Dir Camera rig

[ColdH2Odvr]

What’s the current thinking on proper rig for a camera? With strobes and macro my Nikonos V is about as streamlined as a brick (worse actually).

Any thoughts?

 

[vlada]

I have similar set up - Nik V or housed SLP + two Ike strobes

I descent with the camera in my hands and carry it during the active poriton of the dive

On ascent, i collapse the strobe arms to a box like strusture and clip it off to the front crotch d-ring - i can do a nice horizontal ascent and the camera is out of the way this way. Ensures you keep the trim too - you will know as soon as you drop the knees, as you will be kicking the camera

My buddy clips ot off to the right d-ring on ascent - i don't like this as i am fairy small and the camera keeps banging onto the deco cylinders

I am yet to figure out how do i do penetrations with it while running the reel (following is not a problem)-i am thinking i need a non-photographer buddy for that

Vlada

 

[Charlie99]

I am yet to figure out how do i do penetrations with it while running the reel (following is not a problem)-i am thinking i need a non-photographer buddy for that.

I would imagine that if you are going to be into serious photography and the mental focus that this requires, that you would need TWO non-photographer buddies. Even in open water, a guy with his nose in the viewfinder waiting for the jawfish to come out of its hole doesn't count as a buddy.

 

[d33ps1x]

I'd say Vlada already counts as a serious photographer and diver.

 

[Charlie99]

I'd say Vlada already counts as a serious photographer and diver.

Ahhhhh. But is he the typical nose-in-the-hole and oblivious-to-the world photographer? :happywave

I have nothing against dependent buddies. You just have to properly plan for them.

 

[vlada]

Vlada is a she.

And so far my Tech 1 training and subsequent diving and my addiction for photography managed to co-exist peacefully.

A lot of people tend to think about all photographers as solo divers - but we are not all the same

My #1 buddy is a serious photographer as well and so far, the team work got us further, literally, and in terms of end results, then either of us would have been able to do solo.

The location helps i guess - wrecks pics w/o divers in them don't have meaning, so we alternate by being the models to each other. Makes for a great team diving, since you always see your buddy - and being in the lakes - the fatherst distance you want to be is 3-5 ft.

Vlada

 

[Frank O]

A lot of people tend to think about all photographers as solo divers - but we are not all the same

My #1 buddy is a serious photographer as well and so far, the team work got us further, literally, and in terms of end results, then either of us would have been able to do solo.

The location helps i guess - wrecks pics w/o divers in them don't have meaning, so we alternate by being the models to each other.

This is an issue I'm grappling with right now. Most of the photographic situations I'm working with at the moment (Southern California Channel Islands) are along the lines of fish portraits, nudibranch macro, etc. Many of the relatively serious photogs I know either (a) dive solo -- not an option for me, or (b) buddy with another photog and practice very loose buddy protocols that approach the realm of "same day, same ocean."

When I've buddied with non-photogs, most people seem to like to move along at a fairly good clip, and I always feel that I'm holding them up if I want to spend more than a few seconds tweaking a shot, adjusting strobes, etc. I've heard it said in the DIR world that if photography is the objective of the dive, then the buddies work together on that. But if the buddy is just a casual friend in a recreational situation, it's not that easy to implement.

I'm therefore thinking that, since this really amounts to a kind of work, maybe I should be paying someone to act essentially as photo assistant. I might give this a try to see how it works out.

 

[d33ps1x]

Are useful too!

They make great rodeo clowns for sharks.

 

[nkw5]

It's hard to be a good buddy and concentrate on photography. For me, for the time being, I settle on being an attentive buddy who sometimes drags a TEENY bit who takes so-so pics most of the time and occasionally gets lucky. No National Geographics shots for me.

 

[FreeFloat]

It's hard to be a good buddy and concentrate on photography. For me, for the time being, I settle on being an attentive buddy who sometimes drags a TEENY bit who takes so-so pics most of the time and occasionally gets lucky. No National Geographics shots for me.

Hear, hear! That's just what I do too! Except that I enjoy taking what I call "buddy pics" - pictures of everyone around me although I'm not averse to passing off the camera (it's a cheap one) to a buddy to take pics of me or each other as well. I'm relieved to read (from Vlada) that wreck pics "don't have meaning" without a diver in them - I thought I must have been missing something when I came to the same conclusion.