Photography from a Sea Kayak...

Hey gang, Nancy & I are getting into sea kayaking and I am wondering if any of you do photography from a sea kayak and if so what steps do you take to protect your valuable camera gear.

Sea Kayaking is a GREAT way to get into areas that would otherwise not be accessible. But I do want to be careful with my trusty Canon 1D Mark II and a bag full o lenses whilst out on the water.

A submersible waterproof camera case would work but it seems like overkill and would also limit my lens choices.

Any and all input on this would be greatly appreciated!!

Hey Rick I live in the desert but I still get the kayaking bug every now and then. The last time I did I ran across this site by Gary Luhm. I'm sure if the info isn't on the site that he could help you if you would contact him. Remember to keep the dry side up Here's the site https://home.comcast.net/~gluhm/bio/FAQ.htm#lens

We use waterproof "canoe" bags for stowing gear not in use. Keeping a camera and lens handy is problematic however, especially as lens stretch. This is especially true getting into or out of the kayak when you are likely to be dragging water with your feet.

Our solution is to put the camera/lens into a heavy plastic garbage bag between our knees with the top of the bag extending up beyond the spray skirt. The point is "splash" proofing. You can push the top of the bag beneath the skirt when not in use, yet pull it up when you need to shoot.

Keeping that gear dry is essential and to be quite honest, what I would do is maybe keep a water resistant point and shoot handy for those shots you are wanting to take while you are actually paddling as depending on the type of paddling you are doing ( ocean, lakes, rivers ) you are always having to adjust for the wind, currents, swells, and waves moving you around and I would not want to lose your beloved gear......ouch..... Put your gear in drybags as you can buy various sizes and most do stretch alittle. You can also put clothes around them to help cushion them while in the bag. Also available are waterproof deckbags which attach to the lines on your deck. My father has bought a complete underwater housing unit for his Olympus digital, but it is very big and cumbersome, but this may be an option as well.

A couple companies to look at for the bags are SealLine and Voyageur. Also a good net site to go and get information from is paddling.net. Happy shooting and paddling!!!!!!!!!!!!

Talk about 6 degrees of seperation! I was just reading an article Gary wrote in Sea Kayaker Magazine this morning.

His information on his website is VERY helpful!! Thanks for the link to this info Richard!!

Considering the thousands of dollars you are talking about, I don't think there is any such thing as "over kill." For starters, pare down what you bring. You will want an ultrawide and a medium tele zoom. Your IS lenses are perfect since you can't really use a tripod in the boat (unless you beach it.) Longer lenses (100-400mm) are harder to use because the boat is in constant motion. I use the dry bags and they have worked well for me. However, I have relatively cheap gear and am now fairly experienced in my little boat. If I had big money gear, I'd spend the couple of hundred to get the best protection, or take a waterproof digital camera instead. I'll mention that as a bonus, the Pelican etc. cases float in case you flip over.


Kent in SD

It really depends on what kind of sea kayaking you're doing. I use my sea kayak on both fresh water and salt. On fresh water (streams, creeks) I'll put my camera on the floor, on a ensolite pad, between my legs for easy retrieval. My camera bag is usually behind my seat where I can also reach it. For salt water, camera goes into a good dry bag, camera bag into a separate dry bag, and then it all goes into the rear bulkhead compartment. So far, never had any problems. I've never flipped with it, but I feel pretty confident it would be ok if that happens.