My GoPro 3D setup

[3D diver]

Well...I've gone too far this time...

I got a second set of lights with the thought of placing them lower to light up near subjects, but RockyHeap is right...this rig is getting way too heavy. I'm thinking about adding flotation, but suspect that is too cumbersome & will make things worse. May have to settle with the two existing lights.

Oh...FYI...they are gluing the lights shut now. People have been opening them up, then complaining when they flood. Tinker at your own risk folks.

 

[toozler]

Just for future reference, from a video I took a while ago, this is how a single 180 lumen light with a 60 degree beam spread, with no diffusers of any sort, looks like at about 3 ft (1m) from the the wall. Filmed at 720p, wide, spot metering off, no filters, no post.

It was pretty clear and bright out. There wasn't a "hot spot" making everything else look dark, but you can defitenly tell the difference in color.

 

[3D diver]

That's a pretty sharp transition.

My diffusers have a pretty soft edge & blend well used as a pair. You can see the light boundaries in my videos---especially when I'm moving the lights arround---but it's not dramatic.

The white external diffuser spreads the light 180 degrees so, if I can handle the weight, I'm going to try diving with them on one or two more lights to light up near subjects. The rig is too heavy with 4 lights, though, so probably won't use that configuration long term.

 

[3D diver]

Ok...with the second set of lights the rig weighs 10lbs!!!!
Each light is about 2lbs and the tray, strobe arms and housing another 2.
I was looking at the Stix web site and googling about floatation and found this web site:

DIY Underwater Camera Floats & Strobe Arm Floats:
http://www.scuba007.com/camera-floats/index.html#calc

I bought two sheets of H100 from here:

DIVINYCELL FOAM PVC from Aircraft Spruce:
DIVINYCELL FOAM PVC from Aircraft Spruce

Here's one sheet ready to cut into 32 little 4.6cm by 2.5" bricks:

The bricks were glued into 16 L-shaped tetris pieces. I raided my junk drawer for a stash of accumulated rubber bands for clamping:

It was too cold in the garage so I brought them into the kitchen to dry for an hour:

Next the L's are glued into square doughnuts and brought back to the kitchen to dry for another hour:

The doughnuts are glued into two cubes & the rubber bands supplemented by clamps:

An hour later they are ready to paint:

And back into the kitchen to dry:

I spent the next few hours doing some shopping & got a Christmas tree which helped a little with the smell. After a few hours the paint was dry enough for assembly:

Feel free to laugh with me...

I took them diving Sunday. When I was all geared up for the first dive and picking up the rig to go one of the Fenix flashlight adapters failed (broken/rusted snap ring in rotation assembly) so I dove with 3 lights. From the web site bouyancy calculator I was expecting the assembly to be 3 or 4 lbs negative. In fact it was two or three pounds bouyant with three lights.

For the second dive my buddy (raftrigger, the consumate DIY'er) loaned me her spare Fenix so I had 4 lights (but lost a diffuser and only ran 3). In this configuration it was one or two lbs positive on the surface and almost neutral at 30feet---when I let go they just sat there. The rig was very easy to use---even one-handed.

Here's a picture from raftrigger's video:

 

[Gombessa]

Nice! We're on the same project/timetable, but instead of 10lb, I only had to float the weight of a 4 cubic inch block. It's a moot question because it seems like your rig is entirely dialed in (great job), but did you take a direct measurement of the apparent underwater weight? Doing that let me ballpark the size of the float very closely.

Also, how is the plastidip holding up? From the pictures, it looks almost as thin as paint. The 6lb divinycell foam is pretty fragile (you can easily gouge it with your fingernails) so I wanted a really protective layer on it to prevent bruising and loss of buoyancy.

Again, nice work and great job nailing the buoyancy on the first try!

 

[3D diver]

Thanks,

I used the website's bouyancy calculator to estimate how much foam to buy based on the 10lb dry weight. From the amount of foam used to make the cubes I figured they would provide 4 to 6 lbs lift & thought the result would be negative. I was surprised the rig was actually just about neutral, so can't take credit for hitting the mark. I suspect my mistake was either using the dry weight (and thus neglecting the bouyancy of the rig) or the web site using fresh water instead of salt in its calculations.

The spray-on plastidip is pretty thin (people paint their cars with it) & a thicker protective layer may be worth while. I'm still kind of leaning toward duct tape, but am open to suggestions.

P.S. Ooops! Buddies forum name is raftingtigger, not what I wrote above...wondered why I always thought of Winnie the Pooh when I read it. My appologies.

 

[Gombessa]

Fwiw, the inherent buoyancy of the rig is probably the major factor. With plastic and aluminum, you're probably looking at about 3+lb of water being displaced for a 10lb rig.

The fresh/saltwater difference for 6-10lb is about 0.2lb.

Keep us updated on how well the foam floats hold up over time!

 

[3D diver]

So, after trading a few emails with DRIS I voided the warrantee on my two new lights by soaking them in hot water to loosen the glue and installed holographic diffusers. I took them diving today & they worked fine with no flooding. It was overcast and dark so I really got to see how the 4 lights performed---bright, wide light distribution with soft edges. I can't wait to look at the video.

The floats are working well too. I was showing them off to my buddy at depth, letting go and having them just sit there almost perfectly neutral. I wasn't sure how I liked them on the surface the last dive, but realised today I no longer have to "hold" or "carry" them. They're just a little positive on the surface so it's more a matter towing or guiding them instead. Much easier once I made that mental adjustment. It's really nice to be able to let go of the rig and not have the lanyard tugging at my wrist as the rig sinks.

---------- Post added December 29th, 2012 at 08:25 PM ----------

So here's the video I shot yesterday:

[video=youtube_share;cD7NAtFifiM]http://youtu.be/cD7NAtFifiM[/video]

 

[3D diver]

So I've now had two of the Fenix flash light adaptors fail on me right as I'm picking up the rig to walk to the water. It's clear they cannot stand up to the salt water. I've been looking for alternatives but haven't found any so, with Raftingtigger's encouragement, headed off to the local hardware store to peruse their stainless steel shelves in search of a fix. Here's what I've come up with:

The Fenix adaptor has two halves connected by a pin and snap ring. This allows you to rotate the adapter to aim your light. The problem is the snap ring corrodes and fails. Here's a picture of a broken unit:

The white bit is a plastic spring that allows the adapter to rotate in increments.

Here's a picture of the pin and snap ring remains:

As a replacement I bought some #10/32 3/4 inch (hex head) socket cap screws, washers, and nylon lock nuts:

Here the unit is being screwed back together:

Here are close ups of both sides:

There are rubber bits that have to be returned for friction---one simply presses back into place the other will require some glue (I'm thinking rubber cement).

I fixed two today and will do the rest tomorrow.

 

[3D diver]

Buddy snapped this pic of me and my solid wall of light yesterday:

The only recent change to my rig is the addition of 5000mAH NiMh rechargable batteries for the lights.