Hi folks - my name is Vimal, quick introduction:

I'm a hobbyist nature photographer who got into snorkeling and underwater photography a few years ago. I was recently in French Polynesia to experience the humpback whale migration - favorite moment of that trip was following a pod of humpback whales and pilot whales that spent the entire day just playing together!

On land I use Sony and OM Systems for wildlife. In the water I currently use a Nauticam NA-R50 + WWL-C though I'm constantly on the looking out for other small options with good image quality - no giant scuba rigs for me!

I'm also a hobbyist maker with advanced electronics/firmware/pcb design experience and entry level 3D printing and CNC experience.

Some of my recent underwater photography related projects:

• Replaced the controller board of a cheap underwater phone housing (Seafrogs SF-PH-01 Pro) with my own design with full mouse control as well sleep and wake functionality - my wife uses it on all-day snorkel outings with plenty of battery life to spare, no fiddling with phone power / screen timeout settings, and no need to take the phone in and out of the housing

• Designed a custom-CNC-milled combination M16 USB-C bulkhead and vacuum valve for my NA-R50 housing so that I could charge the camera and offload photos without breaking vacuum for days on end - though the housing only has one M16 port I didn't want to choose between being able to recharge on a boat and being able to draw a vacuum to confirm no leaks

I'm constantly iterating on my designs for fun - was really excited to come across the Tutorials, How-Tos, DIY section and see other folks working on similarly interesting projects!

Welcome aboard Vimal, look forward to seeing your creations..