shelbyrose

Many thanks to all of you for these interesting replies! And a special thanks to @bghazzal for the very thoughtful response. I wonder if this underwater video boom Ben describes might have declined because there are fewer compact options that allow for manual use, making it quite an expense and require significant skill acquisition to move on to the next stage from a GoPro (there just doesn't seem to be a video-focused option akin to the TG6, for example). Of course, smartphones have killed that market in recent years....

Hi folks, As I have started learning to shoot video underwater, it has become clear that it is far less popular than underwater photography (with the exception perhaps of shallow action cam footage). I have my own theories as to why this might be, but I'd be really interested to get your perspectives as well. I'm doing a PhD in film focused on marine animals, so this is something I am thinking about as part of my research generally and really appreciate any thoughts! Thanks! Shelby

So many stylish options lol. Thanks for this, Davide, super helpful summary. I’ve ordered some cheap fishing net floats that are really large so I can cut them down to size. Hoping to make a board to go underneath my housing tray to distribute the buoyancy better. I’ll report back! 🙂

Hey guys, I’m back to working on DIY floats, and I’m sadly not having luck at local boatyards, so now looking to see if I might be able to find something online. I’m getting a bit confused on all the technical specs for the various options—does anyone know if something like this might be sufficient? https://www.foambymail.com/product/cross-linked-polyethylene-foam-3lb.html or this https://www.foambymail.com/product/minicel-l200.html Thanks in advance for any thoughts/ advice!!

Thanks for this helpful advice, both! All makes sense 🙂

Hi folks--after some more advice from you all regarding video lighting. I'm using two backscatter MW4300, which I haven't yet used much and trying to figure out the best approach. They're not really powerful enough for wide angle lighting, so I have mainly been doing ambient light for that, but I'm interested in using them more for fish portraits/macro/night. I have three primary questions: Is it best practice to turn lights on and off each time you set up a shot? I'm finding it somewhat fiddly to turn them on (I can turn the lights on at the beginning of a dive and then just dim them until they go off, so it's not like it's a ton of button presses but still...), though it might just be that I'll get faster at it with practice. I had a lovely encounter with a moray eel in Belize on a previous trip and he seemed totally unbothered by my video lights. But yesterday I tried lighting a moray eel in the Red Sea, and they clearly didn't like it. Is there any guide to who doesn't mind video lights and who does?? Night dives--my lights have a red setting, which I believe is intended for use at night. Anyone have any thoughts on best practices for using video lights for night diving specfically? And similar to question 1, can I leave them running in lieu of using a torch (or in addition)? Many thanks, as always, for your thoughts! Shelby

Thanks for all of this, Ben! Great advice as usual. Sorry to hear what happened to you before—terrifying!! I am pretty religious about regreasing the o-ring daily so will definitely keep that up! And I didn’t realize you could over or under pull the vacuum! I usually just do it until the light turns green and then one more. How do you typically do it? @Chris Ross definitely appreciate any other advice on this point!

I actually have this exact tool with me here! Never thought to use it to dry off the housing but this is a really excellent idea and I’ll start doing this. 🙂 thanks!

Oh wow I’ll definitely check this out! Thanks so much. This is very smart! Will add to my future trip prep checklists 🙂

Amazing! I’m glad to hear that (and glad your camera was alright). Thanks!

Many thanks everyone for the quick and thoughtful replies! I will definitely be more cautious about the rinse tank in the future just in case! It is a big rinse tank and only one other person was using it, plus the vacuum was still on, so I think this time it probably wasn’t due to that. I managed to dry it out(I just let it dry in the air for a few minutes for whatever I couldn’t reach otherwise) and it seems to be okay. Tested it out in the water, ultimately for about an hour, and no issues thankfully. The drops were along the edges and there was definitely some water in the external latch, so I’m feeling more confident it must have been my error in allowing some water to enter when I opened it. Hopefully all good now 🤞 Out of curiosity, does anyone know how reliable the nauticam leak detector is? Many thanks again for the advice! I really appreciate it.

Advice please! Just opened up my nauticam housing and there was a very tiny amount of water inside. As in a few drops around the edges…. My leak detector was still green and the alarm only started maybe 30 seconds after I opened it. It had been soaking in a rinse tank (after having done two dives without issue and without opening the housing) and there were no bubbles coming out. so two questions: 1) what might have caused this? I’m in Egypt and it’s super hot, so could it be condensation?? Or perhaps water got in as I opened it? I examined the o ring carefully and it looked totally fine… 2) how do I best dry it out now? I’ve tried to dry it by hand the best I can but I can see a tiny tiny amount of moisture in a couple of places that I can’t reach with my cloth. Thank you for any help!!

Got it, all makes sense! Thanks again for all of the thoughtful replies @bghazzal

Actually, after spending a lot of time zooming into all of your photos, I can see (I think?) that you’re using a small arm as a connection point! 😅

Ben how do you attach your big horizontal float with this mount in place?? I can’t seem to figure out how to make that work! Are you using extra long butterfly clamps?