camera table and dunk tank etiquette

Underwater PhotoTech makes a soft-sided cooler for about $60.

Ken Kurtis, nice to see you on Wetpixel. So you finally got rid of the Nikonos?

Thanks Joe. Got rid of the Nikonos years ago (you need to come dive with us more often - sold it to my dive shop biz partner Billy, actually) and moved up to an N90 in an Ikelite housing. Flooded two of them (story follows) and then got a D70 in february. Got the Ikelite D70 housing in June, a day before I left for Indonesia, so shot my whole trip there digitally and have been a convert to the Pixelside ever since.

Flood stories:

Two were user error (me). One time I forgot to put the o-ring in an SB-103 strobe and couldn't figure out for the life of me why it wasn't firing underwater at the eel I had so nicely framed until I went "Uh-oh . . .".

Second time I got out of my rotuine AND didn't bother to get my reading glasses and never noticed that I'd neglected to put the o-ring in the port.

Lessons learned: Get a rotuine, stick to it, and when people try to interrupt you, politely (or not) tell them to wait until you're done.

My only flood-in-the-rinse-tank story happened on the Don Jose in Baja, when poor Hernan (their engineer and handyman & my friend) pulled my housing out of the rinse bucket and the port came off as he was removing it. I honestly don''t think it was his fault. I believe it was a design flaw in the port latches (which have been changed). the mfg said if they could replicate it they'd pay for the camera (a nice gesture on their part) but they said they couldn't duplicate the problem after I sent everything to them. I still think it was a latching mechanism design flaw but c'est la vie.

Bottom line is dont forgot the mantra: It's not IF your camera floods . . . it's when. Good reason to buy DEPP or some other sort of insurance.)

BTW, in the mutal admiration society, Joe Belanger has written a great book on diving in and around Catalina and if any of you are coming out this way, you should definitely pick it up.

One more thing:

The scariest/worst thing I ever saw involving a rinse bucket happened on a UNEXSO (Grand Bahama) boat many years ago (and this certainly wasn't their fault).

They had a small rinse bucket/tub right by the ladder where you came back on the boat. They would take your camera from you and place it in the bucket. You got it out when you were un-geared and ready to do so.

On one particular dive, there were two of us with Nikonos-V/SB-103s in the bucket. We took off our gear, talked about the dive a bit, and then moved to the back to get our cameras. We took them out and began toweling them off.

Not more than 10 seconds later, another diver came up the ladder, immediately removed his WEIGHT BELT, and tossed it in the bucket where the cameras had been only moments before.

When we said, "What the hell are you doing???? That's a camera bucket!!!!" . . . his reply was, "I need to wash off the weightbelt so it won't corrode!!!!"

:-)

Like I said previously, it's NOT if but when. Of course the reason for the "when" may be totally out of your control.

<<Underwater PhotoTech makes a soft-sided cooler for about $60. >>

Does this cooler fold flat for travel or is it hard sided? I couldn't tell from the website.

I havn't seen the UPT cool bag, and would hate to do an UW retailer out of business, but camera-suitable collapsible coolboxes can be bought in almost any camping shop. I got a good one in Cairns last summer (err, their winter) for $20. It holds a Subal D10 housing with strobes and folds down to about 12"x8"x2" from its inflated size of roughly 12"x8"x8". Its acts both as a carrying bag and rinse tank.

Just watch out for how the handle(s) are stiched/welded on to the bag...... I'd hate to be hoiking the bag happily down the jetty to see the handle detach because of the weight of the system. Handles that are fixed right around the bag seem preferable.

Thanks Tim

Maybe I'll just swing by Wal-Mart.

I like the idea of a portable rinse tank. I don't trust anybody with my gear so I usually just set the camera on/in my dive bag and hover over it during the SI so nobody messes with it.

<<Does this cooler fold flat for travel or is it hard sided? I couldn't tell from the website.>>

Yes, the cooler from Underwater PhotoTech is soft sided. You can fold it up. It takes a little doing to get squeeze some of the air out of it, like you have to do with a down sleeping bag. It's still a little bit bulky, about the size of a larger sleeping bag.

I find it to be very useful to as a dunk tank and also just as a place to keep when the housing is all built as the padding protects it.