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GoPro Underwater Camera Tray: The Complete Buyer’s Guide for Divers

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GoPro Underwater Camera Tray: The Complete Buyer’s Guide for Divers

If you’ve ever watched back your GoPro dive footage and felt seasick from the shaky video, you already know the problem: a bare GoPro underwater is nearly impossible to hold steady. A GoPro underwater camera tray is the single most important accessory that transforms wobbly action cam footage into smooth, professional-looking underwater video. This guide covers everything you need to know about choosing the right tray — from handle styles and mounting systems to buoyancy and lighting integration.

Why Every GoPro Diver Needs a Camera Tray

Holding a GoPro by itself underwater is like trying to write calligraphy on a moving bus. The camera is tiny, there’s nothing to grip, and every wave, current, or fin kick translates directly into shaky footage. Here’s what a tray solves:

  • Stability: Two handles give you a steady, two-handed grip — the same principle that makes a rifle more accurate than a pistol. The tray-and-handle system is literally the foundation for building a larger camera system.
  • Mounting points: Handles provide ball mounts for attaching video lights, strobes, or arms. Without a tray, there’s nowhere to mount lighting.
  • Buoyancy control: An aluminum tray adds just enough negative weight to make your rig slightly negative underwater — the sweet spot for stable shooting. You can add float arms or buoyancy blocks if the rig becomes too heavy.
  • Comfort: A proper tray lets you hold the camera for a full 60-minute dive without hand cramps. Gripping a bare GoPro housing for that long is exhausting.

Tray Handle Styles: Pistol Grip vs. Straight Handle

This is the biggest decision you’ll make, and it affects everything about your dive experience:

Pistol Grip Handles

Pistol grip handles angle downward, letting your wrist sit in a natural, relaxed position — similar to holding a drill or a camera grip. Your hand wraps around the handle and “locks in” rather than constantly squeezing.

  • Pros: Most comfortable over long dives; natural wrist angle reduces fatigue; better one-handed control if you need a free hand for buoyancy; feels intuitive for divers coming from camera photography
  • Cons: Adds more height to the rig; bulkier in a dive bag

Straight / Foam-Grip Handles

These are cylindrical handles that extend straight up from the tray, typically with foam or rubber grips.

  • Pros: Lower profile; lighter; simpler design; often cheaper
  • Cons: Requires active gripping throughout the dive; can cause hand cramp on longer dives; less stable for one-handed operation

Our take: If you’re doing multiple dives per day or dive trips longer than a weekend, pistol grip handles are worth the extra bulk. The comfort difference becomes obvious by dive three.

Key Features to Look For

1. Tray Width — Match It to Your Camera

Standard underwater trays are sized for mirrorless and DSLR housings — they’re 12–14 inches wide. If you’re shooting a GoPro, Insta360, or DJI Action, that oversized tray makes your rig awkwardly wide and unbalanced. Look for a compact action camera tray (around 8–11 inches wide) that matches the small footprint of your camera.

2. Adjustable Handle Position

Hands come in different sizes, and you might be wearing 3mm tropical gloves or 7mm cold-water mitts. Handles that pivot or slide along the tray let you dial in the perfect grip width. Fixed handles force you to adapt to them.

3. Ball Mounts for Lights

Each handle should have a 1-inch ball mount (or a mounting point for one). This is the standard in underwater photography — it lets you attach arm-and-clamp systems for video lights or strobes. Without ball mounts, you’re limited to flex arms only.

4. GoPro Mount vs. 1/4-20 Screw

Action camera trays should include a standard GoPro mount — the same style you’re already familiar with from GoPro accessories. The TR09 comes with one built in. Larger camera housings use the standard 1/4-20 tripod screw. If you want to mount a GoPro on a tray designed for larger housings (like the TR08), a simple tripod-to-GoPro adapter does the job for a few dollars.

5. Material: Anodized Aluminum

Aluminum trays are the standard for good reason: they’re strong, lightweight, corrosion-resistant, and provide a slight negative buoyancy that helps stabilize the rig. Plastic trays save weight but flex under load and don’t last. Carbon fiber looks great but adds cost without meaningful benefit for most divers.

6. Base Mounting Threads

Three 1/4-20 threads on the underside of the tray let you mount the whole rig on a tripod for topside shooting between dives — a surprisingly useful feature for surface intervals and boat b-roll.

Lighting Integration: The Real Reason Trays Matter

GoPro cameras don’t have a built-in flash or strobe — they’re designed for video, not still photography. Without external lighting, everything below 15ft turns blue-green as water absorbs warm light. To get color and clarity back, you need external lighting, and you can’t mount lights without a tray.

Flex Arms vs. Ball-and-Clamp Arms

Flex arms (like Loc-Line style) bend and hold their position — no knobs to tighten. They’re affordable, simple, and popular with GoPro shooters who want to add a video light without complexity. The arm stays roughly where you put it, which works well for straightforward lighting angles.

