How do you carry your light battery canister?

Hi dear underwater videographers!

Almost ready to dive my newly built video-setup I am looking for ideas to carry the Ø88mm, 270mm long and 1,36kg heavy (Underwater) battery canister for the videolights.

The videohousing (Homebuild) is Ø230mm and 110mm deep/long so it seems very hard to mount the batterycanister along the housing, which is also nealy perfectly ballanced in the water incl. arms and the dual 50watt HID lightheads (Light Monkey).

To help you imagine what I mean, I added a couble of pictures of the housing and the lights.

http://www.3dphotography.dk/wetpixel/fujihousing/fuji1.jpg

http://www.3dphotography.dk/wetpixel/fujihousing/fuji2.jpg

The E/O-cords makes it possible to plug and unplug the canister underwater but I also hear from other people that these cables are quite sensitive so I would prefer to keep them plugged.

In some way I could mount the canister to the housing but this will make it all quite bulky and I will probably need to add some boyancy compensators too.

Another solution I have been thinking about is fitting a couble of good bolt snaps to the battery canister and clip it on to the camera handles while on the boat/beach, etc...and when I am in the water, I can then clip it onto my self somewhere......if I can find a place among rebreather, stages, etc.

Please let me know your experience in carrying batteries for the videolight.... whatever you keep them on yourself or on your rig.

Thanks a lot in advance and the very best regards from Kim Meineche! :-)

Hi dear underwater videographers!

 

Almost ready to dive my newly built video-setup I am looking for ideas to carry the Ø88mm, 270mm long and 1,36kg heavy (Underwater) battery canister for the videolights.

 

The videohousing (Homebuild) is Ø230mm and 110mm deep/long so it seems very hard to mount the batterycanister along the housing, which is also nealy perfectly ballanced in the water incl. arms and the dual 50watt HID lightheads (Light Monkey).

 

To help you imagine what I mean, I added a couble of pictures of the housing and the lights.

 

http://www.3dphotography.dk/wetpixel/fujihousing/fuji1.jpg

 

http://www.3dphotography.dk/wetpixel/fujihousing/fuji2.jpg

 

The E/O-cords makes it possible to plug and unplug the canister underwater but I also hear from other people that these cables are quite sensitive so I would prefer to keep them plugged.

 

In some way I could mount the canister to the housing but this will make it all quite bulky and I will probably need to add some boyancy compensators too.

 

Another solution I have been thinking about is fitting a couble of good bolt snaps to the battery canister and clip it on to the camera handles while on the boat/beach, etc...and when I am in the water, I can then clip it onto my self somewhere......if I can find a place among rebreather, stages, etc.

 

Please let me know your experience in carrying batteries for the videolight.... whatever you keep them on yourself or on your rig.

 

Thanks a lot in advance and the very best regards from Kim Meineche! :-)

I use the same lights. If you wear a backplate & harness style BCD, mount the battery pack on your right hip (the open end of the waist harness) and lock in place with a weight belt buckle. Battery pack on yourself does not effect the buoyancy of the housing. I have not had any problems plugging/unplugging the EO's with years of use. Below are a couple of photos of my Gates rig with this configuration.

Thank you Alan!

Both your video-rig and diving equipment configuration looks very clean! Exactely the issue of bouyancy was my first reason to wish the canister away from the camera and I'm very glad to hear that you have had no problems with the E/O cords! :-) Both my rebreather and OC-equipment is kitted up with backplate, wing and harness, so it should be perfect for placing the canister on my hip! Perhaps I should consider placing both my stages on my left size on deeper dives too? :-)

I am going to make a pooltest of my setup this evening and I am really excited and currious to see how the lights work...... that said, I might get a bad impression from the pool where all walls are white?

So far the very best regards and thanks again from Kim! :-)

I use the same lights. If you wear a backplate & harness style BCD, mount the battery pack on your right hip (the open end of the waist harness) and lock in place with a weight belt buckle. Battery pack on yourself does not effect the buoyancy of the housing. I have not had any problems plugging/unplugging the EO's with years of use. Below are a couple of photos of my Gates rig with this configuration.

I don't do too much video, but on one occasion I also threaded the battery pack through the waist strap of my harness. Unfortunately I didn't have E/O connectors and this essentially meant the camera was connected to me and I couldn't put it down. My buddy had a very serious gear failure on that same dive, and my assistance was impaired by the entanglement hazard bouncing after me. I decided after that that it wasn't the safest thing to do. I guess with E/O connectors it's a slightly different story....but cameras should be dumpable.

