DSLR

[Tricky Ricky]

Anyone carry a dslr with them on the water and how do you carry it? I looked at a deck bag but it seemed fiddly in sporty weather. I saw a zipped drybag that's been reviewed at 99 % waterproof....possibly stick with the tg5.

[Jim]

Don't paddle much with a camera now, but used to always carry my D80 in an ortileb aquazoom bag (not the plus, it isn't/wasn't waterproof). If it is too choppy to access in the bag, it is likely too choppy to operate a DSLR, in those situations I moved it to a hatch with the added bonus of clearing my deck a bit.

[Tricky Ricky]

Thanks Jim, I don't think the aquazoom is available anymore. Looks a good option though.

[Franky]

Ten years ago I had a bomb-proof dry bag that I kept a DSLR in on flat water trips. I can't for the life of me remember what brand it was. It was transparent and had an almost sticky rubbery seal that seemed to be 100% waterproof. It wasn't expensive. I lost it, and the local shop I bought it from stopped selling it. I've never found anything comparable, at any price.

The DSLR eventually got water in it (while out of the bag), and stopped working. It was a spare, so it didn't really matter.

I know none of that is much use to you. I'm just reminiscing.

To be honest, I wouldn't take a DSLR on a sea trip where things might get choppy, unless I didn't value the camera - dry bag or no dry bag. I've got excellent photos from an old Olympus Tough. I have to blow up the photos pretty big to see compromises in quality.

[ChrisJK]

I have a Nikon D90 and D7100 both of which have been great and I think I have used both on the water mostly dragged out of decent dry bags for brief sorties and I think I've been mostly in an inflatable when I used them. Personally unless it's pretty calm I don't think I'd bother now particularly in a sea kayak with all the faffing involved. I tend to use a smart phone in an aquapac
https://gopaddling.info/taking-your-mobile-paddling/ and accept I won't always get the shot I would like but a record will suffice.
There are hard watertight cases out there but probably not appropriate for sea kayaking.
Is there a Go Pro with a separate wireless mini (deck mountable) viewing monitor and the option to take stills/zoom or am I looking into the future?

[Franky]

Is there a Go Pro with a separate wireless mini (deck mountable) viewing monitor and the option to take stills/zoom or am I looking into the future?

I don't know of a viewing monitor. I'm not an expert, but I'd guess that transferring video data in real time, in addition to filming, would exhaust the battery too quickly to be practical.

GoPros have a Timelapse mode that takes photos at a frequency you set - e.g. every half second, 2 seconds, 5 seconds. You can set it to take photos or a video - either way, you can select frames to keep afterwards. Since the camera isn't working constantly, battery life is longer than if you're videoing in real time.

Of course, you can also set it to normal video mode, and choose frames for photos from that, if you're of a patient/obsessive nature.

As for zoom - I don't think there's an optical zoom, but modern GoPros have options for narrower fields of view that produce much more realistic footage, without the "feature flattening", curved horizons and extenuation of distance. So your subject doesn't always look a quarter of a mile away.

I use my GoPro for still photos a lot, when paddling and cycling, and the results are good - not super-high-resolution, but more than good enough for computer screens and prints.

[Sean_soup]

There are hard watertight cases out there but probably not appropriate for sea kayaking.

On the contrary, I think that probably is the way to go if you want access to a big non-waterproof camera on the water. Bulky, but a Peli case or similar on the front deck is about as accessible as it get short of a watertight sweetie hatch built into the boat.

[Owen]

There are hard watertight cases out there but probably not appropriate for sea kayaking.
I did at one time use a compact in a hard case, it made the compact about as big as a full size DSLR. It was quite expensive and once the camera gave up I was left with a hard case that nothing fitted. These days I use a waterproof Canon D30 compact and keep the DSLR and mirrorless cameras in a dry bag for use on land.

Is there a Go Pro with a separate wireless mini (deck mountable) viewing monitor and the option to take stills/zoom or am I looking into the future?

There's an app (isn't there always) that lets you control your GoPro from your phone/tablet. Works quite well but seeing the image on a phone screen in sunlight is a mare. There's also a remote switch but it's just on/off and no monitor.

[swagstaff]

Peli case kept under my knees inside the boat on the sea and on rivers.

[andynormancx]

Is there a Go Pro with a separate wireless mini (deck mountable) viewing monitor and the option to take stills/zoom or am I looking into the future?

Sort of looking into the past...

There used to be the Sony FDR-X3000, with optional waterproof case and optional remote monitor/controller. Sadly though that has been discontinued. And I don't think the remote itself was waterproof.

[ChrisJK]

Thanks for those comments. I nearly put in the link to Peli cases but I guess they would need to firmly attached to the deck.
Re Go pro I don't think I'm up to editing hours into minutes though I can see It might have been useful in analysing my recent swim and wet exit!
I'll stop before I nostalgically reminisce over my Minolta X700