Actually, it's not
[video=youtube;LgEkBn35TAE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgEkBn35TAE[/video]
Taking pictures while diving
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Actually, it's not
[video=youtube;LgEkBn35TAE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgEkBn35TAE[/video]
I'm going to be in the minority on this one, but I say it won't hurt to have a point and shoot for capturing things as long as you don't spend a lot of effort or time trying to get the "perfect shot" or anything like that.
I've had a camera on every dive I've been on since my OW class. I think I've gotten a total of about 50 pictures in those 15 dives since class. Most of them were from 2 dives. Just having a camera with you doesn't mean you have to spend a lot of time using it, but it's nice if you just want to capture your dive buddy or a special something or have someone else take a picture of you that you will definitely have after the dive.
I've had a camera on every dive I've been on since my OW class. I think I've gotten a total of about 50 pictures in those 15 dives since class. Most of them were from 2 dives. Just having a camera with you doesn't mean you have to spend a lot of time using it, but it's nice if you just want to capture your dive buddy or a special something or have someone else take a picture of you that you will definitely have after the dive.
With all due respect, I think many responders are confusing a few snapshots with a simple point and shoot camera with the work load undertaken by award winning underwater photographers carrying and using complex equipment. If you get a simple camera, preset to automatic settings, (for film, Sea and Sea MX10, for digital - Sea Life anything, eg) you are not task loading. Pay attention to your proper weighting, buoyancy, and diving the planned dive, and enjoy taking a picture or two. If you have anxiety about it, wait a while. If you feel comfortable in the water, go for it. See my previous post. As you evaluate the suggestions of different posters, note these things: number of dives, actual experience with the issue you raise, and credentials. All three impact the value of the suggestions given. Then decide what suggestions are useful to your decision making. Whatever you decide, HAVE FUN, don't stress.
DivemasterDennis scubasnobs.com
DivemasterDennis scubasnobs.com
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Fiddling with the equipment isn't what creates the task loading ... concentrating on finding and snapping pictures of the subject is. I've known people with the simplest point-n-shoot camera to surprise themselves almost to death when it finally occurs to them that they haven't checked their air pressure in a while.
For a new diver, just focusing on developing decent awareness skills is about all the mental bandwidth they can manage. Give them a camera ... even the two-mode version (AUTO-OFF) ... and you've dramatically increased the risk for buddy separation or OOA ... which are the two conditions that, by far, lead to the most diving accidents among new divers.
New divers need to be taught to keep their priorities straight ... and their own safety should ALWAYS be priority #1. Work on developing good awareness skills first ... THEN start adding fun toys like a camera.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
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I am very new to diving. That being said, I've been snorkeling and freediving since I was a teen and using my Canon to take photos and video underwater for years. In a handful of pool sessions before I'd even hit open water, I practiced drawing, shooting and stowing my camera in the pool. It was in my pocket on my final OW cert dive and attached to my BCD ever since...
Personally, I've found it very useful in improving my overall skills.....particularly (attempting to) hold relative to the target in odd orientations. In many situations, my buddy is the spotter and I try to get off a shot....good communication. I don't care about being published....so a blue or imperfect pic doesn't matter....I'm there to dive first and document second. Snapping a couple of shots on your camera in a low current, high viz, shallow environment should have no more interruption in your situational awareness than fixating on seeing your first turtle swim by.
Reading the cautionary tales above, I can easily believe that divers have gone OOA or lost contact with their buddy for just one more perfect shot. Just as plenty of folks kill themselves because they can't change the station on their radio while driving. All about priorities.
Personally, I've found it very useful in improving my overall skills.....particularly (attempting to) hold relative to the target in odd orientations. In many situations, my buddy is the spotter and I try to get off a shot....good communication. I don't care about being published....so a blue or imperfect pic doesn't matter....I'm there to dive first and document second. Snapping a couple of shots on your camera in a low current, high viz, shallow environment should have no more interruption in your situational awareness than fixating on seeing your first turtle swim by.
Reading the cautionary tales above, I can easily believe that divers have gone OOA or lost contact with their buddy for just one more perfect shot. Just as plenty of folks kill themselves because they can't change the station on their radio while driving. All about priorities.
