Do you or your buddies dive with a Camera?

[FireDiver443]

Since my lovely bride & I purchased a camera for each other last Christmas, I find it in the water pretty much whenever we are. I've always enjoyed photography anyway (I still have my SLR that uses film, but frankly I've become spoiled by the instant gratification that I get with digital) and I have lots of fun learning how to compose & capture quality images in this different environment.

It's made some of our non-diving friends more curious as well, with a few even talking about trying scuba for themselves. Always a good thing.

 

[Noboundaries]

It's only software.

Wait.......these days "software" is what my wife calls my body!

 

[Doc]

(I still have my SLR that uses film, but frankly I've become spoiled by the instant gratification that I get with digital)

Wait until you see the digital SLR's with no appreciable shutter lag. Not easy or cheap for U/W use, but very good for the application. A Canon PowerShot in an Ikelite would be a nice mid-sized toy if I could get a housing with a "ring light". http://www.dansdata.com/ringlight.htm Back to the excess baggage argument.

Wait.......these days "software" is what my wife calls my body!

Better that than MicroSoft.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

My dives have become a lot more fun since I started taking a camera instead of a buddy...

 

[shark_tamer]

95% of the time, my camera is with me !!!

The other 5% ... I do a night dive and really want to enjoy it, or doing a test dive ( new gear or gear that just got serviced ).

But you do miss things when you're always looking for things to photograph !!!

 

[Noboundaries]

Better that than MicroSoft.

Oh I SO asked for that one. :mooner:

 

[under water]

This thread is attracting folks that do take a camera and therefore is probably going to be biased. I take a camera about 95% of the time. It's a passion and I actually believe that it enhances my dives. I slow down, I hover, I take the time to appreciate the overall ambiance of where I am. I look up. OK sometimes I will see something and focus on it for while, but taking those pictures DOES enhance the afterdive experience for me. I usually dive with my wife and getting back after the dive and drinking a few beers to discuss the dive is not what we do.
She helps me find things and enjoys that role. It helps her slow down too.
To answer the OPs question, I guess I see about 35% of the people take a camera with them.

 

[Spectre]

I rarely take a camera, but it generally looks like I've been dipped in aquaseal and rolled around in a camera shop whenever I get in the water with my girlfriend, who's got a camera 99.9% of the time, as well as affixing me with strobes, carrying strobes, carrying the tripod; as well as the constant "no, swim that way there and don't look at the camera" hand signals

 

[SSSparky777]

I don't know how many people have encountered this issue, but I'd like to know anyone's thoughts.

There is this one guy in our dive group that insists on bringing is camera (it's a big one that he spent a ton of $$ on, of course) on every dive we do. That in and of itself isn't the issue. The issue is that the guy is not blessed with the best skills or form when it comes to the sport. When he's wielding his "instrument of destruction", his buoyancy is awful, he neglects his dive buddy, swims off alone in any direction and generally becomes one of the most careless divers you would ever encounter. It seems he's so focused on using the camera that he forgets he is actually involved in an activity that can be dangerous if not undertaken properly.

So how do I keep this numbskull from trying to kill himself, ruining the dive for his appointed buddy and not totally crush his ego and piss him off? He's a nice guy, but I hate to say, "Look, you need to really focus on figuring out how to dive before you lug that monster along one more time." I don't want to be that guy, but at the same time, I think something needs to be done.

I suppose this should be counted in the category of "carries a camera but shouldn't" :no

Any thoughts (smaller camera, advanced buoyancy class, stright forward "you suck" comment?)

 

[vel525]

I never dive with a camera. My wife dives with a camera about 50% of the time. When she is taking pictures I practice blowing air rings and sort of hang out while she gets her shot.
Otherwise, we get seperated if I am looking at critters and she is taking pictures.