Help Balancing Housing

Hello all:

I am trying to get better holding my camera still underwater, so I don't have as shaky footage. I think the first thing I should do is get my rig more balanced. I am shooting a Canon 5d mark ii in a ikelite housing. Not using any lights at this time. Using an 8" dome. When in the water, the dome pulls up towards the surface. Obviously because of the amount of air in there. How do you think I could make it so the front won't float up on me? I was thinking of possibly getting some lead tape and putting it on the bottom of the outside of the dome shade. Not sure if this would work. I would like to try some things out in the pool before I go on my next trip. Any ideas you could share would be great.

Thanks in advance,

Dustin

1° move the heavy Ikelite tray all forward

2° wrap some lead tape around the dome extension ring or stick the car rim leads on the lower dome shade

3° build a "stabilizer wing" for video use and mount the weights there on the front edge. Have slots so that you can slide it foreward and backward

to adjust the amount of weight foreward. The wing should go between the housing and the tray and is blocked by the tray bolts.

The lead wrap around the extension ring will help also to avoid stray light creating reflections inside the dome as the ambient light

shines trough the transparent dome extension ring. I made a "tube" out of a old wetsuit to slip over the dome extension ring.

Once you have strobes/video lights you may move them as much forward as possible to adjust the buoyancy on the fly.

Chris

1° move the heavy Ikelite tray all forward

2° wrap some lead tape around the dome extension ring or stick the car rim leads on the lower dome shade

3° build a "stabilizer wing" for video use and mount the weights there on the front edge. Have slots so that you can slide it foreward and backward

to adjust the amount of weight foreward. The wing should go between the housing and the tray and is blocked by the tray bolts.

The lead wrap around the extension ring will help also to avoid stray light creating reflections inside the dome as the ambient light

shines trough the transparent dome extension ring. I made a "tube" out of a old wetsuit to slip over the dome extension ring.

Once you have strobes/video lights you may move them as much forward as possible to adjust the buoyancy on the fly.

 

Chris

Hi,

Would you have a couple of pics to illustrate your set-up please ? that would sooooo useful !

Thanks:)

I don't use the Ikelite D90 housing anymore as i got a new D7000 in a Hugyfot housing.... :-)

I am still working mentally on a new wing for the Hugyfot housing, but as i run a dive operation,

my time to tackle this project down is quite limitated.

Anyway, the wings can be made out of a sheet of aluminium, bent 45° upwards on the outside. (Something like this \___/ )

Below could be integrated a holder for the battery packs for the video lamps.

Use your imagination and find a friend with good DYS skills!

Chris

While I am still new at using it, I had the same issue with the 8" port on my Nauticam Housing for the Canon 7D. I wonder if there are any commercially made wings for this. A handy man I am not.

Steve

If anyone has pictures of how their wing is constructed, that would be fantastic!!