To float or not to float

do you guys put floaters on your rig? i know it's comforting to know that if ever you lost hold of your grip from your camera, it would be nice to see it floating in the surface, but doesn't the floaters compromise your shooting capabilities especially when there's a slight current?

When researching here before, seemed most people prefer to have their rig slightly negative. Easier to handle in the water. Since most diving is closer to the bottom for many, if you need to set it down, you can and it stays put. I have mine this way and like it.

If I need to, I can clip it to my BC for doing gear related items. This has not happened often but has happened.

You might do a search on housing bouyancy. I would to aid you but I am on a trip and the internet service here is SLOW.

Dave

When researching here before, seemed most people prefer to have their rig slightly negative. Easier to handle in the water. Since most diving is closer to the bottom for many, if you need to set it down, you can and it stays put. I have mine this way and like it.

If I need to, I can clip it to my BC for doing gear related items. This has not happened often but has happened.

You might do a search on housing bouyancy. I would to aid you but I am on a trip and the internet service here is SLOW.

 

Dave

well I was just a bit concerned 'coz i'm using an ikelite housing for my g11 and I got the double handle tray for it. the double handle tray is quite heavy and the housing is fairly negative, coming across an article about bouyancy arms this made me think as I am planning to add arms and strobes to the set up sooner or later. anway, i'll be checking this thread every now and then, so feel free to take your time, i'd very much appreciate the help.

Jason.

do you guys put floaters on your rig? i know it's comforting to know that if ever you lost hold of your grip from your camera, it would be nice to see it floating in the surface, but doesn't the floaters compromise your shooting capabilities especially when there's a slight current?

My Ikelite with 2 DS Strobes and a Dual arm Tray is extremely negative. I will be adding floats to it to achieve a slight negative.

My Ikelite with 2 DS Strobes and a Dual arm Tray is extremely negative. I will be adding floats to it to achieve a slight negative.

what kind of floaters are you planning to get? is it the arm float or the one that you place around the arms... not sure if it's styrofoam or another material.

I use Stix Floats and like them a lot. But do not like the price for simple foam. You need rigid foam that does not compress at depth which is why they have their market. Styrofoam would break apart unless covered/coated sufficiently. When I used the G9 housing, I kept a wrist strap on, connected to the tray or handle. Added floats to strobe arms until it was slightly negative. I would suggest the X-Large floats if you go with Stix.. the Large were not large enough for me.

Reef photo and other sponsors here have them on their website if you want to see pics of them and pricing.

Seems I remember reading about a member here that was considering making floats for this market but I never did see if they got started with it.

I like the floats rather than flotation arms as I can change the amount as I need to based on how I am setup. Not certain that will matter to you.

Dave

I use Stix Floats and like them a lot. But do not like the price for simple foam. You need rigid foam that does not compress at depth which is why they have their market. Styrofoam would break apart unless covered/coated sufficiently. When I used the G9 housing, I kept a wrist strap on, connected to the tray or handle. Added floats to strobe arms until it was slightly negative. I would suggest the X-Large floats if you go with Stix.. the Large were not large enough for me.

Reef photo and other sponsors here have them on their website if you want to see pics of them and pricing.

 

Seems I remember reading about a member here that was considering making floats for this market but I never did see if they got started with it.

 

I like the floats rather than flotation arms as I can change the amount as I need to based on how I am setup. Not certain that will matter to you.

 

Dave

Dave,

Thanks for the tip, I know where you're getting at with the frustration about the price anyway, how long do these foams last? Would it be wise to have a combination of flotation arms and these stix floats?

I think you mean the jumbo size of the stix floats, from what i've seen on reef photo website it's what's next to large.

Jason.

The Stix foam floats don't get in the way, so they are not difficult to use. They seem to be pretty indestructible, too.

It's almost impossible to use a floating system unless it's very small, so neutral or negative bouyancy is the way to go...

... and insurance!

