Or maybe we need to discuss the use of a camera without the PADI Digital Underwater Photographer course? I guess I am totally screwed if I want to use a Nikonos?
It's funny, but I do see plenty of examples of novice divers losing situational awareness in the rush to take camwras and GoPro on dives. That leads (often) to failures in the buddy/team system and low-on-gas incidents.
A good photo course,
targetted on individual diver
needs would address issues like this.
And, of course, it
should distinctly improve photo results.
So....should it be
mandatory? No. . .
Is it
necessary? That depends on the diver concerned and whether they are ready to cope (solid fundamentals) with extra task loading and distraction. If a course has a tangible benefit to diver safety, then it has a value.
What
really matters is finding an instructor capable of focusing course goals on what an individual diver needs. A good instructor can make any course extremely beneficial for the diver.
Regarding "what's needed" by that diver turning up at a dive center... the answer is
COMPETENCY.
It'd be
wonderful if training equalled competency, but that's not a fact of life in the diving industry.
However, instead of being cynical of what agencies and/or dive centers demand in respect of qualification... if divers paid more attention to their
actual ability and competency... they wouldn't encounter scebarios where they were refused X, Y or Z diving . . .