Olympus epl-3, PT-EP05L Underwater Buoyancy- ADVICE NEEDED

Started by Kevindale222 · February 23, 201412 yr

4Posts
4Replies

Kevindale222 Archived member 131 posts
Originally published on Wetpixel.com

February 23, 201412 yr

hi,

I am looking for some advice please-

does anyone know what sort of buoyancy I will get with the olympus epl-3 in PTEP05L set up with x1 5" ultralight arm on each side with x2 Inon S2000's for both with 9-18mm Zen dome and 45mm macro Zen dome

Will I need some Stix floats? Are float arms preferred?

I would like to hit the water with some sort of idea of how positive/negative my new set up will be.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

many thanks,
Byte Me Archived member 68 posts
Originally published on Wetpixel.com

February 23, 201412 yr

I've got an EPL-2 in Oly housing with two ULCS 8" and two 5" arms, Sola 600 focus/video lights at the joint of the arms and dual D2000 strobes. Similar setup - and mine was quite negative. I got a set of STIX jumbo floats (two floats each on the 8" arms) and now it's still negative but not nearly as much. For $35 you really can't go wrong. Camera is much easier to handle underwater as well.
billmackbarnes Archived member 31 posts
Originally published on Wetpixel.com

February 23, 201412 yr

I put two jumbo floats on each forward arm. They will barely fit. You must turn the arm a certain way to get the arms parallel for macro and to be able to turn the clamp handles. My two Inon +6 diopters a make the camera really heavy. But yes, they help!

Much more flotation and cheaper that the float arms. You need the large OD arms to get any flotation.

Bill
Kilili Archived member 110 posts
Originally published on Wetpixel.com

March 8, 201412 yr

If you really want to do this right, i suggest the following:

Put your whole rig together without floats, but all other hardware fittings.

Use a fishing scale and some string and weigh it in a trash can of water. This is how much buoyancy you need.

I use Inon floats plus a few Stix, but ULCS is no different. They all publish buoyancy specs for fresh water. You're weighing in fresh water, so everything matches.

Build a little spreadsheet with the relevant data to evaluate a solution.

If you bring along an extra Stix float or whatever, plus a couple of small fishing weights, you can fine tune on location.

I can get my rig, which is an oversized Nikon with lights, fine tuned to where it is neutral in the water below the surface, but at the surface will actually float [barely]. I've been doing this for a while.