That depends. Maybe you were feet heavy to begin with. Or you could offset it by getting heavier fins (further reduction in lead), or maybe move some lead to your feet as ankle weights. It's only a couple of pounds we're talking about here.
If you put 2 pounds in the middle of your body, near your waist, it has no "lever or fulcrum effect".... put a little weight on your feet, or way out in front of your head( where the camera goes), and this small amount of weight has a very magnified lever effect on trim while swimming or hovering. As a photographer, there will be times we are over the top of sensitive corals or other environments, where we much hover in a flat horizontal position, and not impact the bottom with fins....to do this, you need good trim, and having a camera that makes you very nose heavy is a huge complication for this.
I suppose there are some places where this will never matter....Because Sandra and I dive in coral environments all the time, as well as on big adventure dive site areas where drift currents can be as high as 3 mph, we have our gear rigged for optimal trim no matter what we are doing. I can be flat horizontal and swimming slowly or hovering motionless, over a delicate coral 5 inches off of it( camera ahead of me), OR, I can have ideal trim for maximum propulsion efficiency, if I have to swim up-current around the edge of a shipwreck to get into position to photograph a 600 pound goliath Grouper in a perfect background for an ideal shot----to do this, I will hold my chamera on my side, tucked in like it is a stage bottle clipped to me on the left side, where it hides somewhat under the hydrodynamic protection of my arm.....I can gain at least double the max swim speed potential from doing this, and do not need to worry about my trim being massively thrown off with this entirely new position for the camera in the overall "leveraging" of weight placement on my body.
The same issue exists without a huge current, but where the photographer needs to swim a long distance between point A and point B, between which there is no planned shooting....these big camera rigs are the opposite of streamlined, so if you do have to swim a long way, it is nice to get them out of the high drag position, and tuck them away....you can then swim slowly and easily, with lots of glide between each kick--something that won't happen if you are pushing the camera in front of you.
But again, there are environments, perhaps yours, where these scenarios will never come into play.
[video=youtube;kWrlXJ_EL_k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWrlXJ_EL_k&feature=share&list=TL001Iv8Dmz os[/video]
This is a video I shot of one of my GUE buddies, Errol K....( who also happens to be a GUE instructor)....Errol is showing perfect trim for a photographer, which is important in a muck diving area like the Blue Heron Bridge Marine Park so that you don't silt constantly and ruin your own shots, as well as everyone else's.
The reverse kick and frog kicks are particularly cool for photographers, as you can see.
