Where do *you* put your floats?

[M DeM]

Arms a little short to add much flotation. My solution on a similarish rig is two INON mega float arms - "S" which each have 390g buoyancy, using a long clamp on the top elbow on each side facilitates getting the non flaot arm in close.

Yep - my arms are too short, so I was thinking of getting 8" or 12". I'm wondering if the buoyancy arms are better than the UL arms with floats... I'll check out those INON arms -- thanks!

 

[M DeM]

This photo illustrates what I guess is your problem:
View attachment 497693

On the left two fat arms are joined by a long clamp, they can be parallel, on the right a standard clamp is used the closest they can get is about 45° apart so the flash can't be bought in as close. You have a similar issue on your set of arms once you add floats to them. This is one of the reasons long clamps are offered. These are Nauticam clamps with INON float arms.

Those are the Mega Float S that you have on there, right? I've looked all over, but I can find no indication of what the ball clamp sizes are. Are they 1" like the UL arms?

 

[M DeM]

Heck of a rig there

Thanks -- the good news/bad news is that I bought it used. So I got a bargain, but I have to figure everything out as I go, especially since Subal doesn't make this model, (the CD7) any more!

 

[Chris Ross]

As far as I know all ball clamps on offer are the same size so interchangable. Yes the big ones are mega float "S" they are 390gr of buoyancy each. Float arms are nice but they come in "round" numbers only unless you invest in the Kraken adjustable arms which have a facility to let some water in so you can adjust the bouyancy. Which means you can only get so close to neutral, my rig is probably 100-200gr negative. Keep in mind that buoyancy changes as you change ports.

I can use two mega float S arms with two 8" plain arms with my fisheye and macro ports. With my 170mm dome port it's too much buoyancy so I switch to two float arms M and two ML (210 gr + 135 Gr = 345 gr each side ) with that port. Alternatively I could use the two mega arms and add some weight to the housing.

It is a good idea to weigh your rig underwater before you start Spending $$ on float arms, I use one of those electronic luggage scales. Then you can calculate how much bouyancy you need. Too much is bad - you do not want a positive camera rig!

 

[rwe]

Here is a Flicker link to a set of floats I made out of Divinycell (high density foam). They suspend the housing in a way that doesn't require floats to be attached to strobe arms:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pointymccracken/albums/72157634002354975

Where did you purchase your Divinycell?

 

[pointy]

I bought the Divinycell foam from Aircraft Spruce: DIVINYCELL FOAM PVC from Aircraft Spruce Canada
The stuff I used is 1 inch thick H100 (6 pounds per cu ft).

 

[rwe]

I bought the Divinycell foam from Aircraft Spruce: DIVINYCELL FOAM PVC from Aircraft Spruce Canada
The stuff I used is 1 inch thick H100 (6 pounds per cu ft).

Thanks. Looks like they have a US location in GA also that sells the small sizes.