Selfie sticks - for selfish selfholes?

[AdivingBel]

I really don't care what others think about it. If you verbalize it to me I will tell you for FCK OFF. How I take my pictures is none of your damn business unless somehow I am damaging the reef by being an idiot.

Other than a couple over-the-top posts, I think this has been the general consensus of the thread. IMHO, most actual divers (not internet divers) are pretty "live and let live" folks unless you're damaging the reef, harassing the wildlife, or otherwise acting the "idiot." Selfie-stick on...

 

[Doc]

Two points that have yet to come up...

1) The "selfie" of the diver while swimming? It is a fun perspective for a quick scene or three, but only if intercut through the finished edit with other camera perspectives. After 3 minutes of that selfie perspective, it most always gets a little bit boring. Many users have editing software, few have the artistic or technical ability to use it to make more than a "single take" film. Look at the majority of crap on YouTube.

2) GoPros are merely the current version of what started out with the Throw-away 35mm single use camera. In that era, every diver on their second lifetime dive showed up with one on their wrist with the provided rubber band. The plastic housed toys made for some awful C41 Color Print Film imaging. Every new diver has the compulsion to record their wonderment so that they might share it with the folks back in the office. The GoPro is cheap, idiot proof, provides startlingly good results, Red Bull has entire TV shows centered around it, and it dovetails brilliantly into the technically advanced lifestyle of the current crop of digital age divers.

Where much of the above posted thread's derision comes from? It's directly traceable to #2 above. Long before most people actually learn to dive, they distract them self from the main task with a technical accessory.

A more insidious problem? Back "in the day", we debriefed our dives sitting around afterwards having liquids and a quiet conversation. Now, everybody rushes to the bar with their laptops and gushes over the images downloaded on the ubiquitous laptop. No debrief, no critique of process, safety, nothing.

The one huge positive with GoPro is that most are lacking a viewfinder. Most beginning photographers block their true vision by trying to see the subject while blocking their sight staring through a viewfinder.

 

[miked]

I think that, as with any tool or device, the "good vs bad" really comes down to how it is being used, and that comes down to the user.

 

[Germie]

Oh and I forgot: I use the selfiestick to see my finkicks and so too. for example when using a new sidemount harnass. Then you can see what needs to be adjusted and you don't need a buddy.. I think that is no selfish stick then

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . .
How I take my pictures is none of your damn business unless somehow I am damaging the reef by being an idiot.

Or letting the stick get in MY field of view.

Things extending away from a diver's body, no matter what they are, can be annoying in group dives unless the diver is very careful with them, and I believe the ease of use of the GoPro encourage carelessness.

I'm just repeating myself. Same thing I said in a post above.

 

[drbill]

As an underwater videographer, I don't have negative feelings about the use of selfie sticks in general. I do have very negative feelings towards selfish selfies who stick their sticks in front of my camera when I'm filming. If the person waits their turn to get their shot, or uses their selfie stick in a manner that doesn't intrude on my filming and does not do damage to the reef or animals with it, I'm fine.

It's just like owning a gun. If a person uses theirs responsibly and doesn't affect others (with the exception of a criminal coming at them), I have no problem with it.

 

[RJP]

My wife says (on land) selfie sticks have been around for 5 years and I should get out more.

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

This, above.

The head spins at the ridiculous smug superiority and self-righteousness expressed here. I have never, ever, been able to record myself in a dive, and I have done some quite thrilling and scenic ones. Now, I can, if I choose, have a memory that I could not have created before and keep for a lifetime. And your problem is . . . . . ??????

As for using an extension pole to place a very small camera closer to animals or in tight spaces, that is far less intrusive than swimming up to them in full gear, blowing bubbles, with a huge rig, which is almost guaranteed to scare off the animal. It is amazing what a difference 6 feet of space makes, when the huge, bulky, loud, bubbling object is that far away and the only thing close to the animal is a 2 inch by 2 inch box. This absolutely gives the ability to get different and dramatic close perspectives without disturbance. Like anything else, if it appears that placing the camera in this way disturbs the subject, then back it off, which applies to all photographers.

Oh, and, counter-intuitive though it seems, the pole does indeed help stablilze the image. The dampening effect of the water on the long pole with its much greater surface area and mass compared to the camera takes out pretty much all small vibratory movements--the most irritating for video. This is why a lot of pros mount their rigs on DPV's, same principle.

Sheesh, get a life, everyone.

I didn't read all the posts.. but...

Exactly,, two hands separated by a few feet make a much more stable platform than two hands close together.

People are ignorant about how beneficial a stick is. Plus it gives you more artistic options.. This is one my kid did with a pvc pipe. We can just loosen the fitting and turn the camera for forward shots.. i think they add a different perspective and they are stable.

[video=youtube;pvjy6_31Xqg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvjy6_31Xqg[/video]

 

[CT-Rich]

I used to be the family photographer (I still am). I never took pictures of myself until one day I was working on the photo album after hearing of someones passing (a school mate my age) and I realized that my kids would have an album of them growing up but with almost no pictures of me. Now I make an effort to have pictures of me too.

I don't have a selfie stick, but I do use a PVC pole. I find that it helps me smooth out the motion of the camera. I have the lanyard back almost to my elbow and the camera mounts about half a foot beyond my hand. When I track a fish with the camera, it helps keep it moving in a smooth arc because camera has my elbow as the fulcrum rather than the wrist. I try to make my videos watchable.

Pole mounts, another less Kim Kardashian name for a selfie stick also helps isolate the motion of the camera from the motion of the diver. I avoid crowds in general, so I can't speak to whether a selfie stick is a bad omen or not, but if you want to find bad videography, look up just about any activity on Youtube. There will always be bad beginner videos. But like it or not EVERYONE has to start somewhere.

 

[KBDNP]

Just came back from diving Cozumel--- I have a GoPRo but without the 'selfie' stick----everyone else had the 'selfie-stick' which was not used for 'selfie's but as above to be able to stabilize and get pictures closer to object etc. I am sure they got much better pictures as they were closer and I had to just rely on keeping my hand stable with a 'short' floatable stick so thus the closest I could get was as far as my arm would reach