Here is our recommended list of trays, arms and clamps, suitable for all compact, mirrorless and DSLR cameras.
We offer two online courses to help you get the most out of your camera and lighting setup underwater.
TG Underwater Photography Made Easy is built specifically for TG-6 and TG-7 owners who want consistent, confident results instead of hit-or-miss shots.
The Confident Underwater Photographer is for compact, mirrorless, or DSLR shooters who want to properly understand their camera, lenses, and lighting, strobes included. Buttons to both are just above.
Your ideal solution to having a stable, two-handed grip on your housing along with proper mounting points for your strobes or lights.
It is best to select trays made from aluminium for a solid, lightweight base that will not flex or wear out under regular use, and handles that that include ball mounts so you can attach your strobe arms exactly where you need them.
Look for trays that are adjustable so that you can move the handles in and out to fit your housing and your grip.
For SOUTH AFRICAN buyers, we stock and sell different trays to those available to overseas clients (below) which we have been using for many years.
FOR OVERSEAS BUYERS: If you are buying using the links we recommend below, always check that the tray will be able to accommodate your housing before you purchase it.
Your ideal tray system if you want one setup that can grow with your camera rather than needing a new tray every time you upgrade. The AOI Modular System starts as a 16 x 16cm base tray, but its real value is in what it becomes. Separate inserts, sold individually, let you fit the same base to a range of different housings, so your tray does not become obsolete the moment you change cameras.
We have used this system successfully across a wide range, from our very popular Universal Action Camera housings and TG compact housings right up to AOI housings for Canon, Sony and OM cameras. That kind of flexibility is rare in a tray system, and it means you can invest once and simply buy the relevant insert as your gear changes, rather than replacing the whole tray.
Built from hard anodized aluminium alloy, it comes with two ball mounts, a Go-Pro mount and a tripod screw included, so you are ready to attach lighting arms and a tripod mount straight out of the box.
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Your ideal strobe arm if you are using a single strobe and want it positioned exactly where it should be. This 5″ double ball arm is the correct length to sit your strobe directly over the centre of your port, giving you even, well-placed light across your subject rather than light falling from an awkward angle.
Made from aluminium, it is built to hold up to saltwater, knocks, and regular use without corroding or losing its grip over time. It works with any camera and housing setup, so whether you are just adding your first strobe or building out a full two-strobe rig, this makes a perfect part of the combination.
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our ideal accessory to stop your underwater setup from feeling heavy underwater. These jumbo floats slide onto the flat type strobe arms we recommend above, and adjust your camera system’s buoyancy, taking the strain off your wrists and making your rig comfortable to shoot with over a long dive, or when you are using long lenses and diopters.
Sold as a pack of four, each float adds 181g of lift, giving you 726g of total lift across the set to dial in exactly how your rig feels in the water.
Two floats are right for a 5″ strobe arm with a single strobe, while three floats suit an 8″ arm. For setups using two strobes, we recommend pairing a 5″ arm with an 8″ arm, which gives well-balanced buoyancy across a wide range of mirrorless, DSLR, and compact setups.
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Your ideal connector for attaching a strobe arm or light onto your tray. This standard ball clamp fits any 1″ ball, so it works across arm systems rather than locking you into a single ecosystem.
Made from aircraft-grade aluminium, they have a fine-thread bolt that gives you noticeably more precise adjustment than a standard thread, so you can lock your strobe angle in exactly where you want it without it slipping mid-dive.
SOUTH AFRICAN buyers – we stock our own brand here at Underwater Photo Company.
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Your ideal clamp for the point in your rig where a strobe connects to your first arm, or between a 5″ and 8″ arm on a two-strobe setup. This longer clamp works exactly like a standard ball clamp, but it includes a built-in shackle, giving you a proper attachment point for a lanyard.
Its extra length also comes in handy if you are running Jumbo StiX floats on your arms. Once your arms get “fatter” with floats fitted, this clamp gives you the extra spacing needed to keep them from crowding each other, allowing for better strobe placement and easier positioning either side of your housing.
That shackle is useful in ways that go beyond just connecting your arms. It gives you somewhere secure to clip a lanyard when you are carrying your housing to and from the water, and it is just as handy on boat dives when you need to hand your rig up to the crew without worrying about it slipping.
SOUTH AFRICAN buyers – we stock our own brand here at Underwater Photo Company.
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Your ideal fibre optic cable if you want your strobe to fire reliably, every single time. Not all fibre optic cables are created equal, and this is one of the reasons we recommend fibre optic cables with multi-core fibre optic centre, which pass significantly more light from your camera’s internal flash or flash trigger through to your strobe than a standard single-core cable does.
For SOUTH AFRICAN BUYERS : Check out the reliable brand that we sell here at Underwater Photo Company.
FOR OVERSEAS CUSTOMERS: The one we recommend in the link also comes with connectors for Sea & Sea, Nauticam, and Inon systems, so it works across the setups our customers are most commonly using, and at 20 to 42 inches, it is long enough for wide angle work without over-stretching, while still being manageable for tighter macro shooting.
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