In our ongoing series S.U.P.E.R. (Scubaverse’s Underwater Photography Equipment Reviews), Nick and Caroline Robertson Brown from Frogfish Photography review new underwater photography equipment, general diving equipment, and some older favourites too. 

For the eighth instalment of S.U.P.E.R., Nick and Caroline take a look at the Inon Weight Plate.

INON Weight Plate

As soon as I saw the INON Weight Plate had been developed I was keen to get my hands on one to try out. It is such a simple idea, but one that has so many potential uses. Basically, it allows you to use a standard diving weight as a base for a strobe, video light or action camera.

There are two different versions of the INON Weight Plate; one where you attach the plate using a series of screws, and another that uses a simple Velcro strap. I plan to use the screw version at home in the UK, keeping it permanently attached to a 2 or 3kg weight, and use the Velcro version for overseas trips, where there are fewer parts to go missing, it is lighter, and it can be easily switched as you move locations. The Weight Plate is designed to take various INON adapters so that you can have a ball mounted onto the plate to attached arms, strobes, lights or action video camera.

So far, I have used the INON Weight Plate in Capernwray (A UK quarry in the north of England) where I attached my INON Z-240 strobe. This allowed me to easily place a remote strobe anywhere I wanted to, knowing that it would stay firmly in position. I can see us using this system a great deal for remote lighting in wrecks, and can see cave photographers loving this for the same reasons.

I have also used this in the Bahamas and it is an amazing tool for mounting our GoPro. I usually attach the GoPro on my camera, as we focus on still photography, but this led to shaky and sea-sickness inducing clips. On this trip, where we were focusing on shark dives, I simply mounted the GoPro on the INON Weight Plate and left it out in front of me to record the sharks as they passed.

This flexible new accessory will also be great for mounting a video light and setting up snoot-style images where you can aim your beam of light on a subject before you take your photo. You can line the beam of light up easily and know that it will stay put, while you get yourself and your camera into position.

Whilst I do not encourage divers to place this onto delicate reef systems, I can see this being hugely popular with wreck divers, cave divers, those going on shark feed dives and for those that love their macro photography in places like Lembeh or the Scottish Lochs, where the INON Weight Plate can be put down safely onto sand or wreck structures without doing any environmental damage.

The Weight Plate is easy to use and only takes a moment to set up. In days where every accessory that you desire seems to cost a fortune, this one, at £34.99 is a veritable bargain. It will certainly be a firm feature in our kit bag, both for UK diving and for overseas trips.

For more information about INON products visit www.inonuk.com.

To find out more about Nick and Caroline and Frogfish Photography, visit www.frogfishphotography.com.