In terms of E/O reliability, the pins can begin to corrode. Once there is a small gap between the contacts (microscopically small) the electrical current when the lights are operating causes electrolysis. I've observed a tiny trail of bubbles coming out of an E/O connector, from the chemical reaction occurring that produces gas. Obviously this is a self-perpetuating problem where gaps create electrical corrosion and more gaps...eventually power to the light becomes intermittent. The best remedy seems to be ensuring the E/O plugs are firmly pushed together. A rinse in white vinegar can help remove oxidation on the surface of the pins, too.

I see the point about safety there, but with the E/O cords I think it will be very easy to disconnect the camera from the canister in case you want to dump. Furthermore I entend to attach the canister with easy accessable boltsnaps.

Anyway, thanks for the input/reply!

Best regards again from Kim! :-)

I don't do too much video, but on one occasion I also threaded the battery pack through the waist strap of my harness. Unfortunately I didn't have E/O connectors and this essentially meant the camera was connected to me and I couldn't put it down. My buddy had a very serious gear failure on that same dive, and my assistance was impaired by the entanglement hazard bouncing after me. I decided after that that it wasn't the safest thing to do. I guess with E/O connectors it's a slightly different story....but cameras should be dumpable.

 

In terms of E/O reliability, the pins can begin to corrode. Once there is a small gap between the contacts (microscopically small) the electrical current when the lights are operating causes electrolysis. I've observed a tiny trail of bubbles coming out of an E/O connector, from the chemical reaction occurring that produces gas. Obviously this is a self-perpetuating problem where gaps create electrical corrosion and more gaps...eventually power to the light becomes intermittent. The best remedy seems to be ensuring the E/O plugs are firmly pushed together. A rinse in white vinegar can help remove oxidation on the surface of the pins, too.

You are welcome, Kim! Your battery pack has a 2" nylon loop attached from Light Monkey for the purpose of sliding onto your waist strap. As seen here:

If you use a weight belt buckle to hold in place on the waist strap it is easily removable if needed but stays secure otherwise without any clips. I too do a lot of technical diving with photo/video gear and prefer to carry stages on the left side leaving the right free for battery packs or a 7' hose if diving OC. Like all your camera gear, keep it clean and it will serve you well. Is your housing 3D? What camera are you using?

Hi again Alan!

Yes, I know there is a strap on the canister, but to keep it all together and easy for the crew on the boat, I intend to keep the canister attached to the camera with boltsnaps until I get the camera after I have jumped in. In the water I think it is much more easy to attach the canister to the D-ring on my right hip than messing with the strap and a buckle... speially if the weather is a litle rough... but I think I will have to practise and maybe experimenting a little before I found the perfect solution for me! :-)

Well, my camera is 3D but since I'm an absolute beginner in video (With more than 12years experinece in stills) and couldn't find anything suitable for 3D-wideangle, I decided to build a housing for the Fuji W3 with an auxalleryadapter from www.3dcyclopital.com and semi fisheye conversionlenses from Ryanox.

The domeports (Homebaked!!!) secures almost fully covering underwater from the Ryanox lenses... I think the coverage is someting between 95 and 100 degrees with only slightly distortion, which you don't see much of underwater.

Actually I am so new to video that I haven't learned yet how to edit and streaming video-clips for Vimeo, Youtube, etc... but hopefully I will be able to do that in a near future! My sparetime in the last couple of months has been used for building my housing for the Fuji W3 and figuring out which light to get. Compared with the amount and quality of light I came to the solution of the LightMonkey dual 50watts. Tomorrow I will test it in openwater, but the pooltest yesterday has already made me falling in love with these HID lights! :-)

Actually I was looking at the Sony NX3D1 but with only 31mm between the lenses, I couldn't find any wideangle conversionlenses to fit and with only touchscreen-access to a lot of functions I found this camera very difficult to fit into a housing. I will for sure be keeping and eye on the news in 3D-camcorders, but so far I will try to get some fun out of my Fuji W3. At least I will be able to get some footage that I can show on my 3D dual-projector. Time will see what happens in the future!

The best regards again from Kim! :-)

You are welcome, Kim! Your battery pack has a 2" nylon loop attached from Light Monkey for the purpose of sliding onto your waist strap. As seen here:

If you use a weight belt buckle to hold in place on the waist strap it is easily removable if needed but stays secure otherwise without any clips. I too do a lot of technical diving with photo/video gear and prefer to carry stages on the left side leaving the right free for battery packs or a 7' hose if diving OC. Like all your camera gear, keep it clean and it will serve you well. Is your housing 3D? What camera are you using?