I saw on FB that Fotocore/Scubalamp has a new monitor. Specs seems quite interesting but I don't know its weight underwater.

On Facebook there's even a video:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FLf8vppof/

I got the user manual.

Unfortunately, underwater it's 740g negative.

MR5.5.pdf

Are the main differences between this and the UM5.5 the presence of physical buttons and USB charging?

14 minutes ago, shokwaav said:

Are the main differences between this and the UM5.5 the presence of physical buttons and USB charging?

Yes.

Things I don't like:

1. A weight of 740 grams is truly a lot. My current monitor is 260g, and I already had to add PVC bars. To counterbalance an additional 500g, I'd need to change the float arms, and there's no guarantee my whole setup would even be balanced then.

2. I'm not thrilled about the USB charging. The monitor is always attached to the camera housing. I'd have to move the whole setup near an outlet to charge it, which is annoying, if not dangerous, especially when I'm not charging it at house. In many diving centers I would never leave the whole housing in the charging area.

3. Last but not least: that new, extra-long cable gland sticking out the left side could really interfere with or limit the monitor's movement.

In a short time, Fotocore/Scubalamp have released several iterations of their monitors, along with various strobes. This shows a great capacity for design and production. Unlike the strobes, which I've seen countless professional photographers use and provide valuable feedback on, IMHO, I believe they lack input on their monitors from serious users of these tools.

Long story short: still looking for the perfect cheap monitor.

12 hours ago, Davide DB said:

Yes.

Things I don't like:

1. A weight of 740 grams is truly a lot. My current monitor is 260g, and I already had to add PVC bars. To counterbalance an additional 500g, I'd need to change the float arms, and there's no guarantee my whole setup would even be balanced then.

2. I'm not thrilled about the USB charging. The monitor is always attached to the camera housing. I'd have to move the whole setup near an outlet to charge it, which is annoying, if not dangerous, especially when I'm not charging it at house. In many diving centers I would never leave the whole housing in the charging area.

3. Last but not least: that new, extra-long cable gland sticking out the left side could really interfere with or limit the monitor's movement.

In a short time, Fotocore/Scubalamp have released several iterations of their monitors, along with various strobes. This shows a great capacity for design and production. Unlike the strobes, which I've seen countless professional photographers use and provide valuable feedback on, IMHO, I believe they lack input on their monitors from serious users of these tools.

Long story short: still looking for the perfect cheap monitor.

I heard from a local dealer where I am located that a model changed to a built-in battery will be released when purchasing a monitor about a month ago.

Looking at it now, it seems that can upgrade the firmware as well as the built-in battery.

I didn't like built-in batteries, so I canceled the order and ordered it again, but the old one arrived

As you said, the hdmi cable is on the left side of the monitor, so the buoyancy agent keeps interfering when moving the arm.

To be honest, since HDMI underwater cables have a long history of being fragile whatever brand you use, the sideway exiting cable is probably providing less strain to the cable than the up/down usual location of connectors (the other alternative is monitor with back straight output). I see that as an improvement in terms of durability but on the other hand, yes it eats side space which might interfere with arm location/handle.

ressurecting this thread as I am looking at this monitor now... tempting to replace my shinobi and spend only 1200 instead of 5000 for Ultra5.

The game changer for me is 1) ability to turn on and off HDR/LUT processing underwater (shoot standard in picture mode, Slog3 in video and 2) rotate the picture for when I am underwater with EMWL without relay lens.

These 2 are real sticking points for me. Buoyancy can be easily dealt with using back mounted float cut to dimension and required volume. The flat back is actually very good.

As for battery charging inside - not a big deal. Looking at battery spec and consumption it is going to last easily whole day - 4 dives on a liveaboard - which is more then enough and this is the way I operate with Shinobi and NPF970 battery - charging overnight.

Now if only there would be any feedback as to how reliable this monitor is.

Hi Roman,

Give a look at the Seafrog option. It's an housing for a popular commercial model which is sold on Amazon Prime too (here in Italy). So you could just try it on your desk if it has all the features you need.

Very nice find David! It seems to check all the boxes except for image flip (for EMWL use without relay). This video shows user assignable features for custom buttons

they allow to flip screen but its screen on control only it seems...