Ball-and-clamp arms (rigid arms with clamps) use 1-inch ball joints connected by clamps. The key advantage: once you tighten the clamps, the system is locked solid — no drifting, no sagging, no movement at all, even in strong current or when you’re swimming hard. This matters because a flex arm can slowly drift out of position during a dive, especially if you’re moving through current or bumping the rig against anything. With ball-and-clamp, you set the angle once, tighten, and it stays exactly where you left it for the entire dive.

Which to choose? It’s personal preference. Flex arms are simpler and cheaper — great if you set your light angle once and don’t mind minor drift. Ball-and-clamp gives you absolute lock-down positioning and works equally well for single-light or dual-light setups. Many divers start with flex arms and upgrade to ball-and-clamp later; others go straight to rigid arms because they want that locked-in confidence from dive one.

How Many Lights Do You Need?

  • One video light: Good for close-up and macro. The light will be off-center, creating slight shadows, but it’s the lightest and cheapest setup.
  • Two video lights: Even, wide illumination — the standard for wide-angle underwater video. Eliminates shadows and backscatter. Requires a dual-handle tray.
  • Strobes (for stills): If you’re shooting still photos instead of video, strobes produce much more power per flash. They require ball-and-clamp arms and a dual-handle tray.

Buoyancy: Getting Your Rig Right

Buoyancy is the number one reason divers struggle with underwater photography. A rig that’s too negative drags your arms down. Too positive and it floats away. The sweet spot is slightly negative — the rig gently drifts downward when you let go, making it easy to control and preventing it from floating up and hitting the reef.

An aluminum tray with a GoPro housing and one light typically lands in the slightly-negative zone naturally. Add a second light or heavier arms and you may need to compensate. For Abyss 10000 and larger lights, Kraken makes KR-FB04 float collars that slip right over the light body — they add buoyancy exactly where you need it, without adding bulk or changing the balance of your rig. Test your full setup’s buoyancy in a pool before taking it on a dive trip.

GoPro-Specific Considerations

Housing Choices

The GoPro is waterproof to 33ft (10m) on its own, but you need a dive housing for scuba depths. Options include:

  • GoPro Protective Housing: ~$50, rated to 200ft (60m). The standard choice for scuba depths.
  • Isotta GoPro Housing: ~$473, machined aluminum, double O-rings, works with flip filters. A premium option for divers who want maximum protection and accessory compatibility.

Filters

Below 15ft, red light gets absorbed by water and everything turns blue-green. A red or magenta filter restores warm colors. On a tray system, filters mount directly to the housing — the tray doesn’t interfere.

Wide-Angle Lenses

The GoPro’s built-in wide angle is decent, but adding a wet-mount wide-angle lens opens up reef scenics, wreck interiors, and large marine life. Wide-angle lenses that attach to the GoPro housing give you a broader field of view and let you get closer to your subject — which means less water between you and what you’re shooting, and better color and sharpness.

Recommended GoPro Tray Setups by Budget

Entry Level: $200–$300

For the diver who just wants stable footage and a single light:

Total: ~$285 — Two-handed stability plus one video light. This is the biggest single upgrade from bare-GoPro shooting.

Mid-Range: $500–$800

For the diver who wants even lighting and better color:

  • Dual-handle pistol grip tray (e.g., Kraken TR09 — $99)
  • Two flex arms or ball-and-clamp arms
  • Two video lights (e.g., Kraken Abyss 6000 — $399 each)
  • Red filter for the GoPro housing

Total: ~$900 — Dual-light rig for wide-angle video with even illumination and proper color. The Abyss 6000 is a great match for action camera rigs — compact, powerful, and with a wide beam that covers the GoPro’s field of view.

Advanced: $1,000–$1,500

For the diver building a professional-grade GoPro system:

  • Dual-handle tray with ball mounts (e.g., Kraken TR08 — $145)
  • Ball-and-clamp arm system
  • Two high-output video lights (e.g., Kraken Abyss 10000 — $539 each)
  • GoPro Protective Housing (~$50)
  • Wide-angle wet lens for the GoPro housing

