JDelage
Contributor
I'm just back from a trip in Puerto Galera, diving with Asia Divers all around Sabang (plus 3 trips to Verde Island). I used my iPhone 15 Pro Max in a Divevolk housing to take videos. My light was the Sola Pro 15000, and I had the whole thing on a Nautical Flexitray with the right handle only. I used the Blackmagic App rather than the native iPhone app. I used a blue dome port for the Sola light and a Keldan red filter in front of the phone's lenses.
Overall it works very well, and I thought I'd share some of my experience.
I travelled with my Sola light (+ 1 additional body) in my carry on. I went through Seoul on my way to Manila and you have to go through security as a transfer traveller there. My Sola battery pack raised alarms and my pack was pulled out to be investigated further. They asked to see the actual battery, which you cannot do on the Sola, as it's a completely sealed set. The officer looked aggrieved and it felt like they wouldn't allow me to go on with the lights. I then remembered that there's some writing on the light head itself so I separated the head from the battery body. They read what was there, were satisfied, and allowed me to move forward. Sigh.
Arriving, I found out that carrying out flexitray with the two handles attached had been a rookie mistake. My checked-in bag had been subjected to pressure or shock and one of the handle got ripped off from the tray. The screws used to attach the handle to the tray were striped and the handle couldn't be reattached, so I would have to do without the left handle. What I lost in stability I gained in convenience. The Divevolk housing opens from a side door, and once attached on the Nauticam Flexitray, there's no way to open the door and remove the phone while the housing is attached to the tray. Divevolk sells a tray which allows the housing to swivel, but that's not the case of my Flexitray. I attached my single light to the right handle via a large float arm. I found that I could easily do 3 dives on a single phone and light charge, as long as I only turned on the light when needed. I did one night dive where I used the Sola as my dive light and it easily lasted through the whole dive. I mostly left the light on its default 5000 lumen output and never used the full 15k available.
That set up worked quite well, but it was fairly unstable due to the light being attached to the right handle. There's a way to attach a cold shoe adapter centrally on the case but I'm not sure I would trust it with the weight of the video light. Not only was the rig not neutrally buoyant, it was also very top and right heavy. That wasn't too hard to manage by hand uw, but it meant I couldn't use a tripod for close ups. Note that the Sola light has a wide enough beam that having it slightly to the right of the lens wasn't really a problem.
The Divevolk membrane system worked very well when used in combination with the iPhone's assistive touch menu, which means I didn't have to use the scroll gestures, which are harder to execute with the membrane.
I had brought my old iPhone, in case I experienced a flooding. It turned out to be very useful as a way to text and browse the net between dives, using the hotel's wifi, rather than having to remove the iPhone 15 from the case. In practice I used the iPhone 15 during the day only as a video device, and only took it out of the case once done with dives for the day.
Things I'd do differently:
- Get the Divevolk tray and get the benefits of 2 handles.
- With two handles, position the light centrally, e.g., using two float arms.
- The blue dome + red filter might not be useful if doing mostly medium shots.
Feel free to ask any question. I'll see if I can post some sample footage.
Overall it works very well, and I thought I'd share some of my experience.
I travelled with my Sola light (+ 1 additional body) in my carry on. I went through Seoul on my way to Manila and you have to go through security as a transfer traveller there. My Sola battery pack raised alarms and my pack was pulled out to be investigated further. They asked to see the actual battery, which you cannot do on the Sola, as it's a completely sealed set. The officer looked aggrieved and it felt like they wouldn't allow me to go on with the lights. I then remembered that there's some writing on the light head itself so I separated the head from the battery body. They read what was there, were satisfied, and allowed me to move forward. Sigh.
Arriving, I found out that carrying out flexitray with the two handles attached had been a rookie mistake. My checked-in bag had been subjected to pressure or shock and one of the handle got ripped off from the tray. The screws used to attach the handle to the tray were striped and the handle couldn't be reattached, so I would have to do without the left handle. What I lost in stability I gained in convenience. The Divevolk housing opens from a side door, and once attached on the Nauticam Flexitray, there's no way to open the door and remove the phone while the housing is attached to the tray. Divevolk sells a tray which allows the housing to swivel, but that's not the case of my Flexitray. I attached my single light to the right handle via a large float arm. I found that I could easily do 3 dives on a single phone and light charge, as long as I only turned on the light when needed. I did one night dive where I used the Sola as my dive light and it easily lasted through the whole dive. I mostly left the light on its default 5000 lumen output and never used the full 15k available.
That set up worked quite well, but it was fairly unstable due to the light being attached to the right handle. There's a way to attach a cold shoe adapter centrally on the case but I'm not sure I would trust it with the weight of the video light. Not only was the rig not neutrally buoyant, it was also very top and right heavy. That wasn't too hard to manage by hand uw, but it meant I couldn't use a tripod for close ups. Note that the Sola light has a wide enough beam that having it slightly to the right of the lens wasn't really a problem.
The Divevolk membrane system worked very well when used in combination with the iPhone's assistive touch menu, which means I didn't have to use the scroll gestures, which are harder to execute with the membrane.
I had brought my old iPhone, in case I experienced a flooding. It turned out to be very useful as a way to text and browse the net between dives, using the hotel's wifi, rather than having to remove the iPhone 15 from the case. In practice I used the iPhone 15 during the day only as a video device, and only took it out of the case once done with dives for the day.
Things I'd do differently:
- Get the Divevolk tray and get the benefits of 2 handles.
- With two handles, position the light centrally, e.g., using two float arms.
- The blue dome + red filter might not be useful if doing mostly medium shots.
Feel free to ask any question. I'll see if I can post some sample footage.