Another wish would be whether it could accept Nauticam cable - I need L shaped output for my configuration.

On 8/5/2025 at 9:41 PM, RomiK said:

ressurecting this thread as I am looking at this monitor now... tempting to replace my shinobi and spend only 1200 instead of 5000 for Ultra5.

The game changer for me is 1) ability to turn on and off HDR/LUT processing underwater (shoot standard in picture mode, Slog3 in video and 2) rotate the picture for when I am underwater with EMWL without relay lens.

These 2 are real sticking points for me. Buoyancy can be easily dealt with using back mounted float cut to dimension and required volume. The flat back is actually very good.

As for battery charging inside - not a big deal. Looking at battery spec and consumption it is going to last easily whole day - 4 dives on a liveaboard - which is more then enough and this is the way I operate with Shinobi and NPF970 battery - charging overnight.

Now if only there would be any feedback as to how reliable this monitor is.

@RomiK I have been using the monitor for a while now - will share my thoughts in a couple of days

6 hours ago, blobsthediver said:

@RomiK I have been using the monitor for a while now - will share my thoughts in a couple of days

great! we will all be interested in your experiences with this one! As for myself I went with Wed5Pro in the meantime but again - it will be great to hear other monitors experiences.

Sharing my thoughts on the Fotocore MR5.5.

First of all, abit of context on my use case. I do a on-and-off gig as a videographer on an LOB. This is where my gear gets the heaviest and most frequent usage.

• Time is scarce for me, I am often doing 4 dives a day, and for each dive I try to be on the first speedboat out and i come back with the last speedboat

• In between dives I have to sort through/edit footage, or fly my drone/take b-roll shots etc

In summary, I think this a great monitor for amateur travel, but if you are shooting something more professional i.e. long UW shoots on rebreather plus multiple dives close to each other, then this may not be the best monitor given the charging is only via USB-C.

Took a short video of the cable placement concern last year (sorry for low quality i deleted the original): https://youtu.be/DROZ9eLk_t4

	What I like	What I don't like as much / potential negatives
1. Brightness	Extremely bright Major improvement versus my old Weefine 7” Pro. The official stats puts it at 3,000 nits, I dont know how to actually verify this but so far even in bright daytime conditions I generally only need around 50–75% brightness. At night I can run it much lower
2. Battery life	Great real-world battery life I normally do 3–4 dives per day without charging between dives and generally still have around 15–30% remaining at the end of the day. Easily sufficient for a normal liveaboard diving day for me.	There is always a worry that if the battery goes bust, I can't replace it
3. Charging	USB-C charging - for me, convenient and I like it I don’t need to travel with additional batteries. Given how much dive/camera equipment I already carry, it makes life alot easier. I normally just charge once a day after the day's diving is done	Vaccum seal affected when removing the charging cap to charge To plug in the USB-C cable, you have to unscrew the o-ringed charging port cap The vacuum seal is lost if the cap cover is left open over a period of time - e.g. when charging. The nauticam indicator has turned yellow and even red at times If you have to charge the monitor after every dive, this can be annoying to have to re-seal the housing everytime, but so far the battery life has been great enough that the monitor lasts an entire day of diving
4. Form / size	Compact. The 5.5” monitor is MUCH more compact than the 7” Weefine I previously used. Easier to travel with Less drag underwater - especially in challenging conditions	Smaller screen is the trade-off. A 7” monitor is easier for judging critical focus and fine details, especially for macro/manual focus. Scopes and overlays also take up more of the available screen. HDMI cable placement isn’t ideal — it protrudes awkwardly and makes cable routing less clean.
5. Form -> HDMI cable		This is one of the biggest negative to me. The cable connector design is awkward and to me is a risk of breaking/snagging. See an older video I made last year where I talked about it abit more
6. Core functions	More than good enough for me Has basically all the core monitoring tools, for me has waveform and peaking which are the 2 that i use the most

Thanks for the detailed feedback from a real use case.

Two questions:

Did you find any differences or did you have to change anything in your setup since this monitor is supposed to be much heavier than the previous one?

Others and I are using the Weefine 5 inch with great satisfaction, but we drew a wild card with the extra features. The Zebras are not real zebras. In short, the firmware feels homemade.

How do you like yours?