skills for shallow rebreather diving?

[Blackcrusader]

In this video I back away a bit you can hear my breathing but you can also hear the fish chirping as well.

 

[Blackcrusader]

What is a recommended set of skills needed for "non-technical" rebreather diving (<40 feet)? Basically for photography in shallow reefs, since wildlife gets spooked by bubbles.

Perhaps read this thread as well

I know this camera can do better ... advice?

 

[Swedinsidemount]

If he's just doing photography, couldn't he get a remote mini-sub, or something like that?

 

[wedivebc]

If you are staying that shallow, you may want to look at SCR's which are a lot less risky. They aren't completely bubble-less, but mostly are. Mares Horizon is really the only one on the market right now.
If you can stay above 20ft, then an O2 rebreather is also a lot less risky, but you have a 20ft depth limit and they are not terribly common.

Can you exlain why you say SCRs are safer in shallow water?

 

[wedivebc]

There is a good argument to be made for not using a rebreather if all you want to do is get bubbles away from your face. CCRs do introduce a greater risk potential and are especially problematic in the hands of photographers who are mission, or subject focused and not paying enough attention on their life support system. If you are really set on rebreathers then the training takes a solid week and will cost upwards of $1500. Rebreathers will open up a whole new dimension of diving but not without some risk.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Can you explain why you say SCRs are safer in shallow water?

As the gas is continuously flushed, so there is no risk of hypoxy...
I worked on the Caimano IV SCR for military applications, with the purpose of minimising the noise emitted, but it was impossible to bring it at the same level of noise of a CC rebreather. In fact the Caimano IV SCR can also be switched to a pure oxygen CC ARO unit, when the military diver must be entirely silent. See it here:
SIEL Advanced Sea System

 

[tbone1004]

Can you exlain why you say SCRs are safer in shallow water?

since most of them are passive SCR's your risk of hypoxia is greatly reduced on ascents since it is going to be adding dil regularly. Not eliminated, but reduced.

 

[wedivebc]

As the gas is continuously flushed, so there is no risk of hypoxy...
I worked on the Caimano IV SCR for military applications, with the purpose of minimising the noise emitted, but it was impossible to bring it at the same level of noise of a CC rebreather. In fact the Caimano IV SCR can also be switched to a pure oxygen CC ARO unit, when the military diver must be entirely silent. See it here:
SIEL Advanced Sea System

No risk of hypoxia? Doubtful. My only near miss with hypoxia in almost 2000 hrs on RBs was many moons ago on a Draeger Dolphin, 32% gas with correct flow orfice swimming really hard at the surface against current to get to the front of the boat. It was only when I stopped swimming to rest before descending that I heard my oxygauge screaming at me. My PO2 was climbing back up and was at 0.16 when I looked. It came back fast but if I had kept swimming, who knows. I have always felt SCR are no safer than CCR.

 

[doctormike]

Now, all of that said. MOST underwater photographers are not on rebreathers. Some do, others use double hose regulators like the Argonaut Kraken to get bubbles behind your head, but the majority use normal regulators. The key is having bang up dive skills. Assuming you are already a skilled surface photographer, which you need to be before you even think about taking a camera underwater, then you truly need top notch buoyancy and propulsion skills to successfully photograph underwater. I would highly recommend getting into a GUE Fundamentals course as soon as possible which will go infinitely farther to improving your photography than trying to get rid of the bubbles

This ^

I absolutely LOVE diving my rebreather. It has totally revitalized my interest in diving. There are a lot of reasons why I love it, but they are beyond the scope of the OP.

I almost NEVER dive without a camera - a big housed DSLR with dual strobes. I mainly dive to do photography.

Those two things having been said, I find that the idea that rebreathers let you get close to wildlife to be vastly overstated. Yeah, I guess there might be a little advantage, but the main thing that lets you get good wildlife photography is - as tbone mentioned - good diving skills.

If you think about it, underwater prey have evolved their defenses primarily against bigger marine life. And theses animals do not blow bubbles. Even mammals don't usually blow bubbles underwater when hunting. So not sure why we think that a fish wouldn't notice a 6 foot long thing moving in their space, just because it wasn't blowing bubbles.

 

[Julius SCHMIDT]

I would suggest you get your mask sealing clearing and mouth breathing squared away
as purging air especially at shallow depths can make buoyancy a real chore, and go buy
a Poseidon VI for 1500 a course for less than 1500 and get in there and go rebreathing.