Does a Camera change your dive experience?

[HowardE]

I recently purchased my first UW camera setup. And I would like ask these questions:

1) Does owning and using a camera change your overall dive experience? For the better or worse?

2) Do you find yourself going on dives without your camera?
(less hassles, more enjoyment etc)

Thanks,
Dave

1) Yes. Better

2) NO - I find less enjoyment w/o the camera because when I leave the camera behind, I usually see something that I JUST HAD TO HAVE A SHOT OF.

 

[Darnold9999]

The camera has made me much more conscious of what I am looking at - more than look at the pretty blue fish now I am starting to know what it is that I am looking at.

Sometimes the picture is more interesting than the real thing, particularly with the strobe. The colors can be completely different.

It has made diving with a buddy more difficult. In low vis it is really easy to lose track of your buddy when you stop to shoot a picture unless both are paying very close attention.

Happened yesterday, passed over a flounder type fish on the swim back to shore - point, click, look up buddy is GONE - took no more than 2 seconds to get the shot, we were swimming in a straight line, so I wasn't worried that I was going to get separated, WRONG. Was at the end of the dive so we joined up at the surface, but did teach me that if I am going to stop I need to make sure my buddy knows it before I focus on taking the picture. (Note vis was less than 10 feet so I should have known better, but still learning my limits with the camera.)

I dive without the camera, but almost always regret it.

Do wish I took better pictures, but I do like practicing - every once in a while I get a great shot that makes up for all the out of focus/over/underexposed ones.

 

[Aggie Diver]

Since I got my camera I've gone on two dives. Both times I saw things that made me wish I had one with me. So pretty much the norm these days...

There's good and bad though.

My buoyancy got much better as a result of the demands of having to take photos and stay spot on. My favorite position is inverted, though that's a challenge at times if the current is ripping.

On the bad side, I've been on several dives where idiot divers seem to think they're entitled to see whatever you're seeing without the courtesy of waiting until you move.

I did a dive in Hawaii where a married couple that hadn't dove in over two years showed up with all new gear (scubapro from head to toe). On the swim over to the wreck they were dragging on the bottom the whole way (watched the wife plow a piece of coral and completely break it off the rock it was perched on).

Then when I was upside down taking a photo of a turtle I got run over by the husband who was trying to see what I was looking at. THere was a ton of current and he couldn't control his maneuvering, and we ended up tumbling across the bottom for a couple of seconds until I could shove him off me (when we collided he panicked and grabbed hold of my BC).

So that really irked me to begin with, then not five minutes later the wife did the same thing, I got a nice little gash to the head off of the valve handle on her first stage because of it).

Had a little chat with them on the SI, and my buddy and I went the other way from them on the next dive. Wouldn't you know it they turned and followed us (we were last in) because as they later explained 'you guys find all the interesting stuff.' My buddy and I ended up faking calling the dive, started our ascent, and when they swam off we dropped back down and continued on with the dive, it was probably the worst pair of dives I've ever experienced.

So nowadays my buddy and I basically lag behind the group or altogether head the opposite way from everyone else on the dives (tends to be more of a problem on guided dives in current).

 

[Charlie99]

For the better, then the worse and back to the better.

At first I just enjoyed taking a few snapsots then the fever took over. For years I took the camera on every dive, no exceptions. The photos were everything, it was an obsession. I got caught up in the 'perfect photo' syndrome and was seldom satisfied with my results.

Luckily about 2 years ago I woke up and realized how much I was missing. I started shooting for fun, not results. ........ Now I'm just a diver who takes a few photos.

I've gone through phases similar to what you describe. At first the camera added a whole new, very enjoyable dimension to diving. Then I started seeing the reef through the camera. Not literally, since the tiny LCD on my point & shoot is pretty hard to see -- but in the sense that I was diving to take photos and looking at everything in terms of how it would look in a photo.
Then I decided that I didn't really need another thousand photos and nowdays on a lot of dives I'll carry the camera, but just take a couple photos of some fish or other creature that I want to look at in more detail later.

SharkLover -- you can use an underwater camera in different ways. Perhaps you can look at how you use your cameras on land to get an idea of what works for you. Some people go on a trip and everywhere they go they haul large amounts of photo gear and frequently stop to set up a tripod and try to get that perfect photo of the sights. Others just whip out a point and shoot every once in a while and snap off a few shots of family and friends with the landmarks in the background. Each of those styles work for different people. What sort of style you have on land also should give you some good hints as to what sort of underwater photo gear set you should buy.

 

[Dee]

Mo2 has brought up some good points...

Having dived without, then with, then without, now with a camera again - I am qualified to say diving with a Camera changes so much for me:

2) I know more about the stuff I'm seeing. Its no longer "the blue fishy" or the "funny pink snail"... I have names (well, my names and their real names) for most of the stuff I see now. Its totally improved my knowledge of the fish, plants, animals and stuff I dive with. I now have many, many reference books on this stuff. Never did before I started shooting.

