How many dives before taking a camera with you
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scrane
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I find that often a camera is a distraction that degrades the immediacy of the underwater world. First, get to know that world through the camera in your head.
It's a legitimate answer. While "once you're confident" is a versatile one, it doesn't give an idea of how long it usually takes to reach baseline competence or what is considered such.
In fast food, you can be ready to give advice in two weeks; in research or engineering, you won't be taken seriously until three to five years in the specific field; and for executives again just a year at something counts as experience. Before starting an activity, it's useful to have an idea of where that point lies.
In rec diving, it's 4 dives just to get certified, then a week of fun diving in the shallows is another 14-15 dives. It's still all new at that point, just being underwater takes all your attention - you don't need extra distractions and challenges yet.
After that point, once you feel like you can do something else while diving, it makes sense to start with a compact camera like yours. Progressing to rigs takes a lot more experience.
Perhaps you could look at this from a slightly different standpoint. Go on a dive with somebody who has been diving and taking photos UW for a long time. Then ask yourself, "can I be a good buddy and or maintain control enough to mess around with a camera and not screw up this dive?" A lot of photographers are essentially solo divers, who make terrible buddies, because they are concentrating so much on what is in the viewfinder, they loose a sense of everything else around them. It reminded me of when I gave my 7 year old a camera to take photos at Yellowstone National Park and I had to keep him from bumping into things because he was looking at the screen, not where he was going.
I'm not looking for enemies here, but the task loading is pretty high. I have about 800 dives, and I only bring a GoPro when I have it on my scooter. Some of the friends I'm referring to here, have 1500+ dives and really prefer to do their own thing. I'm OK with that if I understand that is what I'm getting into when I get in the water with them as a "buddy", but take a step back and evaluate what is going on around you, and then decide if a camera is the right thing to add to your gear bag. If you find yourself standing on the bottom, or half rocketing to the surface to take a photo, leave the camera at home.
I'm not looking for enemies here, but the task loading is pretty high. I have about 800 dives, and I only bring a GoPro when I have it on my scooter. Some of the friends I'm referring to here, have 1500+ dives and really prefer to do their own thing. I'm OK with that if I understand that is what I'm getting into when I get in the water with them as a "buddy", but take a step back and evaluate what is going on around you, and then decide if a camera is the right thing to add to your gear bag. If you find yourself standing on the bottom, or half rocketing to the surface to take a photo, leave the camera at home.
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Digital photo and video has just made it so easy for everyone to take something on their early dives 
mi000ke
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I'm approaching dive #60 and just now feel ready to give UW photography a try. I'm a semi-serious land photographer, but kept pushing off taking a camera down with me as I worried it would degrade my skills too much (as many have mentioned). So I decided to start simple with a housing for my Powershot S110 (rather than break the bank for a 5D housing). I ordered the housing last week for expedited delivery yesterday so that I would have it for a trip to Grand Cayman early this morning. I am taking my daughter on her first discovery dive tomorrow and thought that that would be the perfect opportunity for me to try out photography - warm, clear shallow water with just the DM, daughter and me going very slowly. And of course a photo of her first dive. Well, the housing did not get delivered on time, and now I'm back to more excuses for not trying it on my next dive which will probably be a deep wall. Maybe time for me (and the OP) to just take it down, forget about it, and if the situation gets comfortable enough give it a try. If not, nothing lost.
You got a lot of advise. Maybe all of it correct... and yet some of it conflicting... The nature of the beast...
Practice locally is a good one
Have your buoyancy down real well and have decent trim as well is good too.
Know how to react to every UW emergency known to mankind before daring to touch a camera (was not given that way) but would be going overboard, but is good food for thought as task loading invites mistakes...
Do you need to make perfect helicopter turns and back-fin perfectly w/o changing your "altitude even by 1/2 foot. It would help, but I don't see why it would be a necessity to get started if you keep the space you need to maneuver safely w/o touching. Practicing locally will give you a good idea what maneuvering room you really should leave. And it will give you a good idea why knowing how to do that stuff (turning on a dime going backwards w/o going up or down w/o using your hands etc. might actually come in handy. But to get started, important is to understand the reef destroying vessel that you are and it's maneuvering capabilities and to stay at distances that don't exceed those - camera in hands...
Yes, there is the school that says you should already practice all this real well before using a camera - it at heart is not really wrong at all.
I am more thinking along these lines:
If you stay well within your means (which you have to explore and re-evaluate based and conditions and your development) and if you are or really want to be a "photographer and a diver" more than an UW-tourist, then the camera and your interaction with it as a diver will give you more motivation all in itself to learn that stuff.
If you are however more an UW-tourist... and if you don't want to get that involved, please do stay within your means so that you indeed can not touch - which really also means not accidentally touch... (many are and that is all they strive to be and that is not meant in a belittling way it is how new divers are recruited into the sports of sorts... and it is OK if everyone dives within their means w/o touching) ... Anyway if that's where you stand and that's what you do, I don't see that as wrong...
The trouble are the uncontrolled UW-vessels that do "accidentally touch and bump"... and those that do it on purpose or worse are another story altogether...