You know, I have almost a thousand dives over six years. I recently got a bit more serious about photography (I've carried a camera for the odd snapshot in the past). I've been appalled at how much it impacts my situational awareness. I'm really lucky that I generally dive with buddies who don't go anywhere that's unexpected, but if I did, there is no way I could focus on the camera long enough to get any kind of useful shot, and still keep track of an erratic companion. In addition, it's been amusing how I get myself into buoyancy and positioning snafus with the darned thing.
A Go Pro on your head sounds like a good idea . . . but you will get almost nothing useful from it. If you run video, it won't be steady enough for anyone to watch. If you run sequential stills, they'll all be blue (or green) and grey and not very interesting.
Why not just enjoy the trip, and either cadge some pictures from one of your fellow divers (people are often very willing to share) or buy a professional video, in which you might actually figure -- as opposed to your own photos, which almost certainly won't have you in them. (I say almost, because I've inadvertently hit the button on my camera on occasion, and have some amusing pictures of various body parts and equipment.)
A Go Pro on your head sounds like a good idea . . . but you will get almost nothing useful from it. If you run video, it won't be steady enough for anyone to watch. If you run sequential stills, they'll all be blue (or green) and grey and not very interesting.
Why not just enjoy the trip, and either cadge some pictures from one of your fellow divers (people are often very willing to share) or buy a professional video, in which you might actually figure -- as opposed to your own photos, which almost certainly won't have you in them. (I say almost, because I've inadvertently hit the button on my camera on occasion, and have some amusing pictures of various body parts and equipment.)
I agree with most comments here. Even if you are using a simple point and shoot, it's REALLY easy to lose focus on the things that are really important, even when you are a more advanced diver. If visibility is poor, taking 10 seconds to get a good photo can easily get you separated from your buddy. I shoot with a DSLR, and that just adds a whole other level of complexity. Long story short, skip the camera for now.
Dear NWGratefulDiver: I am a big fan of your posts and I have a lot of respect for what you have to say on the topics you choose to weigh in on. On this point about when its ok to take some simple pictures, we do not agree, but I still respect your knowledge and expertise. With that, I'll end my participation on this thread. You and I have much work to do on many other threads.
DivemasterDennis scubasnobs.com
DivemasterDennis scubasnobs.com
I agree 100% with NWGrateful diver - I see sooo many people with cameras who put themselves in situations that compromise their own personal safety, annoy the rest of the dive group and damage the underwater environment - and this is often regardless of certification level or experience.
Last week I had an underwater argument with a diver from another centre who was quite clearly an experienced diver, but had terrible control when he was using his camera. He was either kicking the coral or lying in it, so far behind his group that he was effectively solo diving, at a reef which can turn treacherous if the current picks up. When he was swimming along with the camera he was fine, but when he stopped to take a photo, he was all over the place.
After seeing them in the water with the camera on the first dive, I have asked customers to leave their camera on the boat for the next dive - in fact probably all of my colleagues have done so at some point, and we are well supported by the management in refusing to allow them to dive if they bring the camera. In many cases - wow - buoyancy control, buddy separation, air consumption and basic dive protocol improve immediately and dramatically without the camera.
Some examples I see: People who are low on air and making a safety stop will suddenly bolt back down to 20 metres to take that all important photo of the turtle swimming by, or swim as fast as possible to chase the shark that is so desperately trying to get away from the underwater paparazzi, abandon their buddy and in fact the entire dive team to get the perfect clownfish photo, rest their camera on top of a table corals as if it was some sort of tripod, or run out of air after 20 minutes on a shallow dive because they are so focused on taking pictures of what often turns out to be blue fish swimming away from them against a blue coral background in a blue sea. When the photo becomes more important than the dive, the camera becomes a liability, not an asset.
However - with some basic training, and some understanding that taking photos underwater can seriously annoy a lot of other people, taking out a camera for some point-and-shoot fun is fine. If competent photographers are willing to abide by the safety rules of the dive, I will go out of my way to make sure I take them to the best things that can be photographed and I generally, as a dive guide, swim slightly slower than a snail that just took a toke on Bob Marley's finest.
