising the camera so it doesn't bang around the dive site. It gets cumbersome after a while.   

 

And another of typical day of foraging. 😄

 

Edited September 16 by hedonist222

[Dave_Hicks]

9 hours ago, Architeuthis said:

 

I only release the camera while I am e.g. setting a buoy. Then the rig hangs on the lanyard (interesting to hear from Dave that he has fabricated a backup (photo?); the lanyard of Lisi, my wife, already once broke during setting a buoy, but I could rescue the rig instantly, as I was close to her).

 

 

Below is a photo of my reinforced lanyard:

 

I just loop a length of bungie cord around the webbing, thread it inside the coil, and add a couple of small zip ties to keep if tight and flush. I like these lanyards as you can clip it together to keep the camera close or unclip to hold at arm's length. The downside is the flexible coil can sometimes separate from the hard plastic anchor points. I've had it happen a couple of times myself, fortunately not while diving. The bungie provides cheap and clean redundancy.

 

Edited September 16 by Dave_Hicks

[John Liddiard]

22 hours ago, hedonist222 said:

Hi John

I wasn't able to visualize what you expressed. 

In spite of your tether, you still hold your unit with your hands while diving? 

Yes, the lanyard clips to a right shoulder D-ring and I hold it in front of me or off to one side with both hands or one hand, which leaves it pretty much horizontal with me when in a nice horizontal trim in most situations. The camera is weighted a little negative, so moving it in and out can modify my angle in the water.

 

If I let go of it, the base of the camera will be about an arm's length below me. If I am upright in the water, it will dangle at sporran height, so clear of my chest, but not in the way of my legs.

 

If freediving, I wear the lanyard as a camera strap over my neck which keeps the camera tighter to me.

[TimG]

1 hour ago, John Liddiard said:

it will dangle at sporran height

 

Now there's a phrase that you don't read so often....... 

[Dave_Hicks]

20 minutes ago, TimG said:

 

Now there's a phrase that you don't read so often....... 

Had to look up that word! 

[TimG]

15 minutes ago, Dave_Hicks said:

Had to look up that word! 

.. and you might now regret that. It's an image that is very hard to get out of your mind.....

[Floris Bennema]

I looked at sidemount solutions. The problem is you need a camera on each side.

 

 

Edited September 16 by Floris Bennema

[dhaas]

 

No lanyard except in situations too deep to go retrieve it 🙂

 

Isla Guadalupe, 200' deep below cage windows is one. Drop it and no one's going to go get it for you on a bounce dive...LOL......

 

Snorkeling or deep water where you drop it it's gone, yeah maybe.....

 

Never used one even with large SLR set ups and dual Ikelite DS160 strobes. Always just got in the way for me.....When asked I'd reply: "My camera is either on the boat or in my hands.If need be to help my dive buddy (spouse) it's much less valuable! " 

 

Those coiled lanyards with plastic ends I've seen crushed, break and let go, etc. I give them away to small point and shoot housing users. I do like adding the bungie cord through the coils though.....

 

Just one old guy's opinion!

 

David Haas

 

Edited September 22 by dhaas