I have never had a clamp come loose enough that the attached strobe could fall out. I did have a tiger shark accidentally get the strobe caught in it's mouth as it swam by and that destroyed the clamp but the strobe was held by the optical cable.
Ball joint arm safety tether?
- Thread starter OzMikeM
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I had a clamp break once. I still had my rope tether attached to the arm, so it kept it from floating away.
TostitoBandito
Contributor
I don't feel like it's necessary. If a clamp is even a little loose (like a half turn) your strobes are already gonna flopping all over underwater and it'll be super obvious, and for anything to disconnect the clamp is gonna need to do at least several more turns past that. It just won't happen by mistake. They can break I suppose, but even that seems exceedingly unlikely with quality clamps that are occasionally inspected.
And like some others my rig is substantially bigger/heavier than the OP's. Never even considered it. I do tether the entire rig to a D ring on my harness with a bungee clip thingie so I can go hands free in an emergency and not lose anything, and then I have a carry cable tethered across the top of the rig between two of the arms.
And like some others my rig is substantially bigger/heavier than the OP's. Never even considered it. I do tether the entire rig to a D ring on my harness with a bungee clip thingie so I can go hands free in an emergency and not lose anything, and then I have a carry cable tethered across the top of the rig between two of the arms.
Doctorfish
Contributor
I agree with Tostito. Stringing a rig with fishing line is overkill. In 25 years doing underwater photography, I've never heard of or experienced a strobe or light coming off a rig due to ball joint or arm failure. If you put everything together properly, it won't come apart. The only things on the rig I tether are the strobe diffusers, because the attachment is tenuous.
I also attach the whole rig to my wrist when I get in the water.
I also attach the whole rig to my wrist when I get in the water.
AZTinman
Contributor
I've done 100's of dives with several different housed camera systems and have never had a strobe arm come detached. I do tether my housings to my wing harness. On a number of occasions, sea lions have tried to grab my camera rig (usually by the floats on strobe arms). They stop the "snatch the camera" game when they realize I'm coming along with the camera.
-AZTinman
-AZTinman
I have, so it can happen.
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