Total: ~$1,270 — Professional GoPro rig with dual Abyss 10000 lights, ball-and-clamp precision, and wide-angle capability. The Abyss series is purpose-built for underwater video — compact enough for action cam rigs, with the output to light up wide-angle scenes at depth.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Buying a tray that’s too wide: Standard mirrorless trays (12″+) make GoPro rigs top-heavy and awkward. A large, heavy tray defeats the whole point of using a compact action camera. Get a compact action camera tray sized for your camera.
  • Skipping the lights: A tray without lights is just a handle. The real magic happens when you add external lighting — that’s where color and clarity come from.
  • Choosing the wrong arm type for your style: Flex arms are simpler and cheaper, but they can drift during a dive. If you want your light to stay exactly where you point it — especially in current — ball-and-clamp arms are worth the extra cost. Either works for a single-light or dual-light setup; it comes down to whether you value simplicity or rock-solid lock-down.
  • Mounting lights too close to the camera: Lights need to be away from the lens to reduce backscatter (particles lit up between you and the subject). If your arms are too short, you’ll get hot spots and backscatter on every shot. Use arms long enough to get lights at least 8–10 inches from the housing.
  • Ignoring buoyancy: An unbalanced rig causes fatigue, bad footage, and potential reef damage. A GoPro + aluminum tray + two lights can easily be 750g+ negative underwater — that’s dragging, not neutral. For Abyss 10000 and up, slip-on KR-FB04 float collars solve this neatly. Test your full setup’s buoyancy in a pool before diving open water.
  • Forgetting gloves: Handling a bare GoPro with gloves is nearly impossible — the housing is too small and slippery to grip. Make sure your handle spacing is wide enough and the grip is accessible with mitts on. Trigger grips (available on some trays) are a game-changer for gloved diving — you can start/stop recording without releasing your hold on the handle.
  • Trusting lumen specs at face value: Not all lumen ratings are equal. Some manufacturers list theoretical max output; others list actual measured output. Compare real-world beam tests, not just the number on the box.

FAQ

Do I really need a tray for my GoPro underwater?

Strictly speaking, no — you can hold a GoPro bare-handed. But if you want watchable footage, a tray is the single best investment. It eliminates hand-shake, gives you mounting points for lights, and lets you comfortably shoot for a full dive instead of 10 minutes. Once you shoot with a tray, you won’t go back to bare-handed.

Single or dual handle tray?

Dual handles, always, unless you have a specific reason for one hand (like holding a reel or slate). Two handles = two points of contact = stable footage. A single handle is only slightly better than no tray at all. A dual-handle setup is also essential for mounting two lights evenly — which is the standard for wide-angle underwater video.

Can I use a tray with any GoPro model?

Yes. All GoPro models (Hero 3 through Hero 13) use the same standard GoPro mount. Any tray with a GoPro mount works with any GoPro in a protective housing. If you’re using a tray designed for larger housings (like the TR08), a tripod-to-GoPro adapter lets you mount your GoPro for a few dollars.

What’s the difference between the Kraken TR09 and TR08?

The TR09 is compact (8.25″ inner width) with pivoting pistol grips and a built-in GoPro mount — built specifically for action cameras. The TR08 is wider (8–11.25″ adjustable) for mirrorless and DSLR housings, also with pistol grips. If you’re shooting GoPro, the TR09 is the natural fit. If you might upgrade to a mirrorless rig later, the TR08 gives you room to grow — just add a tripod-to-GoPro adapter to mount your GoPro on it.

Do I need filters if I have video lights?

For close-range shooting (within 3–4 feet), video lights replace the need for filters — they provide full-spectrum light. For anything beyond light range, you still need a red filter. Many divers run both: lights for close subjects, filter as a backup for wide shots where lights can’t reach.

Can I mount my GoPro on a larger housing tray?

Yes. If you’re using a tray designed for mirrorless or DSLR housings (like the TR08), a simple tripod-to-GoPro adapter lets you mount your GoPro for a few dollars. The TR09 already includes a GoPro mount, so no adapter needed there.

How do I travel with a tray setup?

Most trays disassemble to a flat bar and two handles — they fit easily in a regulator bag or carry-on. The Kraken aluminum trays are lightweight (under 2 lbs for the TR09) and the handles unscrew for packing. Don’t check your rig — the housing is the expensive part, and it stays safer in your carry-on.

How do I clip off my rig when I need my hands free?

When you need both hands for a safety stop, inflator, or just to rest, a Kraken Quick Release Coil Lanyard clipped to your BCD D-ring is the easiest solution. The coil extends when you’re shooting and retracts to stay out of the way when your hands are free. The quick-release snap lets you detach in one motion. Available in four colours so you can spot your gear on a crowded dive boat. The key: always have a clip — a tray with a GoPro and lights is an expensive piece of gear to drop.

Two smaller lights or one big light?

Two smaller lights, almost always. Two lights eliminate shadows, reduce backscatter, and provide even illumination across the GoPro’s wide field of view. One light creates a bright hot spot on one side and shadow on the other. The only exception is if you’re shooting macro/close-up only — a single light aimed tight works fine for small subjects.

How far will my video lights reach?

Realistically, 3–4 feet for most compact video lights. Beyond that, water absorbs the light and you’re back to blue-green footage. This is why experienced divers run lights for close subjects and a red filter for wide-angle shots where lights can’t reach — the two solve different problems.

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