How do you keep your u/w camera attached?

[ScubaMarc]

Has any one ever had a retractible lanyard or coil lanyard break off? I just can not trust a piece of plastic to protect my $800 camera.

I had a $75 light attached to a version of a coil lanyards that came with my BC. This version in very differnet from the lanyards your would buy for a camera. Much cheaper version. It was a bungee cord connected to a suicide clip with a plastic clip(different from the above). Story: I was getting on a boat, I felt something snag. And then my light went down to the bottom of the sea. Never seen again.

 

[Dee]

Never heard of the coiled cord part of the lanyard breaking. I think there's a steel cable in the center of it. Those plactic clips that come on so many retractable gadgets break very easily. THAT's the part I never trust. The coiled lanyards I use have a brass clip on one end.

 

[albatross]

I don't have it in front of me right now, but I also use a retractor. I know many people do not like them, but I have had no problems so far. I got a high intensity (stronger resistance) type. The nice part of it is that it locks. When I begin the dive, I pull my camera out then lock the retractor. No more resistance. When I am finished.... unlock it, and let it recoil back to my body.

 

[nice-diver]

i use two retractors (brass snap thingys) on my chest d-rings for my point and shoot and nikonos; one camera at a time. the camera will hang close and I can lengthen my arms to take the shot. I also use the retractors to help remove the plate/wing when I am doffing. (point and shoot fits my thigh pocket when using the nikonos)

 

[maynard.hogg]

updated underwater setup #4059 on Flickr

 

[Backscatter]

I use a lanyard made by Snappy Coil, like the one in the picture below. I picked it up on a trip in Key Largo and it worked very well with a Canon case and single arm ikelite tray. Now that I've added the external strobes, I'm not sure it will work as well.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

I use the same lanyard as Backscatter with a dSLR in an Ikelite housing and two strobes, with no problems so far. I, too, try to keep the cam in my hand as much as possible, but especially during descent when I need to have one hand on my nose pocket and one on my BC inflator hose, and at the same time holding on to the anchor line, the lanyard keeps the rig secured to my BC and out of the way.

 

[hlsooner]

I use a piece of bungee cord with two stainless clips attached to the ends. One end clips to the d-ring on the BC, and the other clips to a stainless split ring attached to the camera's base. If needed, I can clip the stainless clip attached to the camera to a d-ring also to keep the camera secured closely.

 

[Dannybot]

I use a heavy retractor on my FE-230. I used to use the wrist strap, but Ifind it easier to just "let go" of the camera in emergency. With the wrist strap, the camera could get wrapped up when I tried regulator recovery.

 

[Jim Baldwin]

I'm leaving next week for a dive trip and taking my Oly C4000Z and PT-010 for the first time. How should keep the camera and housing attached to me so I don't lose it?

I have sewn a piece of one inch webbing to the bottom of my camera housing. The webbing has a stainless steel bolt snap attached at the other end. It clips to a SS D-ring on BP/W. The webbing is arm's length when it's attached to the D-ring. That way I can let go at any time and still retrive my camera.

I have done this same setup on two other camera housings and after hundreds of dives I have yet to come up without my camera.

The entire cost of my custom made design is less than $10. SS bolt snap from Home Depot for about $6 and the one inch webbing came in a roll for less than $3 in the camping section at Walmart. It's simple and uncluttered. Don't attach anything to a plastic D-ring you are not willing to sacrifice to the diving gods.