bouyancy for UWphotograhy

[CLA]

Hi!

When taking pictures underwater, does it help to be a little negatively bouyant (or a bit overweighted) or would neutral bouyancy still be best?

I was just wondering if the added weight would make you more stable

 

[kdietz]

Hi!

When taking pictures underwater, does it help to be a little negatively bouyant (or a bit overweighted) or would neutral bouyancy still be best?

I was just wondering if the added weight would make you more stable

Neutrally bouyant is definitely ideal IMHO

Karl

 

[the_cat_keeper]

I tend to get myself a little over weighted, and dived with air until towards the end of the dive. I found that this makes my buoyancy control easier, especially when there's current.

 

[dsafanda]

Hmm...I'm editing my post because I just realized I don't really know what I'm talking about. :xeye:

I was going to mention that you need to compensate for the fact that a big camera rig strapped to your BC means additional weight. However, underwater my housing is actually pretty much neutral buoyant so I guess I'm not really adding any weight at all by diving with the camera am I? It's only extra weight when I'm walking from the car to the surf correct?

 

[fdog]

Neutral.

I weight to be truly neutral without my camera; that way, when I throw away a camera in an emergency I'll have no issues holding a shallow stop.

I have seen that negative housings perform better than neutral housings at slow shutter speeds.

All the best, James

 

[diversteve]

Hi!

When taking pictures underwater, does it help to be a little negatively bouyant (or a bit overweighted) or would neutral bouyancy still be best?

I was just wondering if the added weight would make you more stable

Neutral is still best, that way when you're engrossed in getting the shot, you don't accidentally drift down and touch the reef.

I keep my camera/housing(video) just slightly negatively bouyant. I find it helps with the smoothness of my pans. Also it doesn't float up if I temporarily let it go(or pass it to my buddy) But it's just ever so slightly negative, it probably wouldn't sink 5' in 5 seconds. I have an external weightbag on the bottom and usually spend a few minutes tuning the weighting my first dive at a destination.

Probably the only exception to this would be tripod filming on a sandy bottom. Where you'd want to plant yourself. We shot pictures at Sting Ray City in Cayman a couple years ago and the DM's encouraged us to take an extra 15-20lbs. of lead to stay planted in the shallow surge.

my .02

 

[Spoon]

Neutrally bouyant is definitely ideal IMHO

Karl

i totally agree. you can now control your vertical orientation through breathing techniques.

 

[CLA]

Thanks everyone.

Added a couple of pounds to my belt the other day and I noticed that it made settling down on the sand easier. However, hovering quietly over the reef was also more difficult probabaly because I wasn't used to the added weight. So I guess neutral would still be best most of the time but as the-cat-keeper and Steve pointed out, there are situations when it's nice to be negative (current, eel garden photos perhaps).

On my next dive, I'll try attaching a weight bag to the housing.

Thanks again!

Cathy

 

[ssra30]

Depending on what kind of pictures you are taking. For macro, I definitely like to be negative so I can settle on the sandy bottom and remain steady while composing the shot.
For wide angle, neutral bouyancy works just fine. Since I shoot either macro or wide angle exclusively on each dive due to dSLR, it is not difficult to figure out how much weight I need for each dive

 

[HowardE]

Thanks everyone.

Added a couple of pounds to my belt the other day and I noticed that it made settling down on the sand easier. However, hovering quietly over the reef was also more difficult probabaly because I wasn't used to the added weight. So I guess neutral would still be best most of the time but as the-cat-keeper and Steve pointed out, there are situations when it's nice to be negative (current, eel garden photos perhaps).

On my next dive, I'll try attaching a weight bag to the housing.

Thanks again!

Cathy

Are you saying that your camera is POSITIVE? I find that gets annoying as well...Getting your camera to be neutral is also important... Especially if you're shooting video (like I do). Sometimes just adding an external strobe can fix this too.

As for your bouyancy... even if you're properly weighted (not adding weight to your rig)... You should have no problem coming to rest on the bottom...