Tim

My old rig with Canon 350d in a S & S housing with the Fisheye dome port is positive and it drives me nuts, its negative with the macro set up which i prefer. Its all about personal preference. Some like it one way, some prefer it the other.

Stew

My Canon 7D rig with dual strobes is 2 kg negative underwater. I have fitted polyurethane foam tubes around the strobe arms. This makes the rig floating at surface, which is good for handing the rig from boat to you safer. Once you pull the rig underwater it becomes neutrally buoyant at about 3 meters of depth. At 20 meters the foam tubes compress quite a lot, but the rig is still in pretty good balance and easy to handle. At 30 meters most the buoyancy is gone and the tubes look more like thin wrappers. I have been thinking to use something more rigid, but the basic idea seems to work. Below is a picture of the rig:

And more pictures here.

Without the floats, the rig is really hard to handle underwater and strains my arms a lot, it is also poorly balanced. The floats make it very well balanced and easy to handle. Even when I am not taking pictures but just diving around, the floats make the rig easy to carry with during a dive. I have tethered the rig to my left shoulder D-ring with a strap, so I can just leave the rig to float in front of me during special situations, like shooting SMB to surface, helping someone (out of air for example) etc. The strap can be detached easily when needed, but it will not detach unintentionally.

Although the rig does float on surface, I doubt it would pop towards surface once you are deep enough. Probably you could send it to surface using an SMB, in case of emergency.

Keep in mind the more frontal area your rig has the harder its going to be pushing it against a current.

My Canon 7D rig with dual strobes is 2 kg negative underwater. I have fitted polyurethane foam tubes around the strobe arms. This makes the rig floating at surface, which is good for handing the rig from boat to you safer. Once you pull the rig underwater it becomes neutrally buoyant at about 3 meters of depth. At 20 meters the foam tubes compress quite a lot, but the rig is still in pretty good balance and easy to handle. At 30 meters most the buoyancy is gone and the tubes look more like thin wrappers. I have been thinking to use something more rigid, but the basic idea seems to work. Below is a picture of the rig:

 

And more pictures here.

 

Without the floats, the rig is really hard to handle underwater and strains my arms a lot, it is also poorly balanced. The floats make it very well balanced and easy to handle. Even when I am not taking pictures but just diving around, the floats make the rig easy to carry with during a dive. I have tethered the rig to my left shoulder D-ring with a strap, so I can just leave the rig to float in front of me during special situations, like shooting SMB to surface, helping someone (out of air for example) etc. The strap can be detached easily when needed, but it will not detach unintentionally.

 

Although the rig does float on surface, I doubt it would pop towards surface once you are deep enough. Probably you could send it to surface using an SMB, in case of emergency.

What did you use that you were able to place a float on the top part of the rig? I can't picture it out, the foam seems to have covered it pretty good.

Jason.

What did you use that you were able to place a float on the top part of the rig? I can't picture it out, the foam seems to have covered it pretty good.

 

Jason.

It is a loop of heavy duty polyester cord, that has been drawn through heavy duty hose. Then I made a handle part using another thicker piece of hose, and the loop has been drawn through the float. Finally this loop made of heavy duty string, hoses and float can simply hang beteen the strobe arm elbows. Very simple construction that is easy make yourself from stuff you can buy cheaply from any hardware store. It allows you to attach the float and also acts as a handle. It is very easy take out and put back.

Perhaps this picture helps:

It is a loop of heavy duty polyester cord, that has been drawn through heavy duty hose. Then I made a handle part using another thicker piece of hose, and the loop has been drawn through the float. Finally this loop made of heavy duty string, hoses and float can simply hang beteen the strobe arm elbows. Very simple construction that is easy make yourself from stuff you can buy cheaply from any hardware store. It allows you to attach the float and also acts as a handle. It is very easy take out and put back.

Perhaps this picture helps:

nice! I will make one myself thanks for sharing!