I am a new diver and just completed my open water certification. Wondering how many dives I should have before introducing a camera to the dive experience? When I did my last check dive my instructor was kind enough to take my TG-5 with him for me. I have been an avid photographer for a very long time but safety is paramount right now. How many dives did you all take before taking the shutter button along for the ride?
I was once where you find yourself now. I started diving with a camera (at first a rental) on my very first dive after I got my OW Cert. Today, looking back, that was the worst thing I could have done. I also think that it would be irresponsible of me to say wait XX number of dives, since different people progress at different rates.
As a new diver, there are a number of factors that will come into play. You do not have great buoyancy control. I don't mean to sound critical, but this is a skill that takes time and experience to master. Your course will teach you the basics, but only through experience will you truly get a firm grip on it.
Also as a new diver, you will tend to go through your air more quickly than most if not all of the other people you are diving with. There are a few reasons for this. One is that this is all new and there is a heightened excitement level and you will likely breathe faster than normal. Second, for new divers, there is what I like to call the "cocker spaniel puppy effect". So much of the undersea world is new that you will spend a lot of time, energy, and ultimately air bouncing from one cool new thing to another. For a while, it will seem like you will have the attention span of a cocker spaniel puppy. It is actually a skill for most people that they have to learn to deliberately slow their breathing and in time, their air consumption will get better. Eventually, it will seem natural, but it takes a while to get to that stage.
I would recommend that you do not take a camera with you until you are at the point where you have your buoyancy nailed, and you are comfortable with your air consumption. You don't need to be the last person back on the boat, but it would be good if you are at the point where you are coming up with the rest of the group.) These should be second nature before you bring a camera with you. (In math terms, they should be essentially to the point where they have become constants before you introduce another variable into the equation.)
A camera will be a distraction. The cocker spaniel puppy effect will cause you to see something that you find incredibly cool and you will want a picture of it. You might leave the group (or your buddy) "just for a few seconds" and go over to get that shot. While there, you may bounce off the reef if your buoyancy is not perfect and you may be distracted to the point where your already slightly high air consumption will come into play. I am not saying that those will happen, I am saying that they are factors that
could come into play.
As a best case scenario, by bringing a camera with you before you have mastered your buoyancy and are happy with your air consumption, you will have a very high task loading.
So, how did I do it? Well, like I said, I started carrying a camera right from the beginning. It took me
much longer than it should have for me to "get a grip" on my buoyancy, and especially when I was first starting out, I was "that guy" who bounced off of, or who grabbed a hold of the reef. I was also always the first guy out of the water (sometimes by 30 minutes or more). Because I didn't have good buoyancy, and was always running low on air before everybody else, I also wasn't happy with my images. The camera was a distraction to my diving, and the diving was a distraction to the photography.
So, long story short: Learn from the mistakes I made. Don't take a camera until you are a much more experienced diver.
One final thought ... Underwater photography is totally different than photography above the surface. Sure, the "rules" of composition still apply, but the physics of what light does underwater not to mention the capability of water to support "suspended particulate" means underwater photography requires a whole new skill set that takes many things into account that you don't even consider above the surface.
