Getting Into The Water & During Dive

For my first post I give you this dumb question.....

When you are boat diving do you get in and then have someone hand you your camera?

Also, how do most of you carry your camera during a dive? Do you literally hold on to it your entire dive with you hand(s) or do you clip it to your BC?

depends on the boat ...

some boats i can reach up and grab th camera myself from in the water if i place it right. I have giant stride in holding the camera above my head (take a small light rig to do this) and having someone hand it to you is yes considered to be the safest method .. as long as that person knows where to hold the housing and not to throw or drop it at you !

As for during the dive .. when i had a smaller PS setup i clipped it to my BCD and it was fairly well hidden as if I had nothing attached to me .. I even manged to work as a dive guide like this and it never got in the way. With my new boxy rig that is quite big if i am swimming i put the rig length wise in the water .. hold it with one hand and put the strobe and arm over my shoulder .. this reduces drag and is actually quite comfortable .. which is good as when shooting my forearms and wrists can get tired.

I think it is all personal preference .. as long as whaqt you do causes no harm to the environment or other or your equipment (or I guess yourself) then the only other thing to keep in mind is .. do you look cool doing it ?

depends on the boat ...

 

some boats i can reach up and grab th camera myself from in the water if i place it right. I have giant stride in holding the camera above my head (take a small light rig to do this) and having someone hand it to you is yes considered to be the safest method .. as long as that person knows where to hold the housing and not to throw or drop it at you !

 

As for during the dive .. when i had a smaller PS setup i clipped it to my BCD and it was fairly well hidden as if I had nothing attached to me .. I even manged to work as a dive guide like this and it never got in the way. With my new boxy rig that is quite big if i am swimming i put the rig length wise in the water .. hold it with one hand and put the strobe and arm over my shoulder .. this reduces drag and is actually quite comfortable .. which is good as when shooting my forearms and wrists can get tired.

 

I think it is all personal preference .. as long as whaqt you do causes no harm to the environment or other or your equipment (or I guess yourself) then the only other thing to keep in mind is .. do you look cool doing it ?

Sounds smart.

Sounds smart.

I agree it depends on the boat, I have a bungie cord arrangement on some boats I hang from the cleat or something strong and carefully lower the camera into the water, then jump in. I do sometimes dive with groups of beginners, I clip my setup off to my BC in case they need assistance. Smaller boats usually take very good care of you're camera equipment and hand it overboard after entering the water. The biggest problem are the folks that use the camera rinse tank for washing their masks. When possible I bring my own cooler filled with freshwater and soak the camera between dives, this all so protects it from bumps and defog.

I have taken giant strides with my rig (Ikelite for D70 with two DS125) from a boat without any issues at all. I don't (and couldn't) hold it above my head. I just hold it close to my chest so it is somewhat protected by my fins when they hit the water. If you are doing a drop-off type entry from a moving boat, there is no other alternative.

On the dive I usually hold the rig with a hand on each handle so I'm ready to take a photograph, but will let go with one or other hand if I need the hand for something else - e.g. checking my contents guage.

For my first post I give you this dumb question.....

 

When you are boat diving do you get in and then have someone hand you your camera?

 

Also, how do most of you carry your camera during a dive? Do you literally hold on to it your entire dive with you hand(s) or do you clip it to your BC?

Yes, generally jump into the water without camera

Hi all,

I must preface this reply by saying that I don't think there is a "right" way of handling a camera during entry or dive. Although the official reply is that the camera should be handed down once you are in the water, this isn't always possible or desireable. For example, if you are diving in current, you may not be able to get back to the boat after entry, as the current takes you away. So, you need to be prepared to vary your technique to suit the diving conditions. The reason, as I understand, for the "hand down" is to limit the shock wave caused by the camera hitting the water. The way I tend to counter this when I enter with the camera in my hand is to fully inflate my BCD, and fin hard once my feet are in the water- and hold the camera above my head. This means that the camera doesn't actually hit the water at all! I am shooting a PS camera, but I do have dual strobes and arms-and it seems to work. I have no experience of using an SLR though.

Further, I pre assemble my camera/housing etc on shore, and try to pressure test it by leaving it a bath or similar before I leave the hotel-in my experience, if it is going to leak, it tends to leak straight away!

Rinse tanks are as someone said above a nightmare-if am staying on the boat between dives, I'll dry the housing with a towel, and change cards/batteries. I'll then reassemble it and test the housing again-ideally by dangling it over the side of the boat etc! Then I'll try and keep the camera wet (with seawater). As long as the salt doesn't dry and chrystallize, there should be no problem with this. Obviously once back on land, a thorough rinse in fresh water is neccessary.

I tend not to use leashes underwater, and hold the camera in my hand-I have seen lots of lost cameras where someone has assumed the camera is clipped to them and let go-only to find it's not! Worst of all seem to wrist lanyards-these come off wrists for a pastime!

If I do need to clip the camera off (to deploy a buoy or whatever) I have a few small loops of bugee cord on the camera base, to which I can clip a double ended clip and then clip this to a d ring on my BCD. If I am hanging about for a while and need both hands, I'll use a spool (reel)-let a small bit of line out, and tie/clip one end to the bungee loop and then the clipped off spool to a d ring-this allows the camera to dangle below me out of the way. Thats normally when the white tips arrive, and I wish I had the camera in my hand!

These are just thoughts and ideas-the trick is to be prepared to change/modify according to the situation. As soon as anyone tells you that one way works in al situations, you will almost guarantee to find one in which it doesn't! Many years ago, an friend told me the adges that "the sea always wins"-and he was in my expeince dead right!

Hope it helps

Best

Adam