Ikelite DL ++ buoyancy

[Compressor]

Hello:

I took my new Ikelite with the D500 and 10.5 mm Nikkorr into the ocean today. Housing is excellent in quality and function. I encounter a few issues though that I need to correct and would welcome input:

1. The housing is very positively buoyant. My arms got alot of excersize keeping the housing from shooting to the surface (I had it tethered). Upon returning home, I tested it in the pool and it seems it needs about 2 pounds to get near neutrally buoyant. Plan is to hang a 2lb weight from a handle.

2. The 10.5 lens is very sharp (as noted in a previous post).

I need to get myself a macro port and take either a 60mm or 105 mm. I am leaning to the 60mm since its a DX camera and the 60 mm is really a 84. Advice and recommendations are appreciated again.

3. When shooting video, I found that if I pressed the shutter inadvertently this the video would stop. Annoying but I need to get use to this.

Currently with a DS51 strobe but will need to get a bigger strobe. That should should add some negative buoyancy.

Thank you for your input. It is much appreciated.

 

[Compressor]

Fixed with 2 lbs of weight attached to handle.

 

[AZTinman]

Try it with two Ikelite DS 161 strobes. You'll probably need to add a little floatation on your strobe arms. I use flotation on both strobe arms with my Ikelite rig.

Some of the positive buoyancy you're experiencing is due to the air in your dome port. I suspect you probably noticed that the dome port was pointing towards the surface when your rig was trying to shoot to the surface. You'll have less positive buoyancy with a macro port. In addition to my arm floats, I use a floatation ring on my port extension when using my macro port.

I attach my rig to my BCD with two web straps. The attachment allows me to release the housing if I need to use both hands.

-AZTinman

 

[Compressor]

Thank you AZTinman. I will have the opportunity to do just that this week.

 

[AZTinman]

Hope your work with the housing got you some good results. Perspectives about lenses vary, but I'll offer mine.

I prefer to pursue photographs of larger critters so I don't use my 60mm Nikkor Micro (Nikon calls it a 'micro' rather than a 'macro') much, but it works exceptionally well when I use it. Obviously, it's nice if you can shoot two strobes rather than just one.

My favorite lens is the Nikkor 10-24mm. The lens produces really sharp images. I have a habit of attempting to over-reach with the 10-24mm.

About a year ago, I started using a Nikkor 16-85mm in situations where visibility was exceptional. I haven't shot the 16-85mm a lot, but it has worked well to increase my reach. The downside is that the reach of the lens tends to exceed the range of my strobes.

While I have a Tokina fisheye, I'm not overly fond of it because I don't like the field curvature fisheye lenses produce. My Tokina gets to come out of the bag when I'm capturing images of really big critters like mantas. In late summer this year I'll be chasing whale images and I suspect the Tokina will be my lens of choice.

-AZTinman

 

[Compressor]

Thanks for following up AZTinman.
I put the dome port on and inside went the D500 with a 18-70 mm lens (w/ a 4x mag filter). I have not invested in a port for my 14-24 Nikkor. Many recommendations on SB about the Tokina and other lenses. Before I drop 600 on another lens or buy another port, I experimented with this kit lens I had. Actually not bad of results. But back to the original object of this thread: Yes I put the DS161 on and with the other 2 handle having 2 Evolve lights, the rig is slightly negative. Today, I will put the second DS161 on and see how it goes.