Buying cameras first

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Status
Not open for further replies.

Seb

Registered
Messages
38
Reaction score
0
Location
NYC
# of dives
500 - 999
Ok, Having seen Natasha's post that she bought a camera before her bc, I have to weigh in with my 2 cents. Divers who buy cameras before any other equipment are utterly confused as to their priorities. Let me see,lousy pictures or life support? Learn to crush the reef for a photo op., or learn buoyancy control? Any diver with 50 dives or less probably never learned any buoyancy control, and probably never worked on dropping some weight either. My buddy and I go through some skills tests every dive trip-could you take off and replace your BC if need be? In low or no viz?How about buddy breathe?
I wish that UW photographers had to be certified to dive with a camera. I have heard WAY too many people mimic Natasha's decision to buy the camera first. I say learn to dive first, and whe you have not touched the reef in 100 dives, consider buying the camera.
Maybe all those photo enthusiasts should buy fish id books before the camera, so they might know what they are looking at.Dee Scarr suggests that any photographer who can't get their picture in five shots should move on. Fish have no eyelids, and repeated strobe shots will temporarily blind them and increase their availability as food. Forgive my rant, but I get tired of divers who feel the whole trip is about their camera.
 
yep, just four short weeks ago i got to take a picture of a guide and a client both kneeling on the coral to get a better angle on a ribbon eel. The unamed photographer has had his/her work appear on the Discovery Channel and PBS and should have obviously known better. Photographers are like spearfishers or any other type of diver; some are good, some are just waiting to be pruned by natural selection and others are just plain selfish or shortsighted.

if i am going on a particularly tricky dive for the first time, i leave my camera on the boat (like 1st dive at Calif. oil rigs, 1st time at Farnsworth Bank, 1st dozen solo dives etc)

I also make it a point on that kind of a dive to hold my camera tray with my left hand and in that hand is the hose with my console attached.
i can see my air, N-time, depth just by glancing away from the viewfinder.

no picture is worth a trip to the hyperbaric chamber.... or worse

 
Mike,

I liked your coments about watching your guages/air supply very carefully while engaging in work with a camera. Any time we get our minds on something other than the basics, time can get away from us. I am not sure my console hose is long enough to do what you do, but I think it is a great way to stay safe!
 
When i hold the console and strobe-arm with one hand, the camera is fairly close to my body. My hose is long enough to extend about 2 feet without offering too much resistance.
I have been experimenting lately with a 3 foot length of marine poly-pro rope (six bucks will get you 100 feet at Home Depot) tied with a figure-eight on a bight to a cheap aluminum carabiner at each end (99 cents each at Home Depot) I secure my camera rig to my BC and i can let the camera dangle if need be or even float up (its positively buoyant /w/out the strobe). I'm not sure if i like the arrangement, but 3 feet of cord is plenty for me to maneuver the camera and it's certainly an inexpensive solution to losing the camera in the event i need my hands to say, keep myself alive or assist a buddy. The cord also doubles as a barely usable jon-line.
 
If you don’t know how to dive how you can do underwater photography?? I totally agree with Mike no picture worth a trip to the hyperbaric chamber.... or worse.

Safe Diving
 
Seb:
Ok, Having seen Natasha's post that she bought a camera before her bc, I have to weigh in with my 2 cents. Divers who buy cameras before any other equipment are utterly confused as to their priorities. Let me see,lousy pictures or life support? Learn to crush the reef for a photo op., or learn buoyancy control? Any diver with 50 dives or less probably never learned any buoyancy control, and probably never worked on dropping some weight either. My buddy and I go through some skills tests every dive trip-could you take off and replace your BC if need be? In low or no viz?How about buddy breathe?
I wish that UW photographers had to be certified to dive with a camera. I have heard WAY too many people mimic Natasha's decision to buy the camera first. I say learn to dive first, and whe you have not touched the reef in 100 dives, consider buying the camera.

I would have thought that before you come on to a board like this and flame someone you would at least take the time to find out what kind of diver they are and what experience they have. Also talking about taking time how about filling in your profile so we can get some idea of your experience. I for one would like to know if I am being given advice from Jacques Cousteau or Joe Blow down the street.
 
Ahem....did ya'll notice the date of the original thread? StingRob, you responded to a thread from Sept, 2000!!

I'm closing this thread now. It's quickly going into the toilet!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

Back
Top Bottom