Expensive weekend

Pkiernan

Just got back from Catalina Island (off the Los Angeles coast).

Great SCUBA weekend, seeing octopus, rays, flounders, a Sunfish, seals and a half eaten dead shark (got a bit nervous then).

Unfortunately on the last dive I lost my GoPro camera with 6 hours of video on it.

How do you guys secure gear like cameras etc?

Black Swan

Pkiernan wrote: »

Unfortunately on the last dive I lost my GoPro camera with 6 hours of video on it.

How do you guys secure gear like cameras etc?

Consider using a floatation backdoor with your cam. If not, then there are several types of mounts (head, arm, chest, etc.), or a tether of some sort.

Regarding your missing cam, both Avalon and Two Harbors have Visitor Service Centers with "Lost and Found." Have you contacted them?

Rew

There is a small gap in the hinge at the back to attach a tether to it. They sink like stones as you unfortunately discovered. Tether and floating backdoor are probably the best option to recover it if the worst happens.

http://www.iwindsurf.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=151698

You should also put a text file on the memory card with all your contact info. I used a label maker to mark my name on all my stuff (my self and my friends share cameras and mounts around a fair bit) and and on the camera base I put my contact info.

PCPhoto

I use a surfboard/boogieboard wriststrap thingy to keep hold of my camera/housing (Canon 5D, 2 strobes and sea&sea housing).

Pkiernan

Black Swan wrote: »

Consider using a floatation backdoor with your cam. If not, then there are several types of mounts (head, arm, chest, etc.), or a tether of some sort.

Regarding your missing cam, both Avalon and Two Harbors have Visitor Service Centers with "Lost and Found." Have you contacted them?

The Captains of the dive boat usually ask their dive parties to keep an eye out for reported missing gear. Most divers will tend to turn it in.

I am pretty sure I lost it in the shallows (15 feet or so), as I was constantly checking that I still had it on my head while in the kelp.



The txt info file is a great idea.

Although I was into the camera and special housing for about $300, I am more annoyed about losing the video footage itself!

I am off to Hawaii next week, and they don't sell the GoPro 960 anymore. I preferred this over the full HD ones, as the file sizes are easier to handle. So I need to get a new HD one and a new flat lens case.

Pkiernan

I thought I had it bad - my dive buddy lost his $1200 Oceanic wireless on the same dive.

He lost it right in the thick of the kelp, so I doubt that will ever be found.

Catmologen

I put the head strap for the GoPro on under my hood, works like a charm.

Rew

Pkiernan wrote: »

The Captains of the dive boat usually ask their dive parties to keep an eye out for reported missing gear. Most divers will tend to turn it in.

I am pretty sure I lost it in the shallows (15 feet or so), as I was constantly checking that I still had it on my head while in the kelp.



The txt info file is a great idea.

Although I was into the camera and special housing for about $300, I am more annoyed about losing the video footage itself!

I am off to Hawaii next week, and they don't sell the GoPro 960 anymore. I preferred this over the full HD ones, as the file sizes are easier to handle. So I need to get a new HD one and a new flat lens case.

The Hero2 will do the same resolutions as the 960, it doesnt force you into using full HD. The quality of the lens, sensor and processor are way better as well not to mention a lot more flexibility in the field of view. They have just released the dive housing as well so you should be back running for about $400 including dive casing and memory card. Get a 32GB Class 10 SDHC card.

Quite a few stories of gopros turning up months later still in working condition, trick is reuniting it with its owner...

locum-motion

Rew wrote: »

...Quite a few stories of gopros turning up months later still in working condition, trick is reuniting it with its owner...

There's a video on Youtube of one being stolen by a seagull while it was recording. You can see the gull flying down and landing beside it, and then you can see him messing about with it a little, and then he picked it up and flew off!

Rew

Here is one that was lost at sea for 2 and a half months:

Pkiernan

My buddy who lost his DC found his GoPro in a lake in Arizona.

There were no owner details - when he checked the card, it had video of a guy beating up a woman and then pointing a gun at her!

He went further through the video, and the girl gets up covered in blood and smiling. Then he sees movie cameras in the background. Turns out it was some B movie being filmed.

The last footage is of someone jumping off a small cliff into the lake and the camera floating to the mud bottom.