Camera Buoyancy

[Nemrod]

Ok, that reminds me because I have been mulling this on and off before - I can understand aiming for neutral buoyancy with a large heavy rig from 1" to m4/3 to DSLRs and above with their rather large UW housings. But what about a Gopro on a tray with two mini lights rig - should I even bother?

P

The practical answer is no.

James

 

[danhngo9594]

So how much weight you guys normally have on. 8” dome port to offset the buoyancy?
About? 10oz?

 

[Pearlman]

Is it heavy and awkward to use? Do you tip forward if you hold the camera out in front of you?

Not at all.. I was wondering if it would reduce camera shake even further .. So I guess I need not bother.
P

 

[tursiops]

Not at all.. I was wondering if it would reduce camera shake even further .. So I guess I need not bother.
P

Well, yes, the more inertia the rig has the more stable it is to shaking. But the inertia comes from mass, so you need to add weight, then you need to add buoyancy to compensate for the weight so it is neutral. Not a very good approach! Most folks stabilize in the post-processing.

 

[CanadaDan]

So how much weight you guys normally have on. 8” dome port to offset the buoyancy?
About? 10oz?

Mine trimmed out with 5oz on the 8" dome but that's my rig and housing. I started by adding 1oz at a time till I got close and then added 1/4oz pieces until the rig was neutral in fresh and hung level.

So much depends on your housing and light/stobe setup that you'll need to play with it after you set up the whole thing.

 

[danhngo9594]

Mine trimmed out with 5oz on the 8" dome but that's my rig and housing. I started by adding 1oz at a time till I got close and then added 1/4oz pieces until the rig was neutral in fresh and hung level.

So much depends on your housing and light/stobe setup that you'll need to play with it after you set up the whole thing.

Will try it this weekend, no access to the pool, hopefully my bathtub is deep enough

 

[Nemrod]

Not at all.. I was wondering if it would reduce camera shake even further .. So I guess I need not bother.
P

I have noticed that UW I do not have the same problems with camera shake that I have always had with land photos. I naturally shake. It is not Parkinson, I have had shaky hands always. Maybe too much caffeine, I got coffee in the bottle! Anyways, the reason is that the water acts as a natural damper and with two strobes hung outboard on each side stabilizing the rig and adding mass way out there it just does not shake. This is why the lack of IBIS in a camera for UW use, while nice, I just do not consider it essential or for that matter even OSS. Yes, those are good things and can and do help but are they essential with a medium to large camera system and with two large strobes hung way out and float arms? I would argue no. We have all seen the wings that were (are) still mounted to some video systems.

James