Should I wait on buying an underwater camera until I have more dive experience ?

[beaverdivers]

Please wait, this advice is coming from a person that sells cameras.

 

[Basscat]

I got certified 2 and a half years ago and started shooting last summer, after about 100 dives. That seemed right for me. There is SOOOO much new to see in the underwater world, let alone taking care of so many new skills and situational awareness in a new environment, I think waiting definitely improved my early dives and learning curve. My first blue water dives were in Cozumel after 20 lake dives, and I was so overwhelmed with the beauty and the clarity and everything, a camera would have distracted terribly from the experience. And I have been shooting topside for decades..... ;-)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Cameras are probably the #1 reason why so many newer divers make such bad dive buddies.

There's more to diving than trim and buoyancy control ... diver awareness is the most important (and difficult) skill to develop. Without it, you can't be much of a dive buddy. Awareness is difficult enough for a new diver to master even without a camera. Add the task of seeing the dive through the LCD screen in the back of your housing, and you might as well not even have a buddy ... because you won't be aware of what they're doing anyway.

Please do yourself a favor and leave the camera home while you develop your diving skills ... buoyancy control and awareness. Then add the camera ... you'll be amazed at how much you will suck at being a buddy all over again ... but at least you'll have given yourself some skills to work with to then take it to the level where you can be both a snapper and a dive buddy.

It takes effort ... and dives. Do yourself a favor and build the foundation first ... then start adding the other things that you want to do. The scenery will still be there, and you'll get way more enjoyment out of recording it that way.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DazedAndConfuzed]

I think it would be OK to get a camera that you can kind of grow with, but just the basic camera with an housing and start with just taking snapshot pictures. I wouldn't recommend you to start composing shots or doing macro photography. As your buoyancy skills gets better, maybe then, you can get into more serious photography (or maybe your increased interest in taking pictures causes you to focus on your buoyancy skills)....then after that, maybe you can expand on your gear with external strobe, wet lenses, etc.

Although, one having a camera just might cause the person to become that ******* diver, crashing into everything, pushing everybody out of the way, chasing everything and scaring everything away, etc. I guess it comes down to your personality.

 

[RJP]

Here's a thread I posted a few years ago

Am I being unreasonable if I believe that if you cannot hover motionless (or reasonably so) while trying to take a photo underwater you have NO BUSINESS DIVING WITH A CAMERA?

I just returned from two weeks on the Truk Odyssey where I have to say I was absolutely appalled by the complete lack of buoyancy control, crappy finning technique, and overall poor dive awareness exhibited by several of my fellow passengers.

Seems as though the main thing these people had in common was they were all carrying cameras and committed to getting as many pictures of everything as possible in as short a period of time as possible.

In order to accomplish this mission these folks would...

- Stand on whatever deck, gun, propeller, rudder, etc was handy
- Lay directly on coral, artifacts, torpedos, tanks etc
- Fin constantly in a vertical position in engine rooms and cargo holds resulting in a complete silt-out
- Race around the wreck at top speed with fins, consoles, lights, etc dragging
- Dodge between other divers and their photographic subjects

On many dives folks often rendered the site un-divable within minutes of descent. On all dives they certainly reduced the enjoyment of divers who paid thousands of dollars to travel to Truk Lagoon to see these wrecks. Worse by far was that they frequently created general safety hazards for other divers, especially in engine rooms, inner passageways, etc. (These people had no business inside these wrecks... with or without a camera.)

Now, I'm often accused of being a bouyancy, trim, and finning ****, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect someone to have at least rudimentary skills in these areas before diving on/in 65yr old WWII wrecks. Honest to god, it looked like a bunch of "Operation Hailstorm Re-enactors" attacking the Japanese fleet for a second time!

/rant

 

[ermaclob]

I got a Gopro + flat lens. what i do is i simply put the camera on my head with the head mount (get a lanyard)and then JUST FORGET ABOUT IT. let it record video the whole dive at max resolution. At this point just focus on diving and just swim close to stuff you think are interesting. Just like you would without the camera.

Then, when you get back home you can watch the video and take snapshots using VLC player (free) or some other video program.

you'd be surprised how many amazing images you can get that you never even saw by doing this.