DPV/Scooter camera mount

Does anyone use video mount from SUEX or Yellowdiving?

Pros and cons?

I'm planning to mount MIL to DSLR housing (and maybe Nauticam RED LT).

Many thanks,

Ej.

Hi Eunjae,

Basically a DPV mount is an highly overpriced piece of PVC/Delrin

In my team we have both. I have the Yellowdiving because is the cheapest and the small one.

For a hounsing like NA-Gh2 and GH3 is good. Even fot the NA-A7 is ok provided you make a hole not in the middle.

I don't think it suitable for a DSRL or even a RED camera.

The Suex is very expensive but it's small and has a quick release mechanism that is very useful for two reasons:

• A DSRL or a RED gear is very heavy out of the water. Even with my small setup sometimes I'm afraid to put in the water my scooter with my camera on it. With that kind of quick release buckle you can mount it once in the water very easily.
  
• I film always with my camera mounted on the scooter. It gives you stable shootings but I agree that some shots require you to have the lowest "point of view". i.e. you cannot film a pennatula in the sand with the camera mounted on your scooter. In such cases, with a quick release buckle like the Suex you can easily mount/unmount it even at depth.

PS

The trick for DPV mounting is having the camera setup and the scooter neutral buoyant independently. I know that it's difficult with some camera setup but it's very important also for emergency reasons. You can keep the camera in your hands while your scooter stays beside you neutral.

I do not like the single tripod hole as found in the NA-A7. While it's ok for a static tripod it's awkward to securely fix the camera on a DPV. With your arms and light the camera is exposed to big torques and it tends to rotate. On the NA-A7 I had to use a small rubber carpet between the housing and the dpv support and moreover I had to use a star lock washer like this:

Double tripod holes as found in the Nauticam FlexyTray are far more suited for DPV mounting.

PS2

I can post some photo later.

Davide, Thanks a lot for the reply.

We often have rough sea and very hard to entry/exit with heavy gear (ccr, bo's) and it seems suex is better because of quick release.

Are you mounting both (housing & lights) on the dpv?

I really curious to know stability (video footage) when lots of gear on dpv.

I have the Dive-Xtras Deluxe Mount.

Its never been wet - its much too big for my GH3/4 system... the YellowDiving one looks good

Dive X one looks big and heavy. How much the weight?

Now I'm thinking to try DIY first with what I have already (alu cheese board and cam band).

Anyone tried?

I use the mount made by Logic Dive Gear. It is a swiveling, quick release system and can be had in both a large and small version. I have the large version and it works quite well with a GH4 or 5Diii system including a monitor and a pair of Keldan lights. It is capable of taking a larger system as well. The only bad thing I can say about it is that the large swivel mount is cut for the Genesis scooter body diameter or larger. If mounting to a SUEX scooter, you will need to perform a simple modification to make it compatible with the SUEX's slightly smaller body diameter. Not sure if Jon has updated the design yet to account for the SUEX body diameter. I had tried a DIY solution originally but as my system got bulkier, I needed something 'better' but lacked access to the machinery to build a proper mount myself.

Jon's scooters are also excellent machines and he offers some modifications that would make them even better if you did a lot of shooting from the scooter, such as left handed control and a dual handle option for driving a bigger rig around. The thumb actuated, infinitely variable speed control on the Genesis scooters makes on the fly speed changes very easy and without disturbance to an ongoing shot.

Tony

Go for the Suex, you will be not disappointed.

Regarding DPV mount there was this old thread:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=47847

This is my YellowDiving mount. You have to add a belt and one or two holes based on your camera:

http://wetpixel.com/forums/uploads/monthly_09_2012/post-32954-0-16804100-1348439744.jpg

The 3 screws on the head keep the camera in a fixed position or let it rotate while still keep it on the mount. The cons with this nice piece of kit is that if you want to mount/unmount it in the water or underwater you have to loose/tight all of them. It's not so easy especially if you gear is big. It could be difficult reaching the screws with your finger. For this reason, usually I prefer to mount everything on the boat.

As you see on this photo of the AN-A7 two of the screws are far form reach behind the dome. I was forced to that position because the dome is larger that the housing and very near to the tripod mount hole.

You can see my GH2 on the Yellow diving mount.

Once you make your camera rig (housing + lights) nearly neutral buoyant, getting rock stable shots with the scooter is very easy. I like to keep the camera aligned with the scooter handle so I can eventually shoot while scootering. The whole rig (camera and scooter) is so stable that you can shot moving everything with one hand.

The only PITA is that you have to set the camera and press the trigger and then keep filming while far from it. But I become very good to stretch myself toward the housing with one arm to adjust settings

Hi Davide,

What kind of buoyancy device you're using?

I just tried mount a7s + 17-35, fix 7k on a scooter but too negative with stix + nauticam carbon arms.

I can add more of these but I'm afraid it'll make too much drag and I guess stix losing (compress) buoyancy from +40 meter.

Ej.

I originally had the Stix floats but after 40m they shrink a lot like chewing gum. Even at 30m the loss of buoyancy is small but noticeable.

Here in Italy I bought a pane of this:

http://www.easydiveshop.com/en/galleggianti/51-easyfloat.html

Then I cut it in pieces exactly like Stix cubes. I've been using them since two years without problem even at 100m.

Now they produce these rings already cut at the right measure and 200m guaranteed:

http://www.easydiveshop.com/en/floats-solution/342-floating-rings-kit.html

I have a small piece of this:

http://www.adval.it/_eng/galleggiamento.html

It's wonderful but very expensive. Actually closed cell high density PVC or closed cell high density PVC or polyurethane foam is very common but minimum quantity sold is a 2 square meter pane... Maybe in some small shipyard you could have some scrap. Closed cell foam is used for filling boat decks. (be careful: at least with a density of 75 kg/m3 which bear at 13Bar).

Or maybe on your side you can find some other vendor.

Hi Davide,

What kind of buoyancy device you're using?

I just tried mount a7s + 17-35, fix 7k on a scooter but too negative with stix + nauticam carbon arms.

 

 

Even on my A7 setup I was not able to get a neutral buoyancy (while was ok with my GH2). At the end I bit the bullet and I removed completely the scooter inner salt water weight.

Absolutely I do not like it. I bring with me a small lead of the same weight with a double ender, just in case...

I forgto to mention that I measured the buoyancy with a small digital scale (that used for weighting suitcase at the airport). Just dro the entire A7 setup, arms and lights in water with a small line and weight it.

On the adval site you get the buoyancy for one cubic decimeter....

Thanks Davide,

Guess I need to try find some closed cell foam first.