Hello Guys/Gals new to the board and relatively new to scuba.

[qballd]

I got O/W certified last year in Myrtle Beach in July. Since then I have only been able to take three dives here in Virginia in South Holston Lake. My question is what should I do to tune up on my skills or do you all have any pointers to give me before I hit the water again. I'm planning on going next week and hope to be able to dive a lot more this year. I would also like to purchase an underwater camera, I'm looking into the Olympus TG-2 anybody have any luck or reviews on these cameras. Thanks again in advance for any input.

 

[Inked Medic]

Welcome! If you're near a coast you'll find dive clubs. I would suggest joining one as that gives you built in buddies and people who have a good knowledge base.

As to cameras, Sea Life is good and I like my Go Pro Hero3.

 

[qballd]

Thanks for the input inked Medic I will research the cameras you suggested, I appreciate the input.

 

[00wabbit]

Your shop should have a dive refresher you can take to relearn what you may have forgotten.

Everyone will probably tell you to avoid cameras for now. You don't need the extra task loaded while you are figruing it out and we don;t want to see you smashing coral to get the pics. If you must record your trip then strap a go pro on your head and forget about it. Then you can focus on the dive, but if a great white or a whale shark swims by at least you will have proof !

As for underwater cameras I prefer cameras that shoot raw. It gives you much more ability to adjust later if the lighting conditions are not ideal.

 

[qballd]

Thanks OOWabbit, I am doing mostly lake and quarry diving here in the mountains of VA so no coral to worry about but, you make a good point trying to figure out a camera while still relatively new would be a bit cumbersome. I am just looking for something to document some of my underwater experiences, nothing fancy right now just something along the go pro lines around 300 or so.

 

[00wabbit]

Think about if you want photo or video. Gopros are limited for photos. Videos can be a pain to edit and the internets are getting saturated with shaky go pro footage. Watch the used boards for a canon s95 or s100. These are great cameras that shoot raw, have full manual and auto controls and shoot hd video. Used they are too expensive. I had an s90 that finally died but took great photos. Now I have an rx100