The right stay and arm for a point and shoot

I get to go on about 3-5 dive trips a year. I currently have an OLY PT-030 housing and two small strobes mounted with a stay and arms that I put together in a DIY fashion. After Christmas, it appears I now have enough money to do this right. The question is how. Here's what I know.

1. UCLS seems to be overkill and if I go this route I'm going to have to scale back the purchase to single extentions on the strobes.

2. TLC - ditto for their stuff.

3. Fantasea - They have a nice budgetary setup that appears to clone the 1" ball with articulating joints that I could easily fit into the budget and get the double articulation with both strobes.

A. I hate their camera stay because it doesn't have a handle.

In summary, I'm thinking of mixing stuff together. Ike makes a stay with two handles and 1" ball adapters that I can get for under $100. I could then get the Fantasea arms and attach to the Ike stay. My goal with this post is to address those of you who have gone through this research and to get your opinion. Thanks ahead of time and Happy New Year.

PS - I've done a search and read some of the results. I'd also like your opinion of your camera stay and how important you feel that part of my decision is.

Gary

Hi Gary.

Well, ULCS arms are great, but yeah, pricey. They are the best, many agree.

Not sure what a "stay" is. But I guess maybe it is the same thing as a tray?

The ike tray with dual handles is great. And makes it real easy to put on strobe arms, focus lights, and so on. I can't see shooting without a dual handle tray.

Nothing wrong with the ike arms, and they are usually quite a lot cheaper than the TLC or ULCS.

The ultra simple and cheap ike 4075 strobe arm is actually not bad at all.

http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/arm_4075_1.html

Have you looked at Sea & Sea arms and tray? http://www.seaandsea.com/ Don't know how they work in comparison to my ULCS, but they were on the wish list before I knew I wanted more out of UW photography and was unwilling to shell out the cash. In my opinion, I'd splurge for the better arms, ULCS or TLC. That way you'll have them in the future when you upgrade cameras, etc. The 1" ball style is nearly universal and ULCS are nearly indestructable.

My only problem with Ikelite is I've heard their system is heavy. Better suited for larger housings with more buoyancy.

I too like the Sea and Sea arms and may go that route as well. My only other option appears to be giving up on the handles for now and going with ucls or tlc. I suppose I can always purchase handles in the future.

Gary,

I highly recommend ULCS arms. Though you will likely move on from your Oly/PT housed camera, your arms could stay with you for many years. I cannot recommend them more, they have been fantastic and I enjoy them far more than I enjoyed my previous Ike arms.

Paquito

you could look at www.10bar.com they have a new stay with dual grips, it is very simple and should be affordable. They have handles for their stay too.

Hey Gary,

I have basically the same setup as you and I have the sea & sea tray and arm with a ys 50 strobe.I really like it.I need to get another arm for a second strobe.It works well and is compact.Here is a shot of my setup.

I got the strobe,tray and arm on e-bay for $80.00. Jon