Is it safe to jump in the water with camera housing in the hand?

I now always jump in with mine; both RIB & hard boat. I find the disadvantages of camera retreival after entry (finning against the current, dodging other divers, inexperienced handler) far outweigh any potential problem of taking it with me.

Off the RIB: backwards roll, camera at arms length & negative entry (gets you away from the others, less chance of collision).

Hard boat: giant stride, positive buoyancy, camera held high.

I've done over 200 dives like this & no problems to report (D100/DX100 & strobes).

IMHO the bigger risk is to be found in the rinse tank!!!

I cannot understand how holding a camera away from you or above your head softens the impact or slows the speed of camera entering the water. The technique I learned for holding the camera while entering the water I observed from another diver/photographer, involved wrapping my arms around my folded rig against my chest, and rolling backwards, rotating to one side a little (usually my left), as I fall into the water, thus protecting my rig from impact with my body. With very high jumps like 6-8 feet or more, I have it lowered with a rope.

holding above your head breaks the surface tension of the water, and also slows down the impact when you hit the water as your whole body is in there by this point. Some people can inflate their BC enough so their camera doesnt even get wet.

Wow, cracking your ribs to protect your camera - now that is dedication ...

 

Nothing as dramatic but, since I started my new policy of NEVER jumping with camera (after a damaged HID light on my video setup last month), I did a dive last week in a raging current. I had to jump from the side of the boat, firmly holding a rope attached to the buoy line that ran down to the ship wreck. Then, I had to have the camera passed to me and I had to attach it to the 2 d-rings on my BCD, while holding the rope. I had to have it firmly connected to me before heading down the line as I knew I would need both hands just to pull against the current. I really needed 3 hands. As I bounced against the side of the boat, one hand gripping the rope, one hand holding the camera and using a couple of spare fingers to attach the carabiners to the d-clips, I was starting to wonder if there isn't a better way for entries in big waves or strong currents.

 

Any ideas?

 

Regards

Peter

That sounds familiar. I did a couple of dives last year where the only way to make any progress against the current was to pull myself down the rope as mightily as I could. Like you, having 3 hands would have been quite a help. Since kicking made no difference against the current, I clipped the housing to a lanyard that was attached to my harness, clamped the camera between my legs, and pulled my way down that rope as fast as I could. Glad the current was so nasty no one was taking pictures! Anyway, after 2 dives, I was so beat up I sat out the 3rd dive at that site, and luckily there was little or no current at the remaining sites for that trip.

Of course, that was with my P&S with a single strobe. I seriously doubt I could have pulled it off with a DSLR and 2 strobes.

Wow, cracking your ribs to protect your camera - now that is dedication ... wink.gif

 

Nothing as dramatic but, since I started my new policy of NEVER jumping with camera (after a damaged HID light on my video setup last month), I did a dive last week in a raging current. I had to jump from the side of the boat, firmly holding a rope attached to the buoy line that ran down to the ship wreck. Then, I had to have the camera passed to me and I had to attach it to the 2 d-rings on my BCD, while holding the rope. I had to have it firmly connected to me before heading down the line as I knew I would need both hands just to pull against the current. I really needed 3 hands. As I bounced against the side of the boat, one hand gripping the rope, one hand holding the camera and using a couple of spare fingers to attach the carabiners to the d-clips, I was starting to wonder if there isn't a better way for entries in big waves or strong currents.

 

Any ideas?

 

Regards

Peter

That sounds familiar. I did a couple of dives last year where the only way to make any progress against the current was to pull myself down the rope as mightily as I could. Like you, having 3 hands would have been quite a help. Since kicking made no difference against the current, I clipped the housing to a lanyard that was attached to my harness, clamped the camera between my legs, and pulled my way down that rope as fast as I could. Glad the current was so nasty no one was taking pictures! Anyway, after 2 dives, I was so beat up I sat out the 3rd dive at that site, and luckily there was little or no current at the remaining sites for that trip.

 

Of course, that was with my P&S with a single strobe. I seriously doubt I could have pulled it off with a DSLR and 2 strobes.

Are you lot wearing those silly split fin thingies???

The surface tension thing sounds a bit iffy to me, especially if you are holding the camera with arms outstretched in front of you. Now the inflated BC makes more sense, though I still think arms wrapped around the rig is going to provide your rig with the most protection.

holding above your head breaks the surface tension of the water, and also slows down the impact when you hit the water as your whole body is in there by this point. Some people can inflate their BC enough so their camera doesnt even get wet.

Are you lot wearing those silly split fin thingies???

No fin will help against some of the currents we dive. Up to 8 knots on some days. Fortunately, once you get down to the wreck, it provides a natural current barrier and you can have a reasonable dive if you stay in the wreck or just down current. But those first 20 meters of the descent are a bugger. Hand over hand is the only way down. And the ascent requires a vice-like grip on the line so that your don't get pushed to the surface up the line.

I have a double harness on both my video and DSLR housings so I can clip it to both D-rings on my BCD, allowing hands-free when required. It hangs near my stomach out of the way. The challenging is clipping the carabiners on to the D-rings before the descent...

