Fishing Inner Tube for photography?

I used to fish a lot when I was growing up and one of my favorite ways to do this in HS was to use an inner tube. I could wear flippers and easily navigate around small ponds and lakes.

A benefit of this from a photographic standpoint is that wildlife is seldom afraid of people on the water and I have been very close to various wildlife while I was fishing. I thought I might be able to put a beanbag or something across the front to brace my newly purchased 400L on (since it doesn't have IS). Anyone have any suggestions? I was also thinking about designing a homemade bipod that I could attach my lens to, but my mind is coming up blank with how to actually do this.

Here is the one I'm looking at.

Insurance! LOL
Sounds cool though!

kayl wrote in post #10347155
Insurance! LOL
Sounds cool though!

Yeah, my gear is already insured.... I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to stabilize my lens with the setup.

40d - Not sure I can be much help....You generally stabilize your camera/lens from a solid platform....not sure water qualifies. How do people shoot from a moving platform? Boats, trains, cars. Might be worth the effort to find out some tricks/tips for when you are moving fwiw....

...old

Most people on boats shoot hand-held, which might work for you in a floating device. On the other hand, if you could figure out how to attach a cut-off tri-pod, that might also work with fast shutter speed. It probably depends on how calm the water is.

This sounds like it is going to end in tragedy!

Good luck.

call me evil, but when I was trying to picture it in my head, it's hillarious

Speaking from experience on a boat... go handheld. Your body kind of adjusts for movements on the water. If you try fixing it to your tube (or other watercraft) you'll get more movement.

I shoot from a 10' flat bottom boat and I try to pick the brighter days and shoot hand held as much as possible. Actually, using a tripod in a boat is a help to an extent but it is VERY confining since you can not swing like you can on dry land. I find that the movement of the boat while using a tripod is slower then the shake of my hands. That said, like I mentioned, I personally try to handhold and get days when that is possible. You will be surprised that can easily shoot with the 400 handheld. If you need to steady a bit, you can brace your arms on the tube and you will see a good deal of help in slowing the shakes from your body. I am shooting the 40d with a 400 5.6. I set my iso to 400 the vast majority of time. It would go without saying to avoid windy days!!! If you use a polarizer, you will probably need to up the iso for most handholding. It sucks up 2 full stops on mine and except on the brightest days, it takes the shutter speed significantly lower and often pushes me into shutter speeds that are to low for quality shots.

Check out the one-man inflatable pontoons. They are really starting to replace float-tubes for fishing. They have two 8-10 foot pontoons making them incredibly stable. They have oars, but you can still use flippers to control the craft. This leaves both hands free for fishing (or photographer). They are very stable, and I don't hesitate taking gear out on it. The only time anything gets wet is if it starts raining when I am on the water. With the longer pontoons it also has less movement than the tube.

For stabilization I agree with LV Moose. Go hand held. Up your ISO if you need to. If you attach a brace to a moving object it is just going to transfer that movement to the camera.