Deep Diving - Camera Handling

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(uh oh, I think the DIR alarm just went off in Florida)

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...I will probably be getting an email, then, about my Highland Mills Drop Dees...OMG...

I am truly saddened that Highland Mills is going out of business, BTW, and bought up some hardware before it dissappeared from dealers.

<snip>Last thing I want is to see that carryover into wetpixel...

All the best, James

...I will probably be getting an email, then, about my Highland Mills Drop Dees...OMG...

 

stroke

 

Sorry, couldn't help it.

 

One should never discuss politics or gear configuration at a party or on a first date!

 

My first deco training with one of the ex-WKPP guys was a truly humbling experience. To watch your instructor shoot a bag, switch gases and maintain PERFECT trim and buoyance while keeping a video camera trained on us (his students) was pretty awe inspiring.

 

As for me.........If you want to take my Weezil, you'll have to kill me for it

 

Stefan

If you are going to have a descent/ascent rope you could tie your camera to it on your way up and just pick it up when pull it out...

If you are going to have a descent/ascent rope you could tie your camera to it on your way up and just pick it up when pull it out...

I guess if you're going to hook a wreck, or anchor over a spot for one dive and then disconnect prior to ascent, this could be an option. However:

- many wrecks have semi-permanent mooring buoys and ascent lines on them that aren't pulled up....so this isn't an option......which leads us to......

- mooring/anchor lines break........often.......and in random spots. Now we're back to a search and recovery dive the next day

- mooring/anchor lines bounce, even in relatively calm seas. The camera, tether and clip could be subjected to some serious jarring. Every now and then we leave a contingency bottle of O2 or 50% on the line if the boat doesn't have a hookah line. Twice, it wasn't there when we returned. Back to a search and recovery.

With a scooter and a reel you can cover a lot of ground in a search (that's how we found the deco bottles), but its a waste of a dive (and helium) at 200+ feet. I love scootering as much as the next guy, but mud and silt gets monotonous after a while.

No thanks.

The camera gear costs too much to abandon to the whims of mother nature and rope manufacturers. If there's an emergency and I have to abandon the camera, that's a choice I'm ready and willing to make. I just don't want to have that choice made for me through pure chance.

In the end, as with any change in equipment configuration, invest some shallow dive time practicing with the doubles, stages and camera. It should become a very natural part of your routine. I plan to try some ambient light tripod shots on some wrecks between 180ft and 250 ft this summer. You can bet that I'm going to spend several weekends in April/May freezing my butt off at 30 feet in a quarry practicing with this new and unfamiliar piece of gear that I would like to take deeper. I anticipate taking lots of photos of abandoned mining equipment before I'm comfortable

Stefan

How do you mount your stages? Ie. both on the left, or left and right?

I done several dives with only the one stage (on left), and the camera well folded up on the right.

You could always wear your two stages on the left and camera on the right, though if they're steel it might leave you lopsided.

Stages always on the left, the not used stages behind you on the left rear D-ring. (At least according to the DIR philosophy)

If you are going to have a descent/ascent rope you could tie your camera to it on your way up and just pick it up when pull it out...

I believe you will find that dive operations vary widely from location to location. While this may work at Bikini, with calm conditions and no current, it would be hopeless when live dropping on a deep wreck. So adapt your proceedures to match your needs, despite what some teach about being the One Right Way.

Personally, I and all members of the teams I dive with, exit with everything we entered carrying.

How do you mount your stages? Ie. both on the left, or left and right?

 

I done several dives with only the one stage (on left), and the camera well folded up on the right.

 

You could always wear your two stages on the left and camera on the right, though if they're steel it might leave you lopsided.

I haven't had an issue with being lopsided; all it takes is a little roll to the right to put a bit more gas in the left side of the wing, which offsets any lopsidedness.

I would strongly council against clipping a large housing with two strobes to the right. This will almost certainly ensure that the long hose will foul when deployed, hanging up on the strobes/strobe arms/sync cords/etc.

Those that sling oxygen (rich-right) on the right can deploy the long hose pretty easily over the butt ends of the cylinders. I tried an S-drill with the camera on the right, and it did not work at all for me.

Of course, YMMV. See what I mentioned above about adapting your proceedures to meet your immediate needs.

All the best, James

Hmmph. I went through all our stuff, and can not find a single image of myself with a housing on the left hip. This is what happens when you're the only guy on the dive with a camera.

However, there is this video of Bill with his camera on the left hip. Since this is shot while scootering, it's kind of a worst case scenario...high current, so to speak.

Beware! This is 213 MB of 540p Quicktime!

Here is the link that will take about 5minutes.

All the best, James

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As I said, although I am not DIR, I do dive 90% that way. All stages and deco gas are on the left.

 

I haven't had an issue with being lopsided; all it takes is a little roll to the right to put a bit more gas in the left side of the wing, which offsets any lopsidedness.

 

I would strongly council against clipping a large housing with two strobes to the right. This will almost certainly ensure that the long hose will foul when deployed, hanging up on the strobes/strobe arms/sync cords/etc.

(snip)

I long ago transitioned all my stages/deco bottles to aluminum. HUGE difference. Lopsidedness isn't an issue if you don't sling steel anchors under your arm

I would also agree with James' point on long hose deployment remaining the priority over clipping anything substantial on the right side (its a big reason the DIR folks have completely eliminated the right side D-ring altogether). Less of an issue on deco, but still a concern. I personally find the scooter ring to be very convenient for clipping the camera off, even momentarily (as long as I'm not scootering).

Stefan

I'm not into Mix: camera task-loading is enough for me (but I did push that to the edge by doing deep air in Bikini, so you could argue that mix would have been better, by improving my END).

My experience there, and in the English Channel suggests that diving with your camera in your hands most of the time is the way to go. I use a single double piston clip from a ring on the left handle of my housing to the left strap D-ring, or to a scooter ring that I've fitted to the chest strap of my wings. The camera goes onto the D-ring for gas switches etc, but is otherwise held by me, ready for use.

With a right stage and twins this works well, but I haven't, obviously, used it with stages on both sides. It has worked on a cave/cavern dive.

I think that handing off to a support diver / gofer / sherpa on the deco stage is the best way to get the system back on the boat - but then the sharks swim past (guaranteed at Bikini, after your camera has gone).

END = real ND = 55m:

Tim

B)

You know, just addressing the END issue, I think you might want to go a little heavier on the helium if this is your first dive with this set up to this depth. You never can tell how a little bit more task loading than you are used to can effect you.

Maybe for enough beer, you can hand your camera off for your shallower stops. At least it will be out of the way if there is a current near the surface or your arm is starting to hurt. You might want to consider being able to tear away any clip or lanyard connecting you to your camera/tripod. I've seen guys run clips through surgical tubing or a fat O ring that will break away if you really yank at it hard.

PS: While I'm as much of a nerd as the next guy, I twitch when I hear the DIR debate start up. I used to have to listen to the excruciatingly finer points ("What do you think about stainless bolt snaps versus brass?" "Being a vegan effects gas exchange blah blah blah...") of it while filling Trimix 104 Doubles, stage, and argon bottles well into the wee hours of the morning. They're great guys, but it's allot less fun kicking that stuff around when your slinging tanks the next day instead of checking out a reef at 250fsw.