How to carry the camera during the dive?

[Diver Lori]

My camera set up has one strobe arm. I've attached a plastic D-ring at the base near the camera and at the top beneath the strobe. When I'm not using the camera I snap off both D-rings with a double ended bolt snap, one to my chest D-ring and the other to my waist belt D-ring. This works great when you need it out of the way and able to use your hands.

 

[kwickert]

I am pretty sure my failure point was attaching my coil lanyard to the wrist strap. I believe the string slipped through the clip.

As Gilligan has mentioned, if I had put my name and address in the housing, who knows...

I do not have a tray as of yet, but I may explore the option of attaching somthing under the counter-weight to clip to.

Ken

 

[fpoole]

Yeah, bottom line...

Clip Steel to steel or Brass to brass... and attach any side objects like flashlights and whatever else you have with a back up, either plastic ties (2 to secure them) or fish wire/leader... I'm not sure I'd trust Plastic clips for $1200 + plus equipment.
Most housings/arms/strobes have at least one attach point, put a steel/brass ring and use that as the main attachment point. If you don't have anything use 2 plastic ties (2nd as a back up) attach a ring to that and then clips...

The double clip Lori recommended is a key, keeps stuff from wandering around...
Just make it as secure as you can if you have to drop everything from your hands... it should be secure even if dangling...

Hope that helps, heheheh.. pretty much exhausted that one....

 

[Gilligan]

There have been a number of helpful soultions posted on this subject. It looks like it boils down to selecting the best system for the size of the camera and strobe setup you are using and the type of diving you are doing.

Another thing to keep in mind is over-tasking yourself. While most divers probably would not do this a friend here recently lost his Sony camera and Ikelite housing. He was spearfishing and photgraphing at the same time. He would take still pics and/or video clips of the spear leaving the gun and hitting its target as well as other scenarios. He would clip his housing to his BCD after firing the speargun then take care of getting the fish. Guess he missed the clip. The housing had a small float attached so it went to the surface. When he realized it he surfaced and paddled around for a few hours. The camera/housing is probably on its way to the Big Island or Tahiti with his name in it. The odds of recovering it are probably the same as finding one of those bottles with your name in it that tourists buy here and toss in the ocean.

I can only imagine letting my housing/handle/tray/strobe and WAL dangle from my person on any kind of leash for a both-hands free emergency. The most vulnerable part of my setup to sustain damage from dangling on me would be my WAL.

The temptaion to hang cameras from BCD's seems to be greater for the smaller housings w/o strobes or other accessories.

 

[archman]

The temptaion to hang cameras from BCD's seems to be greater for the smaller housings w/o strobes or other accessories.

Amen to that. The whole reason I use the compact Canon S50 is that I stuff the camera + housing under my left shoulder strap when not in use. It's always clipped off with a carabiner to a D-ring too. I can spearfish, do surveys, yell at students... pretty much whatever I want with the camera handily out of the way.
Only downside is no strobe. Boo!

 

[YorkDiver]

I have an Olympus C-4000 with an Ikelite housing (very bulky housing) and a coiled lanyard. It doesn't matter whether it is clipped or not but it doesn't really bang around due to the fact that it is slightly negative.

 

[DalTexDiver]

With the coil lanyard that has snap in the middle, keep the snap open when in open water and then snap it back together before getting on the boat. Loop in the coil gives crew something to grab onto. I use a caribiner on mine for easy on, easy off. I leave the caribiner on the lanyard and snap it to the frame when crew member hands me me camera.

And never jump in the water with your camera in hand. It can jar the O ring and flood.

Hey, thanks for all your help !!

It seems that the coiled lanyard gathers the most fans . But won't the camera be banging in myself when I'm not holding it? Even if it's snapped together.
The thigh also seems a good option.

 

[ScubaMarc]

Question about the steel thread inside the plastic coil lanyard: Does the steel wire have a direct connection to the clips? My issue with the lanyard is not the coil part but the the plastic molded connections. If the steel wire has a solid connection between my d-ring on my bc to my camera clip, then I would feel safe using a lanyard.

I had a light tied to a coil lanyard. When I was comming on the boat the lite caught the ladder and was ripped off. The connection between the coil and the clip slipped out. The coil did not break.

 

[Cecil]

Funny scarey tale about a coiled lanyard. I use one and love it, when I get in or out of the water the camera is in a BC pocket. Once I'm at depth I pull it out and unclip the coil and put it under a BC strap ready to go. This past weekend I did my normal procedure and did my dive. When I was getting out I was putting my camera back when I realized it was not attached to anything. I had unclipped the wrong clip at the begining of the dive. The only thing keeping it with me was the BC strap. Scarey and very lucky.

 

[Fitzy]

Retractable laynard works well or me.