What Should I Charge First at Night for Underwater Photography?

Underwater photography is a rewarding but technically demanding discipline. After a day of diving and capturing the stunning marine world, the evening routine becomes crucial. Charging your gear efficiently and safely not only ensures you’re ready for the next dive but helps protect your valuable equipment from salt-induced corrosion and damage.

With 12 years of experience shooting from small day boats to liveaboards, and a lesson learned the hard way about flooding a housing early in my career, I’ve developed a systematic approach to handling and charging my gear at night. In this post, I’ll walk you through what you should charge first at night, focusing on essential tools like your underwater camera housing, buttons, dials, hinges, and electrical connections.

Why Prioritize Charging and Maintenance?

Underwater photo gear is sensitive to moisture and salt. Saltwater removal before opening housings, safe handling of gear in shared rinse tanks, maintaining a dry workspace, and backing up data properly will protect your equipment and images. Let’s explore these steps carefully.

Step 1: Saltwater Removal Before Opening Housings

Before you even think about opening your underwater camera housing, it’s crucial to thoroughly rinse it with fresh water. Saltwater residues promote corrosion and can damage:

Buttons and dials: Salt crystals can clog or jam operational controls.
Hinges and latches: These are mechanical points vulnerable to rust.
Electrical connections: Saltwater is conductive and can cause shorts or corrosion over time.

Rinse your entire housing gently but thoroughly in fresh water immediately after your dive. Use a dedicated rinse tank or fresh water shower onboard. Never take the housing apart while saltwater residue is still present.

Pro tip:

I keep a tiny flashlight just for inspecting o-rings and controls after rinsing to ensure no salt remains. This habit avoids costly leaks and maintains smooth operation of buttons and dials.

Step 2: Safe Handling in Shared Rinse Tanks

On liveaboards or in dive centers, you might share rinse tanks with other photographers. Avoid letting your housings and gear bang together, which can cause scratches, loosen buttons, or damage delicate electrical contacts.

Place housings gently and apart using padded separators if possible.
Keep smaller components like strobes, dive computers, and battery cases in separate mesh bags.

Never leave housings clanking together in a single rinse tank.

Step 3: Dry Workspace Habits to Avoid Corrosion

After rinsing, establishing a dry, clean workspace is vital to preventing corrosion and damage.

Use microfiber towels dedicated only to your gear to pat dry housings and strobes.
Never open the housing on a wet bench or storage surface.
Check all electrical connectors and hinge points for dryness and apply appropriate grease sparingly to o-rings, not electronic contacts.
Label chargers and cables with masking tape to keep everything organized and avoid fumbling in dim lighting.

Remember: the “grease” is for o-rings to maintain a good seal — it is not a lubricant for hinges or electrical parts. Misapplying grease can cause damage or operational failure.

Step 4: What Should I Charge First at Night?

Knowing which device’s battery to recharge first can make a difference in your dive day readiness.

Charging Priority:

Camera Body Battery

Your camera is the heart of underwater photography, and its battery can drain fast during shooting. Charge the camera body battery first to ensure you’re ready to shoot at dawn. A fully charged camera battery gives peace of mind and allows you to capture every moment without worrying about power.

Strobes and Lights

Next, focus on strobes and lights. These consume significant power and are critical for proper exposure and color underwater. Prioritize charging strobes and LED video lights after your camera body battery.

Dive Computer and Laptop

Finally, recharge your dive computer and laptop. While essential, your dive computer’s battery typically lasts longer than the camera or strobes. Laptops are often used later in the evening for image backups and editing, so you can afford to charge them after the photo gear.

Device Reason to Charge First Approximate Charging Time Camera Body Battery Essential for capturing images. Drains quickly during dives. 2-3 hours Strobes and Lights Critical for illumination and color accuracy underwater. 3-4 hours Dive Computer Monitors dive safety parameters; longer battery life. Varies, usually 1-2 hours Laptop Used for backups and image review; charge after photo gear. Varies widely

Additional Tips for Charging and Managing Batteries

Label all chargers and cables clearly with masking tape.
Use surge protectors or power strips with USB ports to optimize charging space.
Charge batteries only after you have verified your backups are complete for the day.

Step 5: Two-Device Backups and Verification

Backing up your images is as important as maintaining your gear. A common mistake is rushing into editing before securing backups — avoid this!

Immediately after transferring photos from your camera to your laptop or external hard drive, make a second backup to a different device.
Check that files opened correctly in both backup locations before deleting or clearing SD cards.
Never format memory cards on day one without confirming successful backups — I get annoyed when people do this, as it risks losing valuable images.

Pro caution: Label your backup drives and disks clearly to avoid confusion and loss.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Leaving housings to bang together in rinse tanks — this causes button and dial damage.
Calling grease “the thing that makes the seal” — it preserves o-ring elasticity but won’t fix damaged seals or prevent all leaks.
Spending hours editing images before making a second backup — always backup first.

Final Thoughts

After years of underwater shooting, I’ve developed habits that keep my camera housings operational and my batteries ready, while protecting my images and gear. Your vacuum valve test night charging routine should begin with thorough fresh water rinsing, careful handling in shared spaces, and prioritized charging of camera body batteries, followed by strobes, lights, and supporting electronics like dive computers and laptops.

By following these steps and maintaining organized, labeled batteries and chargers, you maximize your shooting time in the water and minimize hassle and risk. Remember, a little patience and attention to detail at night pays huge dividends underwater.