Trays | Grips | Arms | Clamps

Why you need a tray and arm — not just a handle
A handle grip attached directly to the camera housing is a practical starting point — it gives you a stable one-handed or two-handed grip while diving. Adding a light directly on top of the camera via a cold-shoe mount adds illumination but at the cost of backscatter, since the light is too close to the lens axis. The purpose of an arm is to position the light away from the lens — typically 15 to 30 centimetres to the side and slightly above — so the light illuminates the subject from an angle rather than directly along the lens axis. This single change has the most dramatic effect on underwater image quality of any hardware upgrade you can make.

Single arm vs. dual arm — when to upgrade
A single tray with one arm and one light is the standard starting configuration — simple, manageable, and produces significantly better images than no arm at all. Once you are comfortable shooting with one light, adding a second arm and light on the opposite side of the tray illuminates the subject from both sides, eliminating directional shadows and doubling the effective output without the downsides of simply increasing one light's power. Dual arm systems are more complex to manage and more difficult to travel with, but for serious underwater videography or photography they produce noticeably superior results.

Sealife Flex-Connect vs. Big Blue vs. Ultralight — choosing a mounting system
Sealife's Flex-Connect system uses proprietary push-lock connections that assemble without tools — fast, compact, and specifically designed to work with Sealife cameras and Sea Dragon lights. The trade-off is that mixing with non-Sealife components requires adapters. Big Blue's tray and arm system uses standard 1-inch ball clamps — the universal underwater photography standard that connects to any ball-mount light from any manufacturer. Ultralight's system uses aircraft-grade aluminium and a more robust ball-clamp construction, preferred by professional underwater photographers who need precision positioning that holds under the physical demands of repeated dives. Each system has its place — Sealife for convenience, Big Blue for mixed-brand versatility, Ultralight for professional precision.

Cold-shoe vs. ball-mount — understanding the connections
A cold-shoe is a rectangular sliding mount — the same type used for external flashes on land cameras. It is simple and tool-free but does not allow angle adjustment once mounted. A ball-mount uses a 1-inch ball that locks into a clamp — it allows full 360-degree rotation and angle adjustment in all axes before tightening the clamp. Ball-mount systems provide far more flexibility in positioning lights than cold-shoe mounts and are the standard for serious underwater photography. Most underwater video light manufacturers use 1-inch ball mounts. Adapters allow cold-shoe lights to be used on ball-mount arms and vice versa.