The latter.
How do I feel when surfacing depends on what I see during the dive. Why do you ask?
Good question
Thank you
Partially addressed by Dan
Sometimes elated at the photographs I know I got.
Sometimes feeling like I missed the scope of the dive by staring at it through a tiny screen.
I’m actually going to try to carry the full DSLR rig less often this season.
When I first got my camera
Like we all know
It's generally rare to capture all you wanted and even more rare that whatever you captured met your expectations
Early on and only on a few dives I surfaced feeling less than wonderful because either I wasted time trying to get the golden shot or I wasted time getting the golden shot
Less than a handful of dives before I reminded myself and came to terms with the idea that I'm not a photographer.
I know how to use a camera on land. Aperture, shutter speed, ISO, focal length, perspective etc etc.
But underwearI, I'm a diver who happens to have a camera.
A weekend diver who happens to have a camera.
Since then I've consciously, during the dive, decided whether I need to spend extra time getting the shot, in liue of wasted dive time or to carry on diving.
Maybe I'll get good shots maybe I won't.
When I've surfaced, what determines whether I've had a good dive aren't the images on the memory card, but what I actually saw. I also tend to jot down experiences on a slate that I later copy to it dive log.
Things like seeing a resident puffer fish has developed a tumor.
Or a funny mantis shrimp fighting the current to get a shell back to it's den.
A hundred dives later and I've surfaced many a times without having even aimed my camera. Because I knew it wouldn't be a good capture.
Either because of external variables like plankton, back scatter, current or internal variables like simply not being a professional underwater photographer with professional gear and abundant dive time.
Since then though, I've surfaced with complete and utter satisfaction regardless of whether my camera was used.
I'm a diver who happens to have a camera.