Hi guys,
Where you keep your camera(photo or video) during kayaking?
It has to stay dry and in handy location to reach it fast.
PS. I like kayaking AND photography. 
Depends
in my long boats, i just have a drybag with a towel stuffed in it loosely closed in my lap. If I am in my whitewater boat, i keep it locked in a pelican / otter box behind the seat. This goes for both my video and still cameras.
http://joemess.smugmug.com
http://community.webshots.com/user/joemess
Andrew
pelican box
an hooked to a small bungee an attached to eyelet inside in case i flip just enough length on bungee so entrapment isn’t a factor. they sell bags as well. check out the links to the left i believe they have some here on p net.
Camera type
determines how I store it. If I’m using one of those disposable water cameras it rides on the cockpit floor willy-nilly. If it’s my digital it goes in a Pelican box behind the seat.
I have been known to carry
my pentax wr104 in a pfd pocket. And roll. No worries (yet).
otter box
with velcro straps attached to thwart of canoes, or to deck rigging on my yaks. ww
What kind of boat?
I LOVE the dayhatch of many british boats. That’s where my (good) camera rides.
My waterproof camera rides in my PFD pocket.
A third option is the cockpit, in a bag, assuming you’re not going to capsize.
Camera
In a Pelican box on flatwater or whitewater, in canoe or kayak.
Have a short loop of utility cord with a caribiner attached to loop, loop goes thru handle of Pelican box, then looped over canoe thwart, and biner locked. Box under deck bungee with biner attached to bungee on kayak. Still operational, never a drop of water in the box yet.
I miss a shot I want to take on occasion, but same camera has been used for canoeing & kayaking trips for over 10 years.
BOB
Disposable
I already trashed my digital in the ocean. Salt and sand just don’t do well with cameras. It seemed like no matter how hard I tried salt and sand seemed to get on it eventually. I gave up and went disposable. Now I keep it under the deck bungees and don’t worry about it. Pictures are pretty good too.
Pelican 1150
Big enough for the camera, cell phone, and room to spare. In most conditions the box sits on my spray skirt deck. If it is really windy it goes behind my seat but it’s a pain to get to. That is ok though. If it is that wet on deck I won’t be taking many pictures anyways.
deck bag
I keep mine in an otter box in my deck bag.
deck bag
I have a deckbag for my kayak, if it’s flat water I just keep it in a ziplock bag, if it’s rough paddling I have a Pelican case I keep it in, and i keep the case in the deckbag.
Disposable
I use the fugi outdoor 800 speed and simply tuck it into a front pocket on the pfd. At $3.49 from Wallyworld it does the job…albeit I can’t download onto the computor as soon as I get it home(downside)
Olympus C-740 UZ
with PT-018 underwater case. Will never have to worry about it anywhere, good to 130’ deep, so anything I do to it in the kayak is nothing.
Bag
In a waterproof bag prchased at Galyan’s; with my wallet and car keys which I store in the hatch.
Welcome to the club!
I’ve come to the conclusion that if you want to do much on-the-water shooting, you need a waterproof camera. This is especially true if you want to take “action” shots. I know that many people carry cameras in Pelican cases or waterproof deckbags for protection, but they’re, slow, inconvenient and personally I won’t risk my SLR that way. When I carried the SLR on the water, I also found that I spent more time worrying about the camera than making images and I couldn’t use it in anything other than relatively flat conditions. When the paddling was the most interesting, the camera had to stay in it’s waterproof cocoon.
I’ve also found that digital offers big advantages on the water and currently do all such shooting with a Canon S60 in a waterproof housing. On our recent trip to Shetland, I was able to shoot 70-100 images without changing batteries. The 1 GB memory card in the camera held over 750 full resolution, 5 Megapixel images. Linda and I downloaded our images (she has an S50 and a housing) to a laptop each night (for backup), recharged the batteries and were ready to go again within an hour. Next time, I’ll carry a spare battery, just in case.
The Canon waterproof case is somewhat bulky, so I usually just carry it in my lap, but tethered to the deck rigging. Before shooting, I’ll either dunk it and shoot quick or lick the lens port to clear it.
Sony makes a range of cameras for which they also make compact housings that will fit in a PFD pocket or can be tucked inside your PFD. The housings don’t offer the full controls of the Canons, but they may offer enough control for paddling photos.
If you want to shoot film, the Pentax WR series cameras (WR-90, 95 and 105) produce surprisingly good results for the money. I picked up a WR-90 “demo” in a Ritz Camera Ebay auction for $82 delivered and the images it produces are nearly as good as my SLR’s. These are “dunkproof” cameras, not submersible, but they work fine for kayaking.
If you want to see some images made with the Canon S50 and S60, I’ve posted several albums of photos from Shetland on the second page at:
http://community.webshots.com/user/brian_nystrom
They’ve been reduced to 640x480 for easy viewing, but if you want any full resolution images for evaluation, I can email some to you.
small camera
in small dry box under foredeck inside cockpit.
Pentax
Pentax also make 2 waterproof digital cameras (WR33 and WR44?). One is 3MP and other is 4MP, both has zoom. Street price around $300. Image is comparable with other digital of the same price.
Don’t forget the good ol’ ammo box
If you have a beater boat that won’t be bothered by a sharp-cornered steel box, army surplus ammo boxes are great. That’s what I used until I started spending most of my on-water time in Kevlar boats (now I have a Pelican box). Ammo boxes are very cheap, and either the 30 cal. or 50 cal. is likely to be about the right size for most needs, and they (most of them, at least - test it to be sure) are totally waterproof.
Pentax WR43
Just got into kayaking and got my pentax about 10 days ago. Nice and small camera. Have rolled with it and no problems yet. Keeping the lens scratch free will be a problem since it has no built in cover and will not accept a filter (why do they always build Digicams without threads?)or even a lens cap.
The zoom range and image quality make this a snapshot camera for people pics. Not really useful for most wild life. Needs a good dose of sharpening in PS for decent prints. But at 300 bucks, a pretty good camera considering you don’t need to buy a housing.
I carry it flat on skirt or the deck folded in a chamois.