New to U/W photos

as a newbi to scuba should I just rent a camera for my first dives and go from there? I'll be in Los Cabos at Thanksgiving

Thanks to all

tj,

You mentioned that you are new to scuba diving. It is very important to have buoyancy skills perfected prior to adding a camera to the mix. Generally speaking, underwater photographers tend to hover much closer to the reef systems than those without a camera. I'm not about to make a blanket statement such as you should wait until you have "x" number of dives before adding to the underwater task load. Possibly a dive master or other confidant may suggest to you when they feel you have progressed enough with your skills to both protect the reef and enjoy capturing images of it.

As far as camera rentals? If you already own a digital point and shoot camera that has a housing available, I'd just go ahead and buy that housing.........

imho, you're gonna be hooked the second you capture your first vibrant image......

hth,
b

TJ O'Dwyer:

as a newbi to scuba should I just rent a camera for my first dives and go from there? I'll be in Los Cabos at Thanksgiving

Thanks to all

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hi,

make sure you get a minimum of dives onder your belt before thinking of the camera.

the best rule of thumb for me is to add at most one new element to each dive (read on scubaboard ); that is, don't do your first boat dive with your first camera dive, with rented equipment and so on.

mixing them sounds like a recipe for a bad day.


also, there is a trade-off with renting a camera for uw photos: you don't know it.

this means that you risk getting your uw pictures appearing fuzzy (for not enough steady hand/buoyancy for the available lighting), blue-on-blue for no adjustment to white balance or red-on-red for overcompensating white-balance (there are probably other possibilities also).

it took me three months to switch from blue-on-blue pictures to truly colorfull ones, with my own camera.


That said, rented camera sounds better than no camera at all, just don't expect the greatest pictures on your first dive

TJ O'Dwyer:

as a newbi to scuba should I just rent a camera for my first dives and go from there? I'll be in Los Cabos at Thanksgiving

Thanks to all

Click to expand...

I'm a fairly new diver as well. I'm also passionate about photography, and have done the gammit from pro to teaching to just enjoying shooting.

I purchased a PnS camera and housing. I took it to FL where I had scheduled 18 dives. I had about 20 dives under my belt prior to the trip.

I did 8 dives in FL before deciding I was comfortable enough to handle a camera as well as my diving and buddy responsibilities. It helps to have a buddy who is also carrying a camera as you can take a photography pace which means that if I'm busy shooting something, then she could just find something nearby to shoot and hang nearby (or VersaVisa).

I REALLY enjoyed having the camera with me UW, but my buoyancy was good before I decided to carry the camera.

I agree with others that suggest get the diviing aspects down before dealing with a camera. If you are messing around with controls, setting WB, or shooting it's easy to ascend or decend if you are not paying attention. It's also easy to loose your buddy, or DM.

You may choose to carry the camera and then decide how comfortable you are using it. I would suggest shallow reefs, or just shallow in general with a bottom to start off. Drift diving with a camera is a bit more of a trick, and if you have no bottom to rest on, it's easy to decend quickly if not paying attention which can lead to problems.

Good Luck, and have fun.

TJ O'Dwyer:

as a newbi to scuba should I just rent a camera for my first dives and go from there? I'll be in Los Cabos at Thanksgiving

Thanks to all

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In addition to what the others have said I just wanted to mention that not all shops have cameras to rent, so don't go some place expecting that they do. Check before you go and if not, for starters, you could always get one of those disposable UW cameras or the ones you can open and close a couple of times to put film in.

many thanks to all - lessoned learned be proficient at diving first and foremost

Heck! Just buy yourself some disposables. They're cheap and you don't have to worry about settings. I think they make some with a built in flash, not sure, I'd recommend flash if they have them. It's a good start, buy cheap at first and then decide if you want to shell out the big loot for something nicer.
I wouldn't worry about being a bouancy expert....but it's important to feel comfortable with diving in general before you take up a camera. It takes about a dozen dives, depending on the person to reach that comfort level.
Go for it! Have fun and be safe!

TJ O'Dwyer:

many thanks to all - lessoned learned be proficient at diving first and foremost

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true; i don't know about profficient, but you should definitely be confortable with the basics before playing with new toys.

also keep in mind the narcosis and that it can (and will) narrow your attention distribution; i once was in complete darkness through a stone tunnel (i'm not certified for caving so don't tell anybody ) and dropped my torch* just to adjust my camera, which left me in complete darkness. luckily it was still lit so I was able to see it two meters below, where it fell, but these thinks happen with new gear and you should plan for it.

* - which reminds me: if you get a camera - or whatever else - make sure it's always clipped/tied to you - that way you can drop it without concern to free your hands.


one more thing: when you're diving with a camera, focusing on the camera is actually preety low priority (except on very easy dives, or when both you and your buddhy are taking pics maybe ... :06: ).

i focus more on other things ... i mean, not snapping pictures continuously, but snap two pics, check where buddy is, snap another one, check SPG, look at buddy again, snap another one, check my computer, look at dive leader, look around some more etc.

i dived with a friend who took her OWD last week and I preferred clipping the camera to my BC and switching it off five minutes into the dive, then focusing all my attention on my buddy.

thanks for all the info. i guess Los cabos will be more orientation and Bonaire maybe maybe some pics
will let u know how it went

sounds like good advice so far!

You can look at disposables, renting or adding a compact digital and housing to your stuff. You'll grow as a diver and if you have a camera around can add it when you feel comfortable. You can also hand it off to your dive guide, perhaps - arrange in advance, so she/he can take some shots of you or enquire about having a photographer in the water for your dives. This way you can concentrate on getting those all important dive skills down and still take home some great images. You might also notice a few photo dive skills from the guide and it may help you see where you need to be in terms of proficiency.

You can also check out UW Photo courses - a very basic one is the way to go to get started as it should not only give you some tips on getting better photos, but also on diving with a camera. It should help a lot with body positioning, buoyancy, safety and generally being comfortable with the extra task loading. I think it's a good starting place for some divers.

Have fun!!