New toys, new problems....

When shooting on land I always have the canon neckstrap attached to my digital rebel but of course I have to remove it when I dip it into the water.

I guess it will be quit anoying to constantly attach and remove the strap during a holiday. How do all of you handle this? Is ther any quick-release strap out there or do you have your DSLR purely for uw-fun? Or is it even unmasculine to use a neckstrap

No! I don´t have enough money for a second body!!! :wink:

Chris

Get one w/ quick release snaps or buckles.

Cheers
James

If I am doing a trip with mainly UW photography and just a bit of land photography I tend to forego the neckstrap.

Similar question from a beginner:

Do you fix your camera/housing somehow to your gear underwater or do you just keep it in your hands? If yes, how do you fix it?

Daniel

i always have it clipped to my gear, typically with a "springy/thingy layniard" (no idea what you call it) that i clip to my bc.
you never really know when you will need 2 hands to do something, imho.
/paul

Clipped off to BC.
Neckstrap on... neckstrap off... neckstrap on... neckstrap off...
Heck, I'm getting pretty good at removing/replacing it now.

For my S40/50 Setup with one DS125 I use two retractors that I clipon the D rings on the left and right side of my BCD. They are not strong enough above water but under water.

The big plus is, that i can just take my hands of the camera, and it is savley at my brest. Very important for emergency situations.

I'm pretty unsure if i can do something similar with my Housing for the d60 but I'll try.

Simon

You haven't seen the annoyance of this until you use a camera like the 1D/1Ds that has a hand grip strap as well. You can't just take the thing off -- you have to "disassemble" it, and the "reassemble" it.

But I've gotten good at it. The Seacam housing is so snug that you can't fit any portion of a strap in it -- even the part left behind after quick-release.

I often shoot without any strap. But sometimes I get scared shooting like that.

Lowepro makes a nice padded strap and the remaining bits from the quick release are much smaller than the ones from Op-tech. Fits inside the Subals fine.

My solution for keeping my housing near me is composed of 2 climber's carabiners and 4 feet of braided climber's rope (1/4"). 1 carabiner clips to the BC D-ring (Sherwood Outback), the other clips on to a stainless ring that's inserted into a slot provided by Subal under the right side strobe mounting bracket.

I've found retractors to be rather unreliable if you're talking about housed SLR systems....the drag alone caused by the housing and 2 strobes is enough to cause them to unwind the retractor....

I knew someone who used a neckstrap around their Nikonos rig...got caught in a current and the rig spun around in such a way to almost choke the photographer, luckly someone was close by and was able to untangle the mess!

Stu

My answer to that nagging situation, I got a DOMKE strap which is quite similar to the Lowe pro but the clips are located better and took two 3 inches lenghts of narrow web strap, stiched thoses in a loop around the camera lugs on my D100. Results I can remove the strap in two second and there is no metal clips ore rings chipping my camera finish ore making noise when I am shhoting wildlife topside

Jean Bruneau / Aquatica

I've just gotten to the point that I don't use a neckstrap. I generally just use a holster type bag on a shoulder strap when I'm out shooting on land. Another alternative is to have 2 camara bodies I suppose, one with a strap and one without!

I always strap the camera/housing to my gear with a snappy coil. Should you need to assist someone what do you do with the camera now. Drop the camera...help the person....drop the camera...help the person. Less debate and more chance of you helping that person out. Also can be helpful when doing safety stops in heavy current while hanging on to the anchor line. Sometime you need two hands to hang on with.

I use the same thing (LowePro) on land. It accomodates the body with a 28-85 lens extra batteries etc. It even has it's own little rain pauncho that is attached and zips into a zippered pocket. It also hangs over the front of my seat while looped through the middle seat belt in my truck, and goes with me every day. I used a neck strap for 20+ years before that but felt like the camera was too exposed in inclimate weather.

Underwater, I use one of the telephone cords with the quick release that you snap in tight while not using the camera. I think they come from Trident.

Same here UW. It's a Trident coil lanyard with a bolt snap on either end. I clip one to my BC and one to the housing. I thought about using a length of rope with clips, but was worried about entaglement on wrecks, etc, due to the length I'd want. The coil lanyard adjust to whatever length I need as I need it, which is great. During safety stops, I clip it back together so it's short and let it hang from my BC. In cases where I have to help I do exactly what Todd described, drop the camera, help, then recover the camera.

I usually carry a film body with me for land-shooting and trips and keep a strap on that. If I want to shoot topside with the digital, I just do without a strap, as it takes too long to attach and detach. I have a small Lowepro holster case that fits around the S2 or F100, and it has a strap.

Underwater, if you're using one of the larger housed DSLRs with big strobes and long arms, the retractor systems with plastic clips designed for smaller cameras may not be the most appropriate.

I have a pair of brass "suicide clips" attached to the strobe arms near the clamps between the two arm sections. When the arms are folded and clipped in, both clips are at the top. I clip one (and sometimes both) to the chest D-rings.

This, by the way, is the only place I'll accept suicide clips on my gear. I used to use bolt snaps, but sometimes found it difficult to clip on or unclip at the surface in heavy waves, either when I'd just been handed the camera from the boat or wanted to hand it up. The suicide clips are attached to the arms with large stainless steel rings, which can be removed if the clip somehow got jammed or fouled, which seems unlikely.

Using two clips makes it easy to quickly find one and clip it on. It also makes it possible to carry the rig on my chest easily and symmetrically for long swims against a current, or if I need both hands to set a delayed SMB or to render assistance to another diver.

If I've got a long walk with the housing, I sometimes clip both of the suicide clips onto a spare arm section or something similar and use that as a handle for balanced carrying.

Frogfish, what are these "suicide clips"?

I went out and bought a pair of "spriny-thingy-lanyards", tryind to decide on that side of BC would be best to fasten to. And should trobe be on upper or lower side when fastened to BC? Reasoning that if it is uop, it will bump arms, but it it is down, and I need to drop camera in emergency I might hit and damage strobe... maybe I worry too much? How do you guys handle this?