Stability issues

[ksporry]

Hi Guys,

I recently got the attached setup for my underwater camera (Olympus camera, Nauticam housing and Z240 strobes).
With this configuration I noticed that the handle bars are quite unstable for this setup. As such I am considering adding a bracket of some sort on the top of the two handle bars above the housing to add stiffness to the construction.
Does anyone know of a bracket for this nauticam setup (the housing and arms are nauticam) that would do the trick? Would I need to make one myself?

As a secondary question, on land, gravity makes the setup heavy, especially with the strobes apart as in the image. On land this requires the clamps to be tightened quite a bit, to the point that it becomes very hard to adjust the position of the arms. Would this be resolved if I attached the floating arms to the strobes (i.e. swap the arms) making the strobes more floating? Is there another way? (I was told that the dome on this camera makes the housing quite buoyant, which implies that floating arms close to the body is not required, but floating arms close to the strobes may be appreciated...).

Any advice will be appreciated!

Thanks!
K

 

[ProfF]

Congrats on the new setup. It looks great.

Regarding your questions. I have a similar one (E-PL3 nauticam + handles + 2 strobes).

* You can get/make a lanyard to serve as topside handle (Nauticam 18cm / 7? Lanyard With 2 Snap Hooks [nau.25411] - $35.00 : Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros for example). I made one myself. I use it to clip onto the arms to carry the setup above water. Sometimes I also clip it to the clamp handles (between the arm segment) and this allows for easier carrying when you have a long-arm setup like yours.

* I would not worry about the arm positions topside -- you are not using it for photography there. I open the arms to the right position after entering the water, it is much easier then. I think you can play with the location of the floats to see what works better for you. My sense is that you want the center of mass (weight-flotation) on the camera, and so it would be easier where they are right now, but I might be wrong.

* Nauticam has arm stabilization for the larger housings (DSLRs) but not for the mirrorless ones. I also used to worry about it, but in the water it is less of an issue.

Enjoy!

-Nir

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

I also use the same housing with the same Inon arms and strobes. It is true that the grips flex a bit, I think that is why they call it the flex tray. After more than a year of heavy use I have had no problems above or below water with this system. When I carry the system out of the water I rest the strobe arms over my arm so that the weight of the system is distributed between both grips but other than that I am not worried to hold the system by one grip. The addition of closed cell foam blocks can help balance the system in the water. Different lens and dome port combinations will require a different amount of flotation.

Phil Rudin