Practice locally is a good one
Have your buoyancy down real well and have decent trim as well is good too.
Know how to react to every UW emergency known to mankind before daring to touch a camera (was not given that way) but would be going overboard, but is good food for thought as task loading invites mistakes...
Do you need to make perfect helicopter turns and back-fin perfectly w/o changing your "altitude even by 1/2 foot. It would help, but I don't see why it would be a necessity to get started if you keep the space you need to maneuver safely w/o touching. Practicing locally will give you a good idea what maneuvering room you really should leave. And it will give you a good idea why knowing how to do that stuff (turning on a dime going backwards w/o going up or down w/o using your hands etc. might actually come in handy. But to get started, important is to understand the reef destroying vessel that you are and it's maneuvering capabilities and to stay at distances that don't exceed those - camera in hands...
Yes, there is the school that says you should already practice all this real well before using a camera - it at heart is not really wrong at all.
I am more thinking along these lines:
If you stay well within your means (which you have to explore and re-evaluate based and conditions and your development) and if you are or really want to be a "photographer and a diver" more than an UW-tourist, then the camera and your interaction with it as a diver will give you more motivation all in itself to learn that stuff.
If you are however more an UW-tourist... and if you don't want to get that involved, please do stay within your means so that you indeed can not touch - which really also means not accidentally touch... (many are and that is all they strive to be and that is not meant in a belittling way it is how new divers are recruited into the sports of sorts... and it is OK if everyone dives within their means w/o touching) ... Anyway if that's where you stand and that's what you do, I don't see that as wrong...
The trouble are the uncontrolled UW-vessels that do "accidentally touch and bump"... and those that do it on purpose or worse are another story altogether...
I'll give you a quick and cheap exercise to do. Get a double-ender clip. Clip it on your gear - the best place would be where you would fasten a leash or similar from the camera (housing) to your gear.
(The leash prevents you from losing the camera in all kinds of circumstances, and is something I consider necessary).
Now, go diving with the double ender on your gear in place of the camera. Practice unclipping it and holding it in front of you kind of like you'd hold your camera.
When you can do that without losing trim, buoyancy, situational awareness (i.e. losing your buddy), flipping on your back, or generally start to feel "squared away" while doing it, then I'd say you could bring along your camera.
I'd also suggest planning a real nothing dive for the first time - just take the camera clipped to your gear to make sure it doesn't throw your trim off. If that's working, then unclip it and try some photos. Again, I recommend doing this in a shallow water (20-30ft) dive just so you aren't adding other factors to the dive.
(The leash prevents you from losing the camera in all kinds of circumstances, and is something I consider necessary).
Now, go diving with the double ender on your gear in place of the camera. Practice unclipping it and holding it in front of you kind of like you'd hold your camera.
When you can do that without losing trim, buoyancy, situational awareness (i.e. losing your buddy), flipping on your back, or generally start to feel "squared away" while doing it, then I'd say you could bring along your camera.
I'd also suggest planning a real nothing dive for the first time - just take the camera clipped to your gear to make sure it doesn't throw your trim off. If that's working, then unclip it and try some photos. Again, I recommend doing this in a shallow water (20-30ft) dive just so you aren't adding other factors to the dive.
Enough dives to have excellent buoyancy control, the diving aspect needs to be automatic, and you need to be comfortable enough to know how to deal with suddenly finding yourself all by your lonesome. Count the number of times you hit the bottom during a dive. If it's more than 4 your buoyancy skills aren't there yet.
Once you get to that point, you should take your camera with you multiple times without either a battery or memory card. You'll need to re-learn how to do some stuff that is now automatic while you have a camera in your hands. Practice all the checkout dive skills while you have a camera (mask removal and replacement, reg retrieval, air share, etc). Once you are comfortable with all that, THEN you can start attempting to take pictures. But the primary thing it teaches you is when NOT to take pictures. Sometimes dives just go sideways and you have to pull your head out of your canon to realize it.
If you are a course taking kind of person, I would recommend a buoyancy specific class, rescue and solo. A good UW photo class would also save you loads of time underwater too, but for some people figuring that stuff out is the fun part.
-Chris
Once you get to that point, you should take your camera with you multiple times without either a battery or memory card. You'll need to re-learn how to do some stuff that is now automatic while you have a camera in your hands. Practice all the checkout dive skills while you have a camera (mask removal and replacement, reg retrieval, air share, etc). Once you are comfortable with all that, THEN you can start attempting to take pictures. But the primary thing it teaches you is when NOT to take pictures. Sometimes dives just go sideways and you have to pull your head out of your canon to realize it.
If you are a course taking kind of person, I would recommend a buoyancy specific class, rescue and solo. A good UW photo class would also save you loads of time underwater too, but for some people figuring that stuff out is the fun part.
-Chris
I don't think anybody knows how long it "usually" takes. We all just know what we did.
I think a previous poster nailed it quite succinctly; some divers will never be ready to take a camera, others might be right after certification.
But I think driving a vehicle, at highway speeds, with a radio on, chatting with passengers, potentially dealing with weather and monitoring the actions of other drivers is much more tasking than taking a happy snappy along when diving... some of you guys must be scary drivers!
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