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I will be heading this direction courtesy of some cables that Dave is making up for me. I tried fresh cut ends and a single bushing end on one of the cables I have, and it still didn't work. So, those must not be up to snuff (brand unknown and not labelled). I'm not super psyched by the brightness of the little LEDs in the Nauticam flash trigger, so if the cables dave sends don't work, I'll look into one of the bright mini flashes on Amazon, and see how I can re-orient the flash element to be directed at the cable ports to get a brighter signal to the strobes.

Damn FB! The last post I see on that page is dated March 6... Impossible finding something on FB. Edit: It's on the group not the page. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18bTgGA3mp/

Andrew I will add this to my list of things for Marketplace to look at. However I uploaded images straight from my iPhone and they seemed to work. Maybe admin rights took over there. Ill take a look thou, its a custom application I made for invision so pretty much can do what I want with it where as other parts of the site (ex within forums) is a bit more locked to what invision gives us.

Thanks for the the update. Would you have a link to the post? Unfortunately Robert isn't on here (big Bobetc fan here), but feel free to link this thread on the BW group as well - the more talk there is the better! cheers

I have had no problem with coiled 613 cable with any strobes (Inon, Retra, Marelux) but I have had with YS. I would use single bushing ends, not doubles, make sure you have quality multicore 613 type cable and fresh ends that are not recessed up into the bushing or plug.

I was with you until this last point. Wrapping or twirling the cable has no impact at all. The bend radius of 613multicore fiber is 2mm before loss of signal will be a problem. Most vendors coil the cables more tightly than you are going to wrap your cables. As long as you don't tie it into knots it will work perfectly. Anyways, just use some Velcro straps to fix your strobe cables to the arms.

Hi Andrew Automatically, sorry, no... that has to be a mandraulic issue. Just resize the down preferably in jpg format.

In a conversation I had with Oskar at Retra some time back, he mentioned that a centred hole in a bush was important for some strobes.

Is it possible to automatically downsize the images? I can’t even upload images taken on my iPhone.

Interesting ideas. I wondered about the double hole bushing (as that's what the current cable has), and will see if a single hole with better alignment works. I hadn't thought of cutting the current connectors off and "re-plumbing" with new ones to check alignment. That's a great idea as well. I'm getting a new set of better quality cables, but will try your ideas as well. If I can get these working, backups are never a bad thing to have. Thanks for the thoughts!

Had a similar issue with an old Nauticam Port which 67mm thread was completely damaged, it couldn't screw and hold anything like a macro wetlens. I used a neutral filter mount I had removed the glass before, and glued it to the damaged thead. It worked for a year and 2 dive trips, I anyway had to buy another (new) port since I changed my whole rig as well.

Yes, a smaller aperture definitely helps with the picture quality. I don't have a 20mm extension ring, plan to purchase a 15+20mm extension ring

FWIW I've had similar issues with strobes from other brand (Fotocore) for which the strobe light detector is known not to perform that well (unlike Inon or Retra strobes for instance). Here are some actions that willl allow you to test and may improve the light transmission, at least it did on my side : (if none works, I'd suggest you purchase new fiberoptics, S&S multicore 613 fibers would be my choice) I assume you're using S&S type connectors : check your cable bush plugged into the strobe port. do not use double hole bush, it might not work (I got this hint from the owner), it seems critical that the strobe end cable is centered into the optical port, hence a single hole type. check how the cable connector is fitting in its hole (I had a loose one that didn't work). In this case I'd rather change the connector & use a new rubber bush : first cut the cable end with a sharp razor blade (not scissors!!!) and try triggering your strobe adjusting the cable end with various insertion depth into the bush (ie. cable barely visible from the bush end, protruding 1/2mm from the bush, etc.) until you get a consistant firing. Make sure your cable does not twirl too much around the strobe arms or the clamps, the light might be lost through those twirls.

I recall most people using full frame tend to stop down to f11-13 range with the 8-15 fisheye, you might try that. If you have a 20mm extension you could try that as well. Nauticam list a 20mm extension with the 7-14, while both Nauticam and Marelux list a 30mm extension for the EF 8-15, suggesting that 20mm may work on Marelux. I would not suggest buying a 20mm extension yet until you see a recommendation from Marelux. Perhaps @Phil Rudin may see the thread and comment?

There was a thread on Blackwater Cozumel page on Facebook started week ago by Robert Stansfield (not sure if he is on this board). it is quite lengthy now, over 100 responses (some pure Facebook quality). Reading the thread, looks like the "taxation" has spread even more, people posting about being hit "taxes" on dive computers ect. There was also mention about director of customs being fired, but if i understood correctly, its Cozumel, not Mexico-wide director. Maybe theres light at the end of the tunnel, for Cabo aswell. But not having my hopes up too high. -edit Looks like there has been alot of talk on Scubaboard and other Facebook grps about this in the past weeks.

