DSLR housing tether

How does everybody tether their housing? I want to have my housing on a lanyard so that if i HAD to drop it for a second i could not worry about my investment droping to the bottom of the ocean.

Do most people just put a bolt snap on a handle so its not attached all the time but it can be, or do you use a lanyard so its attached all the time? Does the lanyard limit composition? Where on the housing do you use for an attachment point?

Pictures would be great!

Max

How does everybody tether their housing? I want to have my housing on a lanyard so that if i HAD to drop it for a second i could not worry about my investment dropping to the bottom of the ocean.

On my Aquatica system, I run a 3/16" line up through the hollow grip on the right side. The strobe arm system mounts to the top of this, but conveniently, there is a little notch in the grip. I run the line out through this and knot it. The other end has a bolt snap which I clip to a D-ring on my right-side BC or backplate harness. The line is about 30" long and non-floating line. Works like a charm.

One unexpected bonus of this, is that I can use it to "wrap up" my system. My Aquatica arms won't support the strobes out of the water, so I wrap the line around the "elbow" in the arms and clip the snap onto the opposite arm. I can actually carry the entire system by one of the strobe arms (although I don't tend to).

I dive from a RIB up here, so I also use the line to lower the rig over the side before I roll in, and then pick it up once I'm in the water...

Hope this helps...

Thanks for the quick reply stoo. I have noticed this and was thinking of something similar. The one problem i would have is i detach the balls on top of the handle to store it in my pelican case, but i could get around this.

Would it be a bad idea to drill a small hole in the base of the handle?

I have to take my balls off too (!) and just take the line out and store it separately (not a bad thing as it might very well be wet still).

Originally, I considered drilling a hole through the horizontal portion of the grip, but the bolt that attaches the grip runs through there. On the Aqautica grips, the grip itself is already hollow so it was a bit of a no-brainer once I figured out how to fasten it. The knot isn't pretty, but like you, I'm not crazy about sending my system to the bottom of the deep blue!

I've added some photos for you as well..

I have a short double lanyard on my right wrist at all times. Never found it to interfere with anything. On the left handle, I have a 12" stainless steel cable with clip. If current is strong, I will clip it to my backplate harness. Easier to keep the rig under control, and free up my hand a bit. If I had to remove the lanyard to use my hand, the camera would not be a worry.

I use one of these attached to a D ring on my BCD. It extends but can be clipped shut too

http://www.uwvisions.com/products.php?p=23...p;m=28&c=42

Apologies, I just realised I have linked to a product on my own site. Please delete the link above moderators,

I use one of there

http://www.cetaceacorp.com/coil-lanyard-en.html

CODE: CRL3HD

And have found it very useful.

Hello,

Here's another thread, with photos, on this very subject. Hopefully you will see something there you like.

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=41485&hl=

-Gina

I use one of these attached to a D ring on my BCD. It extends but can be clipped shut too

 

http://www.uwvisions.com/products.php?p=23...p;m=28&c=42

I use the same thing Alex does. I even hand it up and once the person on the boat has it, then I will unclip it from my BC. Has worked great for me.

Kirk

I use one of these attached to a D ring on my BCD. It extends but can be clipped shut too

 

http://www.uwvisions.com/products.php?p=23...p;m=28&c=42

I also use one of these and highly recommend it. I tend to clip it and forget it once I start my safety stop (or run out of battery).

I use one of these attached to a D ring on my BCD. It extends but can be clipped shut too

 

http://www.uwvisions.com/products.php?p=23...p;m=28&c=42

One more for Alex lanyard. The clip is of metal and seems to be much hardier than some of the lanyards with plastic clips I have used before (and stopped to use, as the plastic eventually broke!). Also, this lanyard is covered in cloth, which for some reason leads to less entanglement in strobe connections.

Regards

bent

Nearly all my dives involve a Scooter and a Deco bottle or two.

I have a strap, nylon webbing - looped with TWO fastex tri-glides - with a stainless steel bolt snap on one end.

This SS snap clips to my left chest D-ring during travel, and I move the cam to sit on the back of my left leg, generally with one of the strobe arms under my left knee where I kind of lock it in place as I zoom from site to site.

