How do you video tape yourself underwater?

[teeth4u]

So I've seen a lot of videos of mermaids swimming around and the camera is fixed on the wall of a pool or something. I was wondering if you guys had any tips or tricks on how to do this? I'm also not sure what type of camera you use but mine is a regular camera with waterproof housing; the housing naturally floats so I'm not totally sure how to secure it underwater. Any ideas?

[AniaR]

suction cups, weights, tripods you don't mind getting wet, leaning on a ledge, having someone hold it for you.

[Mermaid Lorelei]

So far I've had success with weights (using Mermaid Cyanea's camera) and having someone else hold it.

[drucilla]

What cameras are you guys using?

[AniaR]

you can buy loads of different cheap underwater point and shoots.

[teeth4u]

What cameras are you guys using?

I have a pretty nice digital camera that shoots good video quality so I just use that. I bought a waterproof case for it online for like $10 or $20 and it works great!

It looks like I'll need to invest in some weights and figure out how to attach to my camera.

[Winged Mermaid]

If it's a pretty nice digital camera, it should have a standard tripod attachment point at the bottom- it just looks like a hole with screw threads. Like the one beside the battery door here:

15643

Check the manual or measure it to make sure you know what the correct size is, otherwise the tripod you buy may not fit! The "standard" is a 1/4-20 (1/4" diameter, 20 threads per inch) socket, but not all cameras have that, so check. I use soft dive weights (these (http://www.amazon.com/Scuba-Diving-Filled-Weights-Pound/dp/B003JPKT54)) to hold my camera down and make sure it stays upright. I use 3 1lbs, but 2 would probably do the trick. Some tripods come with a weight hook or other weight holding attachments. You could probably finagle something together that would do the trick (tie the weight bag to the tripod, essentially) but it doesn't hurt to keep an eye out for that feature when you're shopping for tripods.

[teeth4u]

I don't think I will be purchasing a tripod for my camera mainly because the underwater housing I have for it blocks the tripod attachment. I ordered some dive weights today so I'm just going to have to play around with it a bit until I figure it out.

[Mermaid Melanie]

most underwater housings can be attached to a frame you can also get weights that screw onto the housing to make it negatively buoyant .. the GoPro Hero3 is an awesome camera for this sort of stuff - it comes with so many different attachments - surf board mounts, suction cups red filters, handle bar mounts - if you want some cool video of you swimming you can mount it on a long pole and swim while holding it or mount it on a pool wall etc plus it can shoot in HD and 3D

[Mermiah]

You could duct tape it to the wall of the pool temporarily ;D

[Mermaidmechanic]

Being a mechanic, I've found thousands of ways to keep a camera from floating away! The simplest way I've used is to make due with heavy submergable items you have lying around (even a nice rock!) and tie it to your camera. Then you can position it where you like. If you dont want to deal with knots, rubberbands work well (I've even used a hair tie) to keep your camera attached to your heavy item where you want it to be. XD

[teeth4u]

I still struggle with this mostly because I'll set the camera down underwater and won't know where it is looking. I get a lot of footage where I'm not fully in the shot or sometimes the camera changes positions on its own and then all I'm filming is water. Do you guys recommend letting the camera sit on the bottom of the pool or float in between the floor and the surface?

[Winged Mermaid]

Weigh that sucker down! That way it won't move around. Another reason I love the GoPro is you can angle it every which way. I try and position it before going down, adjust while I'm down placing the camera, then when I get to the surface I look downwards to make sure I know which way it's facing, and make a mental note. If I need to adjust again I go back down and do that. (My sig pic was actually me going down to adjust the camera, then ending up being accidentally graceful haha) For others I'll try and put it someplace more obvious, like right below the 5' marker, and tell them which direction it's pointing at. For deeper water I've weighed it on a nearby pool ladder that no one was using. Floating is no good. Floating = extreme shaky, unusable video. Believe me, I've tried.

[Kishiko]

Iona - the random standing mermaid in the background of your sig just cracks me up XD okay proceed with normal thread topic

[Mermaidmechanic]

In order for me to keep track of where the front was, I strategically placed dots with neon nail polish on the front of my waterproof case. Three yellow dots at the bottom, two orange dots at top, green on the sides.

[Winged Mermaid]

In order for me to keep track of where the front was, I strategically placed dots with neon nail polish on the front of my waterproof case. Three yellow dots at the bottom, two orange dots at top, green on the sides.

That's brilliant!

[Mermaidmechanic]

Haha... thanks. Its also how i keep track of which way important parts came out of a piece of equipment. :O

[MermaidStormy]

Awesome Idea :)
I just lean it on the edge at my pool but my camera is heavy so it just stays there but when I stick it to the wall I use sucker thing they do the trick amazingly :D