Entry with Camera?

[the_cat_keeper]

I was diving in Puerto Galera where the surface current was quite strong and were told to do the back roll with negative entry. As I had my camera with me, I didn't (and ended up finning really hard to get back to the boat to collect my camera from the boat man). I was afraid of hurting myself or damaging the camera... is it safe (for me and the camera) to do a giant stride or a back roll with the camera? What is the best entry if the surface current is strong and you have your camera to take care of?

Thanks,
Cat.

 

[Warren_L]

I always have someone on the boat hand it down to me. I've never had conditions where I haven't been able to do that. If it does happen where it is not possible to do so, I probably would just leave the camera on the boat. I've seen and heard too many horror stories about giant strides in the water with camera gear. Back roll might not be too bad if you can protect the camera on your stomach, but even at that I'd just as soon have someone hand it down.

 

[ssra30]

From a dinghy, there is a couple of way, either back roll with the camera around your belly, let your back break the water first. That works well especially for smaller setup with Pns type camera. For a bigger setup like dSLR, I dip the camera in the water first then gently roll kind of half backroll, half sideroll off the dinghy while keeping my hand/camera underwater.
If I have to do giant stride, it is a bit more difficult with negative entry. I did a little compromise and keep my BCD inflated a bit, do a giant stride while holding the camera above my head (one hand pressing on the mask and reg). I kept enough air in the BCD so that the camera does not impact the surface on the first jump, once in water, deflate the BCD and try to descend quickly. The camera/housing survived those manuever in the past for me but luckily I did not have to do that very often.

 

[Bill51]

I usually feel comfortable doing a back roll with my housing on my chest, but in the cases I haven’t I’ve used my buddy line. I clip the buddy line to the camera and have someone aboard hold the housing while I enter and then they put it in the water and I just reel the camera to me.

 

[phylo]

I just went through this exact scenario in Cozumel, all the dives down there are drift dives and sometimes the current was quite strong. When the current was strong enough to warrant it, i would do a back roll while holding the camera as close to my body as possible and with a full BC. with my bc fully inflated. This keept me from plunging to deep and possibly damaging the camera or strobes. One other thing to keep in mind is that if you do enter the water this way and you have a strobe/strobes atached you will want to make sure that the strobe arms are folded in as close as possible, the other option would be to deploy a current line with your camera at the end and then you wont have to worry about the camera being damaged durring entry and you shouldnt have to swim to far to get to your camera.

Phil
Cozumel Pics
http://www.int14h.org/phylo/gallery/cozumel

 

[Charlie99]

Obviously, a lot depends on what sort of camera.

I routinely do a giant stride or backroll with my Olympus Stylus 400 point & shoot camera in the relatively small PT-016 housing. No way would I do that with a big housing and dual strobes.

 

[Cecil]

You all have to much stuff. I put my camera in a BC pocket and jump in, go to the bottom and pull it out.

 

[Warren_L]

Unfortunately, I don't have a BC.

 

[mjh]

I have D100 in an Aquatica housing. At times in rough seas we have had to backroll in. Long as you keep the housing tight to your body you should be ok.

 

[maractwin]

While my rig is not so small (C5050 in PT-015, with strobe and wet mount macro and wide angle lenses hanging off the arm), I've learned how to giant stride with it. For a boat entry where I'm starting no more than 4 feet off the water, I can keep the camera dry on the first spash.

I hold my camera in my right hand, straight up, with my head turned to the right so that my arm can press my mask to my face and my regulator in my mouth. My left hand holds my console & octopus at my waist. While my head usually goes below the surface, my right hand and the camera don't.

-Mark