It's almost as much fun learning about WHAT you're shooting. Not only the names of things but when you learn their behaviors, you can anticipate their actions in order to get that next shot. ie: Spotted Drums always swim in a figure 8. If you miss the shot just wait a minute, they'll do it again!

4) Its improved my Buddy's awareness - Whoever my buddy is, they know I'm shooting so they are on the watch. They not only serve as critter spotter, but also know where I am at all times. This isn't unusual, as I dive with a tight circle of divers, but I have noticed that because I stop a lot, they hang closer.

This has been my biggest reason for my change. Yes, my buddies were good 'photo' budddies, finding stuff, waiting patiently for me and keeping track of where I was. But that also meant their dive was 'my' dive, it just wasn't fair to them. Now we take turns taking a camera along, I take my turn at finding stuff, waiting for them and watching over them for their safety.

5) I get to add a whole other task to the multi-tasking that is diving. I love the challenge. First it was just diving. Then it became precision diving. Then adding an HID, then adding a Drysuit, then adding dry gloves, then adding a camera, etc, etc, etc... Maintaining a high level of skill as a diver has been the best part. I'm a diver who photographs. Not a photographer who dives.

I agree, it certainly keeps your skills in top form.

6) As mentioned, its broadened the circle of supporters. Family, friends and others get to know what the heck is going on down there.

True. We have a circle of friends and family who demand slide shows and trip stories every time we go anywhere. They aren't near as interested in local green water!

7) Its given me a greater appreciation for creation. I was pretty grateful and in mouth-agape awe before, but since I started shooting, I'm even more humbled. Its truly remarkable, the diversity of life that is in the oceans that 99% of people will never ever get to see. I am very fortunate. More than fortunate. Blessed.

Amen!

Shooting has changed my diving for the better, as I'm much more engaged with the surroundings and the life I see, and I can savor each dive longer and in much more vivid details by going back over the photos.

This is true, photos allow me to relive those dives. But leaving the camera behind occasionally has increased my enjoyment of the surroundings. With a camera I have a tendancy to keep my face planted in the monitor or tunnel vision looking for the next photo opportunity and not always noticing the 'big picture'. Without it, I can really absorb the majesty and the grandeur of the reefs, not just that little part I see on the camera monitor. Getting away from the reef, hanging in blue water with a vertical wall in front of you will really put you in your place down there and show you just how immense the structures are.

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy my photography and can still get really wrapped up in it. But my priorities have changed which I think is a good thing, for me. As Charlie says, everyone has their own style and developes what works best for them. The main thing is to have fun and be safe.

 

[Gilligan]

I recently purchased my first UW camera setup. And I would like ask these questions:

1) Does owning and using a camera change your overall dive experience? For the better or worse?

2) Do you find yourself going on dives without your camera?
(less hassles, more enjoyment etc)

Thanks,
Dave

1. ABSOLUTELY, and for the better.

2. Never go on a dive without my camera. That would be the one time I would see something unusual.

 

[Aggie Diver]

Not literally, since the tiny LCD on my point & shoot is pretty hard to see -- but in the sense that I was diving to take photos and looking at everything in terms of how it would look in a photo.

The best advice I can give along those lines is that you take your camera along but do the dive as the priority. Grab your camera when you see something cool, otherwise just enjoy the dive.

 

[Diver Dennis]

Very true Aggie. You don't have to take pictures but take it just in case.

 

[Snowbear]

1) Does owning and using a camera change your overall dive experience? For the better or worse?

Yes. Mostly for the better. But unlike Pug, I am still a n00b enough to diving that I can completely enjoy a dive without taking pictures. Sometimes I even just clip off the camera and enjoy the dive while critter spotting or modeling for a photog buddy.

Non-divers are always asking what we see down there..... I got the camera so I could show them.

Even though I'm really just a snap-shooter, I'm finding that the more pictures I take that accidentally turn out surprisingly good, the more I want to snap-shoot ones like that on purpose.... I guess I'm starting to enjoy taking pictures just for the sake of taking them :blush:

2) Do you find yourself going on dives without your camera?
(less hassles, more enjoyment etc)

Not usually, since it's really no hassle at all. It's so small that I can just clip it of to a shoulder D-Ring and it's completely out of the way even if I never use it.That way even if the dive's purpose is something not conducive to snap shooting, like DMing a class or a less than attentive buddy, at least I have the camera in case I get a chance to use it. Students love it when I email them a shot of themselves underwater

I've thought a couple of times about getting a strobe, since the little built-in flash is only good to maybe 2 feet max. Each time I do, I end up diving with someone who has a strobe(s)..... it always looks like a hassle. Sometimes just a little hassle, but often an actual, royal PITA! Another advantage of the little camera in the little housing is the holes I can get it into to get shots like this one

 

[Mike Veitch]

Dive without a camera?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Only when i am teaching a photo class.... then i draw pictures on my slate...