In general, I'm happy to accommodate photographers as long as it is not to the detriment of the rest of the group in terms of safety and enjoyment. I love it when my customers send me the pics afterwards, because actually I don't have a lot of photos or movies of me diving, so I rely on them for my scrapbook. BUT - if they hurt the coral, annoy the group or compromise safety then they can dive without a camera, or they can't dive at all. Very simple.
In my opinion, the best cameras for the non-professional photographer are the Canon Powershot series, with associated underwater housings, which will give the inexperienced photographer a lot of leeway with the mistakes they will make, and have all the manual settings required to make more competent photographers happy with their output without having to invest in a DLSR + Housing. Somebody mentioned the old big yellow Sea&Sea jobbies - er - no, they suck, sorry, even if you know what you're doing.
If you can bring a camera and not lose sight of the overall objective of the dive, go ahead, but if you find it compromises your actual ability to dive, consider the situation in which you are diving, and whether or not it's acceptable to the team.
Cheers
C.
Last week I had an underwater argument with a diver from another centre who was quite clearly an experienced diver, but had terrible control when he was using his camera. He was either kicking the coral or lying in it, so far behind his group that he was effectively solo diving, at a reef which can turn treacherous if the current picks up. When he was swimming along with the camera he was fine, but when he stopped to take a photo, he was all over the place.
After seeing them in the water with the camera on the first dive, I have asked customers to leave their camera on the boat for the next dive - in fact probably all of my colleagues have done so at some point, and we are well supported by the management in refusing to allow them to dive if they bring the camera. In many cases - wow - buoyancy control, buddy separation, air consumption and basic dive protocol improve immediately and dramatically without the camera.
Some examples I see: People who are low on air and making a safety stop will suddenly bolt back down to 20 metres to take that all important photo of the turtle swimming by, or swim as fast as possible to chase the shark that is so desperately trying to get away from the underwater paparazzi, abandon their buddy and in fact the entire dive team to get the perfect clownfish photo, rest their camera on top of a table corals as if it was some sort of tripod, or run out of air after 20 minutes on a shallow dive because they are so focused on taking pictures of what often turns out to be blue fish swimming away from them against a blue coral background in a blue sea. When the photo becomes more important than the dive, the camera becomes a liability, not an asset.
However - with some basic training, and some understanding that taking photos underwater can seriously annoy a lot of other people, taking out a camera for some point-and-shoot fun is fine. If competent photographers are willing to abide by the safety rules of the dive, I will go out of my way to make sure I take them to the best things that can be photographed and I generally, as a dive guide, swim slightly slower than a snail that just took a toke on Bob Marley's finest.
In general, I'm happy to accommodate photographers as long as it is not to the detriment of the rest of the group in terms of safety and enjoyment. I love it when my customers send me the pics afterwards, because actually I don't have a lot of photos or movies of me diving, so I rely on them for my scrapbook. BUT - if they hurt the coral, annoy the group or compromise safety then they can dive without a camera, or they can't dive at all. Very simple.
In my opinion, the best cameras for the non-professional photographer are the Canon Powershot series, with associated underwater housings, which will give the inexperienced photographer a lot of leeway with the mistakes they will make, and have all the manual settings required to make more competent photographers happy with their output without having to invest in a DLSR + Housing. Somebody mentioned the old big yellow Sea&Sea jobbies - er - no, they suck, sorry, even if you know what you're doing.
If you can bring a camera and not lose sight of the overall objective of the dive, go ahead, but if you find it compromises your actual ability to dive, consider the situation in which you are diving, and whether or not it's acceptable to the team.
Cheers
C.
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Good thought!
What you can do is buy a disposable camera. They are not that expensive. Or you can look into the Olympus tough 8000 series. An excellent underwater camera to depths of upto 10m. And excellent for outside the waters. You can take photos and videos with it.
If you don't feel comfortable taking the photos yourself have a dive buddy, DM or instructor do the minor photography. At least you'll have some memory.
Have fund diving!!!
What you can do is buy a disposable camera. They are not that expensive. Or you can look into the Olympus tough 8000 series. An excellent underwater camera to depths of upto 10m. And excellent for outside the waters. You can take photos and videos with it.
If you don't feel comfortable taking the photos yourself have a dive buddy, DM or instructor do the minor photography. At least you'll have some memory.
Have fund diving!!!
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