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I have always loved my Sigma 17-70 paired with a dome and the Canon 7Dmkii (and 20D, 40D before that!) I know a lot don't think it's wide enough, but it was great for going on a leisurely, "who knows what I'll see or what I'll be in the mood to shoot today" diving. I don't know how it will work with the newer cameras so wondering what you all like to shoot when you want to "have it all" on a dive? Please let me know what you think are good contenders and if you can share an example of its diversity, that would be double helpful! Yay for shopping season!

Welcome to the forums, good to see another Sydney-sider in the forums. Do you do any diving in Sydney?

Some good stuff in those clips. But the master hasn't done anything for many months now, and doesn't reply to comments. Note that if you watch the last video, there is a link to an unpublished extra clip.

I also keep all my camera gear in my carry on luggage so I won't forget anything.

I keep as much as possible in my travelcase, so chances I forget something when I leave on a trip are lower. The case goes on a shelve with enough space above too get at my goodies.

R50 user here, came from an RX100V set up as I wanted to upgrade without the complexity of worrying about ports, lenses, domes etc. The simplicity, form factor and cost was appealing to me. I pair mine with WWL-1 and 2 x Inon UCL 165s, YS D3 DUOs, it's a fairly modest set up compared to what many are running here but in my own humble opinion feel I'm pretty happy with the results. If you are heavily into ting macro then this probably isn't a great choice but I feel it does ok with the 2 x diopters. A few pics from a month in Alor earlier this year:

We know the master and his t-shirt very well 😁

I converted a closet by adding open shelving to it. Gear is (mostly) stored in plastic bins with lids and labelled e.g snoot gear, macro accessories, strobes and batteries, astro tracker etc. One shelve is for lenses and bodies. Once the space fills up I will need to start selling rarely used items to keep the boss from understanding the true extent that GAS occurs.

I have discovered a master who has summarized complex underwater optical problems into easy to understand laws and answered all the questions I mentioned above. I will try according to his method https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcRtbHXMQPs

I have 14 35 with 180 dome use for some time，video is good. But not wide enough for some time. So I change to fish eye

Very complete analysis and you pointed out many legitimate issues. Some issues with formatting the charts - the legends are not showing which line belongs to which product. One other thing to highlight that might be worth noting. The numbers for Backscatters strobes all seem to align well with the manufacturer reported specs. GN brightness and Color temperature for example. I suspect this a "methodology bias" where BS is using the same measurement method as their marketing department. The numbers might be valid, but the consistency works in their own favor. Similarly with Isotta Red64 discrepancies. You can be sure that Backscatter did not allow any such oddities with their own strobes. They should correct the outliers to avoid the perception of bias. I hope that Backscatter makes some quick revisions to their test report.

I've tested the Canon RF20-50mm and RF14-35mm in a 140mm dome as a compact travel setup. Edges will be too soft for some people, but it provided acceptable results for me.

Running only FF limited to macro feels like losing a lot of opportunities🤣

This video is really helpful, ultimately I need to test it myself to find the best extension ring。 Thank you

Our commentary of the test will be published soon, here is a preview: https://www.retra-uwt.com/pages/a-closer-look-at-backscatters-strobe-test-retra-uwt

You can visualise this by downloading the images and measuring brightness in photoshop at the square next to each circle. BTW Backscatter mention that the rings are at 30/60/90/120° - this must mean the angle is measured from one edge of each circle to the other edge. They are shooting with a WWL which has a 130° diagonal field which is what we see as the approximate diagonal measurement. As an example here is a polt comparing the Seacam 160D with a Retra pro max II without diffusers. The brightnesses are the pixel brightnesses sampled from Photoshop (100- K which is the black level which is what Photoshop reports): You can see the Retra brightness drops more rapidly than the seacam as you move further off axis.

Sony 50 macro extends 25mm. Check out Alex Mustard's curved port video. Sony 50 macro seems very forgiving of dome misalignment compared to other lenses. Don't forget, measure EP at close distance eg 1:3 (not infinity), because this is where the virtual images will be.

Run it in FF mode.

The MFO-1 should be considered as a high quality low power diopter and also corrects for corner blurring due to the flat port. With a 90/100mm macro lens corner blurring is not really an issue. It helps on some macro lenses prevent hunting as the camera sees the subject as something at normal (non-macro) distances where the lens is more responsive in AF. IT help's on some lenses but if the lens/camera already focuses well it tends not to make a difference. A 45° viewfinder certainly helps a lot focusing on macro subjects on the sand but aiming is difficult till you get used it. For fast acquisition/aiming on quick subjects in open water, the rear screen of a 180° viewfinder may work better. The INON viewfinder is not as good in corners as the Nauticam particularly with modern mirrorless viewfinders which are quite "large"and require a large angle of view to see everything clearly, The corners are not great on my first version 45° Nauticam on an OM-1, the INON is reported to be not as good. It might work OK with the pokey little viewfinder on the A7CR-II - best if you can try it out on your chosen acmera before committing if possible.

I used an 8mm fisheye behind a Zen 100mm dome with my EM-1 MkII in the past it snapped to focus. You do have to watch fisheyes, the foreground can be much closer than it looks and can fall out of the depth of field if you are close. They have a lot of depth of field but it's not infinite at CFWA distances. DOF is less in the foreground so focusing in something fairly close can help.

I have everything stored in drawers inside cupboards. It really depends on how much space you have in your house. I used the Elfa modular storage slide out drawers to hold it all.

Perhaps, but the same can be said for any zoom lens and many people use them happily. IMO the entrance pupil location is most important at the widest setting, you are talking about using at 50mm or greater which would work behind a flat port. As far as I know all the port charts for zoom lenses are based upon positioning everything correctly at the widest setting.

PominOz! Love it! What a great User name Welcome. Great to have you with us on Waterpixels. We hope you really enjoy the forum. Best wishes from PominAMS. Tim

I have a rf 100 macro, basicly efs 60mm in canon r5 apsc = 96mm. That is not I want