I've used this set up since my Ikelite D70 days.

I made a surf handle (top strap) for my Titan D200 housing. The D7000 finally came with an elegant solution with the braided rope.

When I shoot, I unclip, get the shot, then re-clip and move on. The only time I 'tether' is when I'm diving the oil rigs. I use my fin-keeper (two bolt snaps on about 20" or 4mm nylon cord) and go from the chest Dring to the split ring on the handle. It stays on full time. Other than that, I never tether.

Here are some shots.

Fin Keeper for Surf Entries. Used as tether when diving bottomless

I have a standard medium size boltsnap (1" eye for finger) tied to the bottom right hand grip on my Aquatica using 5mm prussik cord. once tighted correctly and the sail water hits it a few times, the knots becomes bombproof.

To go hands free for a short period I'll typically chest clip the rig off, but for longer hauls (e.g. scootering or laying line) I'll wrap it up and clip to my right hip or wing d-ring. I don't like the idea of a long tether because it is an entrapment concern, though I'll admit this is mostly a tec thing.

I'd also recommend against using keyring (aka splitrings) as they tend to catastrophically failed under load and it doesn't take much for that to happen. Might not be a problem in the water, but I could imagine a tossing boat and handling issues becoming a problem.

I have a standard medium size boltsnap (1" eye for finger) tied to the bottom right hand grip on my Aquatica using 5mm prussik cord. once tighted correctly and the sail water hits it a few times, the knots becomes bombproof.

 

To go hands free for a short period I'll typically chest clip the rig off, but for longer hauls (e.g. scootering or laying line) I'll wrap it up and clip to my right hip or wing d-ring. I don't like the idea of a long tether because it is an entrapment concern, though I'll admit this is mostly a tec thing.

 

I'd also recommend against using keyring (aka splitrings) as they tend to catastrophically failed under load and it doesn't take much for that to happen. Might not be a problem in the water, but I could imagine a tossing boat and handling issues becoming a problem.

I like the Cetacea lanyards. I use those even on my dive lights, in addition to the camera.

Would it be a bad idea to drill a small hole in the base of the handle?

I have done this with my Aquatica handles, using a girly AA battery operated drill and fine drillbit. I have stainless rings on each side. I use them for a lightweight lanyard that hooks to a brass clip on my BCD, which is for the above mentioned not wanting to drop the gear concept. I also use the handle idea, but attach it to my ULCS strobe arms: it hold the arms together when being handled by dive op staff. Too many times I have had a situation where they have grabbed the strobe arms or banged the arms into the boat. It is, as you have seen in the other threads, easy to make yourself with dishwasher hose, marine grade line and a couple of stainless caribiners.

Cheers,

Marli

Just made my new one. It's a bit overkill, but I had some 3-way clamps and got to thinking it would be nice to use the extra leg for a handle. Had tried a 12" floatation arm (ULCS, the smaller 1" diameter), wrapped with the self-fusing silicone "Xtreme Tape" for a while, but it was just too rigid and got in the way of top controls. Plus my new Ike rig has the top fitting for the ball (focus light).

So I found a place that sold 1" diameter Delrin spheres and drilled/counterbored them for eyebolt hardware:

Delrin+StainlessEyebolt by rtrski, on Flickr

This let me use snap clips on the typical length-of-rope-with-drain-line-grip assembly.

Eyebolted_Ball_and_SnapClip by rtrski, on Flickr

HandleLayout by rtrski, on Flickr

Like I said, it's probably overkill. I could've just got slightly larger snap-clips and got them around the neck of the ball adaptors on the top of the Ike handles. But it was a fun project anyway.I used snapclips instead of just tying to the eyebolts so it can be removed at one end or the other to use as a BCD tether without influencing the clamps.

BTW, I had to buy 25 of the Delrin balls (for about $10). I toasted one figuring out how to drill and counterbore it cleanly, and prepped 3. So I have 21 left if anyone is interested. Would be happy to ship out in pairs or quads for basically shipping plus a buck or two. Can even counterbore and drill for you if you're interested (say $3/pair plus shipping). Hope the offer isn't violating any TOS, if so, mods feel free to delete this paragraph or tell me to.