OUCH, $600 Dive camera LOST - Better Securement Methods?

[RockyHeap]

There I was in Maui, 1st dive of the first day of a vacation shooting some pictures of corals along a wall dive. I've had 20 dives with the housing/camera, so I was pretty used to handling it underwater.

I'd just shot a couple photos at 40 foot depth, flippered along for a bit and fiddled with my mask, then reached over to grab the camera off my right wrist and it just wasn't there. Whether the wrist cinch strap broke, or it came off my gloved wrist/hand, I don't know.........we kicked up to the surface real quick but the winds had 1-2' chop whipped up, a bit of current, and after a swim about plus walk down the beach we just couldn't find it. :11: :11: :11:

OUCH, there goes a Nikon 4 meg pixel 4300 camera/Fantasea housing/256 meg chip. $600 goneeeee "down the drain". Gawd I was sickened and pissed off at myself.

Sooooooo to chalk this up as a learning experience, I'm curious how other people secure their camera housing.

Just a wrist strap? Nope, not for me anymore. I've heard of using a tray with a tether to the tray, and I've also seen spring retractor cords so it stays close the body and secure. I've got a tray and Bonica strobe, but wasn't using it on this dive.

Do people also like a Positive or Negative weighted camera? The Fantasea housing was very positive, and I'm thinking its better to have your camera sink to the bottom, rather than float away as a sacrifice to the dive gods.

I've also heard that Home Owners insurance may pay for the loss, anyone have any luck claiming something like this?

I'd REALLY like to hear different and better methods of securing the camera. Usually it is always in my hand, but that's hard to do while clearing your mask.

Separate Tether? Spring Retractor? Clip it to the BCD with a Q/D spiral phone cord type cable? What works well for you?

thanks......sigh......what an emotional drain that was to just have it "disappear"....

 

[Iruka]

Had a customer lose a $3,000 UW video camera..unfortunately, it was almost perfectly neutrally buoyant (I knew this from letting go of it pre-dive to see what it would do...helps to know where to look for it later..up or down) and went who knows where. We spent ~2 hours with 3 or 4 people going over the site again (2 dives) just looking for that camera. It's on the bottom of Apra Harbor, Guam, I guess...but it's been there 3 or 4 years. Anyhow, I think one of those retractor clips that can stretch is a good idea...I think that's the telephone spiral cable thingy you referred to...with them, you should be able to clip it "close" to your BCD when you're exiting, climbing the ladder, etc....and release that clip to give you a couple feet to work with when you're taking photos...but still one end is clipped on to your BCD...that's what we use here...maybe even a second string or something clipped on for extra safety, but then you have the potential of getting things tangled up. On the other question, I prefer slightly negative....90% of the diving people do, there's a "reachable" bottom beneath them, and you (or someone) can go back & retrieve the lost camera/computer/fin etc. Once things get to the surface, depending on winds, currents, etc, they can be lost forever. Ocean's a big place...especially if you don't know you've lost it right away. I've even had customers KNOW they've lost a "floater" during the dive, but not TELL me until the end of the dive! Tell me right away & I can usually go fetch it. Of course, a camera getting away from you presents 2 health risks....making an ascent to get it...possibly from a deep spot (and when I have customers down there waiting for me, I can't take as long to do it as I'd like) OR doing a deep bounce dive AFTER getting back on the boat...I'm aware of a guide here in Guam getting bent chasing a fin down that she'd dropped while removing it from a customer getting on the ladder.

 

[Wristshot]

I use a coiled lanyard cable and a wrist strap on my camera. It can make it a little tricky climbing a ladder, and watch out for the "helpful" crew members that are anxious to try to take the camera from you upon ascent of the ladder.

I just feel better having the redundancy of two attachment methods. My biggest concern is that both attach to the same point on the PT-015 housing at the moment. Long term I will find a better solution, but that is what I am doing right now.

Wristshot.

 

[Gilligan]

I am a firm believer in a handle/tray with some type of lanyard or leash connected to the tray or handle. That way any pulling or tugging will be on the handle/tray and not on the "pinchy" wrist strap eyelets that are on many of the prosumer housings.
I used a handle/tray with my PT-010 from day 1 even w/o the external strobe and always carried my camera in my hand. The handle makes it very easy to carry and to hand to boat crew members. I realize many of the housings are smaller than my PT-010 and the temptation is to put it in a BCD pocket, hang it form your BCD or on your wrist. Many divers with compact housings (no external strobe) do not want to carry their camera in their hand all the time.
Out of sight - out of mind.
As RockyHeap stated, $600. gone, not down the drain, but likely drifting towards Tahiti.

Put your name and complete phone number inside the housing with a Sharpie or on a label. There are still enough people out there that would return it to you if they found it.

 

[bleach]

I have the same camera and a cp-04pro housing. I also got the Sunpak G-Flash strobe which came with a Tray and arm with a nice grip surface. Even though I had the landyard from my wrist to the camera I found myself almost never letting go of the grip on the arm it was so comfortable.

 

[fdog]

All my housings are pretty negative. I do not dive with a wrist tether, strap or retractor on them.

They are either in my hand (and it's a pretty good chunk of stuff so I have to hold it firmly) or on the bottom where I left it.

The closest I've come to a tether was in the case of a blue-water, bottomless dive...I regreted the tether when it floated into the frame on quite a few otherwise great shots.

When I dive with a camera, that's all I do, shoot photos. So I'm very housing aware.

All the best, James

 

[BubbaFetta]

: there goes a Nikon 4 meg pixel 4300 camera/Fantasea housing/256 meg chip. $600 goneeeee "down the drain"..

I feel your pain, buddy...
The same thing happened to me last year whilst diving in the South China Sea:
got hit by a 4.5 knot current unexpectedly, and the retaining strap broke...
As the camera was positively buoyant, it started spiraling straight up.
As we were 18 hours from the closest port (no heli-evac possible), I wasn't going to risk being bent to save a camera...
To top it off, the camera was borrowed.
I thought I could "save" some money by borrowing the camera for that expedition, but, as it turned out, I had to fork out $600 to replace it after the trip...

Sigh...

-BubbaFetta

 

[Dee]

I use a coiled lanyard like Iruka describes. It's not in the way while I'm shooting and IF I have to drop the camera for some reason, I know exactly where to find it. My rig is slightly negative. If a housing doesn't come with a counterweight, it's easy to make one yourself.

Get gear/camera insurance! I use DEPP and wouldn't take a camera in any water without it. As you found out, it only takes once to pay for itself! Not only loss but repairs and theft. Coverage is very affordable.

 

[DivingGal]

This thread will show the type of connection that Dee, and many of the rest of us use. You'll see that we highly recommend it!

 

[JMD123]

I just bought a housing for my camera. My whole rig has around a 4 to 5 thousand dollar replacement value. If I listed on my home owners insurance it cost me an extra 67 dollars a year. But if I lose it for "any reason" the insurance company will replace it with no deductable. I plan on using tether just in case