Thank you for sharing. What brand of diopters do you use?

With Canon RF camera bodies you can have an almost exact focal length display activated as an overlay in your EVF and LCD screen. This is also why I know what focal lengths (zoom range) works. Coming back to this Aquista135D: really curious about the first results. Has anybody shot it so far and can post some sample images?

Yes, there isn't much information. My friend has already used this lens on the Marelux R52, using a 30mm extension ring and obtaining images at aperture F8. I think there is some blurring in the corners, which may not have fully realized the potential of the lens

Dear Yiheng,.. I think I reported back on the 15mm + 20mm a while ago, beeing slightly sharper, but that was with the Canon EF 8-15mm not to confuse with the new 7-14mm fisheye. About the RF35mm - yes it works great and there has been a forum post about it. You will be able to enhance its AF performance by using a diopter behind the small 140mm marelux dome.

I don't recall any detailed discussion on extensions for this lens on the forums as the lens is so new. SO far it seems only Nauticam has it on port charts where it uses 10mm less extension than the EF 8-15. It is likely it also uses 10mm less on Marelux, but needs to be confirmed as it is not on the port chart yet. There was a lot of discussion on the optimum extension for the 8-15 lens but it was rather inconclusive , the samples provided IMO showed no improvement for the longer extension. Nothing so far on the 7-14 I recall. Have you tested with 30mm extension at the 7mm end?, due to the 190 field the lens needs to be placed further forward to prevent vignetting, which is probably why Nauticam use 20mm. I would expect the 7-14 to vignette at 7mm with a 35mm extension, but it needs to be tested. Regarding a 1.4x it seems it's currently not possible to use a 1.4x, as you note the nose is too long. Also I believe the mount is keyed to prevent mounting it even if the nose was shorter. Kenko 1.4x is not available in RF mount so out of luck to use a 1.4x. Currently the EF 8-15 lens is the only way to get a fisheye plus 1.4x in combination with Kenko 1.4x and some people have used the RF 1.4x with the nose inside a Comcast RF-EF adapter that has been enlarged by filing it out and reported good results. On the 35mm f1.8, Marelux recommend the 140mm dome, the 50mm would be fine in that dome I think but you would need to test if it focuses well UW as the 50mm has a long 30cm min focus distance.

In addition, after testing, rf 1.4TC can’t be used together, even if the rear filter is removed, it is too long. But the color filter and rear filter are a good match. Even when magnified multiple times, there is no decrease in image quality

I used the Marlex R5 and purchased an RF 7-14 lens. The official recommendation is a 30mm extension ring, but I saw many people on the forum saying that its best optimal length is 35mm. Has anyone tested it? (I currently only have one 40mm extension ring, and testing has found significant black edges) Additional, if I carry an additional RF 35 1.8 or 501.8 as a supplement, will the image quality significantly decrease behind the 140 dome? （I just want to carry one dome）

what basis are you using for that comparison? You should be able to use all your existing ports and extensions on Isotta, perhaps not on Nauticam. Is that quote for a full set of ports for both options? The difficulty in explaining is hopping between two options . If you want to use the 24-50 on your current S&S housing is option 1. Option two is to go to a Z8 system either Nauticam or Isotta. . Option 1 just email Isotta and ask them if they can confirm the correct port to use with the 24-50 on your S&S housing. You would need to print a zoom gear and there are a few places that will do this you could try: https://www.deepshots.co.uk/collections/gears-for-olympus-and-panasonic?grid_list=grid-view&filter.v.price.gte=&filter.v.price.lte= https://eocean.eu/en/16-custom-design-machining F.I.T 3D printed zoom gear and focus gear of various styles[Instructions] Zoom ring/focus ring customized production If you have any questions, please contact [email protected] Option 2 if you went with a new housing , again email Isotta and ask what is needed to use your existing domes/extensions with a new Z8 housing. You can buy all you need for the 24-50 off the shelf. I believe you should be able to keep all of your existing domes. For the Nauticam option to make reusing your domes feasible you would need to source Nauticam lug rings for each S&S dome assuming they are removable, they used to be available but now discontinued. You would need to know the length of the Saga adapter if you wanted to go that way.

Great. Message me if you want me to get some to you for a reasonable price.

Aha! That's the test I couldnt figure out to do. And, it appears to be the cables. I can trigger the strobe using my super bright dive light, whether I do it directly, or through the cables. But, when I switch to a regular household LED flashlight, I can only trigger directly, but not through the cables. Same for the Nauticam flash trigger. So, I must be losing too much light between the housing flash and the strobe detector. Thanks for the help! Now, to see about building some new cables with the DIY info on here.