Bouyancy preference for camera?

[Crawl79]

Hi all,
I have never taken a picture underwater and I'm thinking about getting started soon or atleast by next year.
I have a simple question. What is the bouyancy preference for the camera in water? Positive, neutral, or negative.
Just asking as I saw some cameras have a place to add ballast weight.

 

[Diver Dennis]

I have a Rebel in an Ike housing, with two DS-125 strobes and it is a little negative which I prefer. The front end does get as little floaty with the 8" dome but it is still negative overall.

 

[El Orans]

I like that mine (Canon A95) is slightly positive. I just slide the cord over my elbow and it doesn't bother me there.

 

[webhead]

I'm also one who prefers a little positive. Clip if to your shoulder d ring and it's out of the way, for me, until I need it.

 

[Iruka]

I prefer slightly negative...unless you're over a really deep abyss, a dropped camera is easier to find (it will normally stay where it is) than is a camera which floats to the surface, and then goes wherever the current & winds take it. I've chased down lots of customers' cameras over the years (one guy 4 dives = 4 cameras floating away...he just refused to use the rubber band) but if you are diligent about securely attaching the camera to something, I guess that wouldn't really be a concern. I had one diver years back with an UW video....buoyancy was as close to neutral as humanly possible...unfortunately, he lost it during a dive, even though he thought it was clipped securely. Since it wouldn't quickly float OR sink, it slowly drifted with the current underwater. 4 of us spent 2 dives....about 1:20 total....looking for that video, with no luck. Probably down in the muck on the bottom of Apra Harbor (Guam) to this day.

 

[Crawl79]

Thanks everyone, I thought I would like a camera slightly positive as well but now I'm starting to think negative wouldnt be so bad as long as I'm not diving in the Blue Hole or on a Rig Dive in the Gulf.

 

[*Floater*]

I have a Reefmaster DC310 which is positive without the wide-angle lens or additional weight, but negative with one of the two. I prefer it slightly negative because it stows better that way.

 

[CompuDude]

Slightly negative.

 

[Scububbs]

Slightly positive, so I know which way to look (up) if it gets away from me.

 

[alcina]

For me it depends on which camera.

For my smaller compacts I prefer slightly positive so when I am not using it I can slide it up my arm and it's out of harm's way and I don't think about it.

For my larger rigs I prefer slightly negative so I can set it down if I want to and it will stay.