Regards

Peter

The surface tension thing sounds a bit iffy to me, especially if you are holding the camera with arms outstretched in front of you. Now the inflated BC makes more sense, though I still think arms wrapped around the rig is going to provide your rig with the most protection.

when doing a giant stride, holding camera above the head, if you do a scissor kick as you enter the water you will slow yourself down enough such your head should not go underwater, and hence neither will the camera. this technique is similar to what you would do if you were entering the water to try and go after someone in difficulty and don't want to lose sight of them by going below water.

I used this way of entering the water for a number of trips, jumping of the dive platform with getting the camera wet. having the bc somewhat inflated helps as well.

obviously if your giant stride is from a very high platform it will be quite difficult to slow your entry with a scissor kick

hth/paul

when doing a giant stride, holding camera above the head, if you do a scissor kick as you enter the water you will slow yourself down enough such your head should not go underwater, and hence neither will the camera.

How heavy is your camera? I am sure if I did that with my monster, as my body slowed with the water resistance and the scissor kick, my camera would come crashing into my head.

Regards

Peter

How heavy is your camera? I am sure if I did that with my monster, as my body slowed with the water resistance and the scissor kick, my camera would come crashing into my head.

 

Regards

Peter

i have to admit that i never weighed it but a canon 1dmkii, seacam alu housing, s45 viewfinder + a pair of inon z220s and whatever port/lens combo i am using is not exactly light:)

i do however expect to bash my head in one day with the rig

also this is not my preferred entry method, i just use when i have to on boats where we either do live entries or where there's no deck hand to pass the camera to me.

/paul

i do however expect to bash my head in one day with the rig

It would make all the TV news broadcasts, in the section at the end of the news where they put the "silly" stories: "Diver Beaten to Death by Camera!"

It would make all the TV news broadcasts, in the section at the end of the news where they put the "silly" stories: "Diver Beaten to Death by Camera!"

 

yeah i could add a new scar to my head scar collection caused by:

skateboard, basket-ball, car accident, titan trigger fish and camera housing, no wonder i am losing my memory

yeah i could add a new scar to my head scar collection caused by:

skateboard, basket-ball, car accident, titan trigger fish and camera housing, no wonder i am losing my memory

The titan trigger fish that attacked me bit the side of my hand, leaving a huge bleeding gash and then swung back around and bit clean through my HID light cable ($150 to replace). Viz was bad that day - I did not even see her until it was too late...

Hello, My first post here, I too never jump in with my housing although that wasn't an option in the vote. Beautiful shot of the whale shark!!! I have done a back roll one time and was OK.

I rediscovered this thread during a slow case in the operating theatre.

It occurs to me that the Jimmy Choo/Manolo Blahnik controversy is definitively answered by carefully examining the price of the dinky red Force Fins with the little blade accessories...

... clearly, if you can afford those, you can have a new camera every time it floods during a jump entry!

Tim

Beautiful shot of the whale shark!!!

PS Don't encourage John, he has half the magazine market cornered as it is!

Tim

Depending on camera construction o-rings and seals work best when under pressure and are more likely to leak when at the surface then at moderate depths. An o-ring which is circular in diameter will only have minimal contact with the surface of the housing until under pressure when it becomes flattened. Camera housings that clamp the seal and flatten it in advance of entering the water are better at shallow depths and are probably less likely to leak by jumping in. I have an Ikelite DSLR housing and I would not worry at all about the main housing o-ring - the one I would be concerned about is the one on the lens port. With the lens port sticking out and the o-ring not sufficiently flattened I think there is a hightened risk of some water entering the housing by jumping in with the housing - so, I always get it passed to me after I enter the water !

That sounds familiar. I did a couple of dives last year where the only way to make any progress against the current was to pull myself down the rope as mightily as I could. Like you, having 3 hands would have been quite a help. Since kicking made no difference against the current, I clipped the housing to a lanyard that was attached to my harness, clamped the camera between my legs, and pulled my way down that rope as fast as I could. Glad the current was so nasty no one was taking pictures! Anyway, after 2 dives, I was so beat up I sat out the 3rd dive at that site, and luckily there was little or no current at the remaining sites for that trip.

 

Of course, that was with my P&S with a single strobe. I seriously doubt I could have pulled it off with a DSLR and 2 strobes.

Sounds like the Flower Gardens. Been there, done that. Unfortunately didn't get to done that again this season, but maybe next...

An interesting thread to read.

I am amazed of all the creative techniques :-)

In my opinion the only halfway useful technique is probably the least aesthetic of them. The Duckdive. ( As long as the Zodiac is not too full with divers, since I can not understand how it should work with a fullö Zodiac.)

I have so far avoided as far as I could to jump in with the Camera. I have only done a couple of negative entry backrolls, when forced to do so by whipping currents at remote Reefs.

My belief is that jumping in with the Camera is simply an accident waiting to happen, sooner or later. The risk is probably low at each entry, but an unnecessary Risk.

/Erik

I am perfectly happy to backward roll off a RIB with a fully strobed up rig. I have a 'security' ring fixed under the tray which I clip to a small d-ring on a chest strap. I also use Velcro adjustable ties http://www.mpdhookandloop.com/shop/Catalog...duct&id=123 to secure and tidy strobe arms on entry and exit. Holding a rig and doing a standing entry from a hard boat or liveaboard is something I would choose to avoid...