Camera Rig Negativity

[tursiops]

I may try to duplicate the Nauticam WWL-1 float collar in CF. Probably balsa core it. Weird, but my old Ikelite Bubble housing, I had to add lead to sink it.

The WWL-1 is mostly glass and metal; the domes have a lot of air. Very different in water, even if identical in air.

 

[Nemrod]

The WWL-1 is mostly glass and metal; the domes have a lot of air. Very different in water, even if identical in air.

Yes, thanks and with positives and negatives (pun) for each type. I will eventually add a dome and get the lens required. But I have been using wet lenses for a long time and am smitten by their versatility if not their underwater weight. I am going to order the Nauticam CMC-X macro lens and while I do not see changing these large lenses underwater I can at least switch on the boat or beach without opening the housing and pulling the camera to switch lenses and ports. And I like the zoom through the WWL-1 and the Inon UWL100 provide.

What a mess:

I was trying to get the strobes synched and iron out some basic settings. I had thought that once the camera onboard strobe was deployed I was stuck with a cumbersome custom key and sub menu work around to turn the flash off. Not so, the Nauticam housing allows me to deploy and retract the camera strobe! Plus I have Pavlov's TTL/Manual converter which I need to get figured out. I probably will not use that for my first trip. I want to be able to clip the converter in and out without having to use the piece of adhesive foam, not sure how I want to go with it yet. But I do like the little converter, I better for the price, lol.

James

 

[jgttrey]

Not so, the Nauticam housing allows me to deploy and retract the camera strobe!

On my A6500, you can deploy, but not retract. The little lever just presses the pop up button. Unless the A6400 has some sort of power retraction, my guess is that it's a one way operation. Convenient, as it's easy to forget to pop up the flash before sealing the housing.

Turning off the flash isn't hard. Getting to the menu option should be accessible from the FN menu. However, if I just need to take a few ambient light shots, I just turn off the strobes and don't worry that the internal flash is firing.

 

[Nemrod]

On my A6500, you can deploy, but not retract. The little lever just presses the pop up button. Unless the A6400 has some sort of power retraction, my guess is that it's a one way operation. Convenient, as it's easy to forget to pop up the flash before sealing the housing.

Turning off the flash isn't hard. Getting to the menu option should be accessible from the FN menu. However, if I just need to take a few ambient light shots, I just turn off the strobes and don't worry that the internal flash is firing.

No, the strobe activation lever will push the strobe back down. I have tried it. It has an on position and an off position and so indicated on the housing. Maybe they have updated the NA6500 because I see the same feature though the marking for the Off position does not have the strobe flash symbol off. Because mine will most definitely retract the strobe.

N

 

[DavidFL]

FWIW, besides knowing the gross amount of buoyancy you want/need, there are issues of placement of the flotation. I recently tried to get my rig to be less heavy submerged and doubled up the STIX foam on the arms. That resulted in about the submerged weight I wanted but the arms had a very strong "pitch up" moment in the configurations I use the most. After two dives with that, I went back to my previous configuration that is a little heavier than I would like but just about right in terms of pitching forces felt on the tray handles throughout the dive.

 

[tursiops]

FWIW, besides knowing the gross amount of buoyancy you want/need, there are issues of placement of the flotation. I recently tried to get my rig to be less heavy submerged and doubled up the STIX foam on the arms. That resulted in about the submerged weight I wanted but the arms had a very strong "pitch up" moment in the configurations I use the most. After two dives with that, I went back to my previous configuration that is a little heavier than I would like but just about right in terms of pitching forces felt on the tray handles throughout the dive.

Yep, just like a BCD...have to have neutrality but trim is what makes/breaks the dive.
At one point I tried putting a cross-piece on my rig -- a horizontal buoyant arm across the top of the camera, fixed with a ball at either end and using a 3-way clamp on each tray-handle. It did help get some buoyancy closer to the COG/COB of the rig, but it also interfered with my focus light and some top controls on the housing. I use 2 arms on each side, and right now I've settled on putting the largest buoyancy element closest to the housing, and any trim (STIX) on the outer arm. And definitely the float collar on the WWL-1.

 

[Nemrod]

One thing I am noticing as I try to set this thing up is that when the camera goes to sleep it does not hold the prior lens zoom position when it wakes up. I then have to reset the lens, which is minor and in some ways it makes sense but it could also be slightly aggravating. Is there a way to perhaps assign a minimum or default zoom position on one of the Custom buttons?

James

 

[Glenndini]

I use shaped foam made out of yoga blocks for floats on my strobe arms. Yes, it does compress at depth but I see this as a feature not a bug. At the surface my rig floats but at depth becomes slightly negative. Makes handling it on the surface much easier. I can even let it float next to me, tethered to my BCD, whilst I make adjustments or swim. At depth it's not heavy but won't float away either.

 

[tursiops]

I use shaped foam made out of yoga blocks for floats on my strobe arms. Yes, it does compress at depth but I see this as a feature not a bug. At the surface my rig floats but at depth becomes slightly negative. Makes handling it on the surface much easier. I can even let it float next to me, tethered to my BCD, whilst I make adjustments or swim. At depth it's not heavy but won't float away either.

Agreed...much better negative u/w than buoyant. Really hard to handle if buoyant.

 

[gstrek]

One thing I am noticing as I try to set this thing up is that when the camera goes to sleep it does not hold the prior lens zoom position when it wakes up. I then have to reset the lens, which is minor and in some ways it makes sense but it could also be slightly aggravating. Is there a way to perhaps assign a minimum or default zoom position on one of the Custom buttons?

James

You could activate Remote Control on the camera to avoid it going to sleep and retracting lens at all, however at the cost of using more battery. At least on my A6000, nothing in the menu allows you to set the zoom position upon wakeup. As I recall, my Olympus does have that setting.