Can DMs take cameras on the dives they are leading?

[Dirty-Dog]

I've bought some amazing stills and footage from our DM/Instructors/Guides. Never from a training dive, but the idea that a DM is on the dive to hold your hand is silly, unless you're specifically hiring him for that task. The DM/I/G is there to show us around an area that they know far better than we do, to point out the places where the cool stuff hides. And maybe to take some cool pictures/video, if they're so inclined.

 

[SangP]

I've been on dives where the dm is less then what I would call useful... In a new environment where the divers rely on the skill and judgement of the dm to get familiar it would be negligent if the dm goes of on their own taking pictures.

If an incident occurred and it is proven that the accident could have been prevented if the dm was more attentive or present I'm sure that questions and accusations will come hard and fast and even legal action.

I have no issues with an attentive dm who takes pictures but is aware of the happenings of the group of divers. I would be very critical of a dm who instead of leading or following the group goes of on his/her own to take pictures. What's the point of having a guide who doesn't guide?

 

[rhwestfall]

When I dive on trips through my LDS, they always have DMs in the mix (just what they must do as I don't believe they ever just dive for the sake of diving). When it is a certification dive for "lesser skill sets", I would expect that person to have responsibilities that preclude activities drawing his focus from the task at hand. I do agree, the hands free camera is a game changer in this though... If the skill of the divers on the dive are "adequate", I say he is just another diver. I would say it is more important that his buddy understand (as is true any time any of us bring a camera on a trip) that attention may not be 100%...

Clear as mud.....

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Leading certified divers? Sure, why not? I'd rather have one that is doing their own thing and not pestering me about air pressures, trying to get me to look at something I don't care about, or rushing the dive.
If an inattentive DM is reason to call a dive, the diver probably should not have been on that dive in the first place.
If a babysitter is needed better to not be in the water. If one is wanted them pay them yourself just to do that. Otherwise divers should be thinking for themselves, not expecting a DM to think for them.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[danvolker]

I think this needs some defining. On many charter boats, divers go in the water and are "guided" by a DM or Dive Guide. Whether the Dive Guide is a DM, or just a good diver with very good knowledge of the dive site, the key reason for them being on the dive, is for them to help make certain that any of the divers that are following them, will not miss out on the cool features of the dive site....but any diver that decides they do not want to follow, will not follow, and that is fine too. For this type of situation, I see no problem with the camera. All divers in this group following, are seen as competent divers.



The other scenario is where new divers really need a DM for their safety on the dive, because they have insufficient training and or experience, to date. As these divers are not competent, the Dive Master must watch them and attempt to proactively prevent major problems, like Low on Air, or panic, or any of the other large range of issues incompetent divers are prone to. As this is very much a by-product of "modularized instruction", where you really can have several divers on a boat that could not safely attempt the dives without a Dive Professional helping them, the Dive Master leading groups like this must know ahead of time that they are not going to be able to play with a camera, as everyone knows this interferes with peripheral awareness. Maybe the head mounted GoPro as DD suggested could be OK, but this assumes that the DM doing this was ignoring what was being shot by the GoPro, and concentrating entirely on the incompetent divers in his group. Not all DM's would be able to make this distinction successfully---many would think they could ignore what they were shooting video of, but as soon as a huge video opportunity presented itself, there would be a strong compulsion to be looking at the spectacle--capturing it on video---and this would mean not looking around every few seconds and scanning the divers to see if all are fine..That would mean missing a great video opportunity ( hard to allow yourself to do), and every time the head turns to look at a diver in the group to make sure they are ok, this ruins the video....This is just hard on someone that likes to get decent video, and so this is going to be hard on the DM ( meaning ability to be a good DM is likely to DECREASE).

 

[DivemasterDennis]

If I am leading a group of more than 2, I do not take a camera. If one or two divers hire me as private DM and if they request I take photos of/for them, I will. But NEVER take a camera when leading discover scuba diving. That is a PADI non-no.
DivemasterDennis

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

So over all consensus seems to be that if you are leading trained / certified divers, you can take your camera and everyone is cool with that. People will sometimes even buy your pictures / video.

 

[danvolker]

So over all consensus seems to be that if you are leading trained / certified divers, you can take your camera and everyone is cool with that. People will sometimes even buy your pictures / video.

I would think so.... You might want to have yourself referred to not as the DM, but as Dive Guide, or as the "photographer" leading the tour....get the expectations to be close to the actual

 

[Paulmal]

It depends on the boat charter, one shop I worked for ran a boat that most of the people spear fished off of, the DM's job was to hook into the reck, surface give a short brief of the conditions and give some hints of places to fish to beginners. After that all divers were in the water and the DM was just another diver killing fish. I have also been on boats where the DM was expected to dive for you ( mostly in the Fl keys) where they checked everything and insisted I have a snorkel(WHy it's unnecessary). I like the first much better than the later. I would say if the boat allows it great if not then you can't take the camera.

 

[drbill]

On training dives I don't feel any instructor or DM actively involved in supervising students should carry a camera. I would generally prefer NOT to have a DM carry a camera on a dive they were guiding for certified divers either... but even more so I would greatly prefer not to have to follow a DM on a guided dive unless the site presented some pretty tricky circumstances OR I was looking for a few specific species to film and the DM could show them to me.