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Nice idea for my a7V Nauticam housing. Just still need the same for my s-TURTLE 3 SMART TTL trigger and housing can stay closed forever :) Has anyone experience on the turtle trigger battery duration ? I have still only a few dives with the setup, so difficult to figure out...

I can only confirm the posts above how useful a 45° viewfinder in combination with EFV of the camera is. No problem with image review UW. The seldom problem I have is, when I intend to make a photo directly 90° downwards (e.g. for "circular" panning). Then I can use the "C1" custom button on my Sony A7R5 to toggle to the screen, but it is better not to use the 45° viewfinder on the rig in such a case, as it is an obstacle for viewing the screen...

Welcome aboard! We hope you enjoy the forum! Ciao

I have a 45-deg viewfinder too. When reviewing images on the back of the camera on DSLR, I had to rotate the camera forward just to see the display under the viewfinder. Reviewing through the EVF is much better, especially for supermacro critters that are tough to find in the first place.

I second your EVF + 45deg experience. Its amazing and the real mirrorless super power. I use a Nikon Z8 and can easily do 3 dives and 600 photos with about 25-50% charge remaining.

Battery life might be another big win here... My daughter shoots with the A7RV - battery life is "challenging" at times. We're also hoping for a similar increase in AF speed as we saw from the A7RIV ->A7RV. If so, then paired with the (somewhat) new 100mm macro lens we might have a winning combination for blackwater dives. In Lembeh at the moment, and the Nikon D850 with the 60mm lens (the combination my son is shooting with) is still unbeatable for blackwater. There are lots of workable solutions, but this is combination is both fast and error free. First night I shot the Z8 with the older 60mm lens (and the Nikon FTZ). Tomorrow I'm going to shoot the Z105 lens with the MFO-3. Hoping to get a feel for which combination is better specifically for blackwater shooting with the Z8.

It will be interesting to see the actual "real-world" underwater performance differences between this new model and the a7rV. As an example, the advances in the a1II over the original a1 were solid, but did not impact the underwater experience. One promising update appears to be a better heat management design for in-camera video recording. This would be a win for both video and hybrid photogs. I look forward to the actual usage comparisons once they make it to the ocean.

Here is a tread about using the Canon 8-15mm f/4 fisheye with TCs: It seems to me that for a Canon FF camera the Kenko Teleplus HD pro 1.4x DGX TC is the best (Kenko also has the Teleplus HD 1.4x DGX TC, but this one is optically inferior): https://kenkoglobal.com/product/teleplus_hd_pro_1_4x_dgx/

I'm a Sony user with the 45 degree viewfinder, and I find reviewing everything through the viewfinder works best for me. For macro, it's not even a contest as it removes the need to back off the subject and then have to reposition again afterwards. All the info you need is there for you without having to move. I don't do a huge amount of wide angle but I'm that tuned into reviewing through the viewfinder now it just comes naturally I do find though that I change batteries after most dives unless it's been really unproductive. After an average much dive I'm usually around the 50% mark at the surface interval

PetaPixelSony a7R VI Review: The High-Resolution Camera to Rule Th...Sony's lead in the high-res camera segment has widened significantly.https://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sony-a7r-vi-review

Canon appears the same. It's one or the other. Not both and not different things on each screen.

This looks interesting, I never have dared to set my rig up like this... Are there certain conditions/circumstances were you use the "short" configuration vs. long arms (= are the long arms just superfluos ballast)?

Very clever! I don't know why I didn't even consider putting the lanyard holders inside. I put them between the handle and the face of the clamp like the ULCS product page shows.

Hi, I've been diving for a few years and started taking pictures last year, primarily macro photography.

Thanks all for the welcome! And I appreciate the advice. I'm leaning towards keeping the 8-15mm and using the 140mm with the marelux housing for the R5II. Any recommendations for the right TC to use? There's quite a few threads on here about this very topic, so I'll do my research. Also, a good note on flooding the wet lens, I read this might be a concern for pelagics/shallow water so good to hear it here. This has been my exact thought process. I bought the R5II as an upgrade for topside wildlife photography, but as I look towards upgrading from my ikelite for UW work, I thought I may as well shift towards a housing for the R5. I definitely considered shifting to a smaller setup for underwater, but considering I already have the 8-15 and I just bought this new camera, I will probably stick with canon. Love to hear that there are fellow PNW river divers. I'll definitely share a few of my images once I get my new setup. After the move to Alaska, I'm sure I will want to prioritize tropical vacations to defrost.

I have thought about this. For sure it could be done, and the total dry weight would be less than joining two separate components. Including an n### -> n*** adapter in the port ring would also be possible. Once the core parts are accurately modeled, remixing, mixing, matching are not super challenging. I have a lot of confidence in the distinct Float Rings with over a year and at least 100 dives on these parts. In the last month I've completed about 20-25 dives on a 40mm Extension Ring with zero problems. Combining should be safe, and even if the float part failed, the thicker walled Port part would remain intact. The downside would be cost of replacing the whole unit. Not a problem for a DIYer, but could be a concern for a consumer. Probably what would be more practical would be to make an entire printed Macro Port, glass inserted, and then integrating flotation into that single unit. I'll be attempting a Curved Glass macro port soon. Building in floatation might be a no-brainer if successful. On the other hand, if the extension ring is mounting a Dome port, then integrated flotation would be much more useful. It would be similar to how the WWL-1 ports have either integrated or foam floats added to the assembly. Lots of good ideas to kick around! I first want to get N100 models and possibly N85 parts designed and tested next. If there is any interest in people testing or eventually buying floats, port rings, or entire ports, I would consider candidate combinations that would be popular.

There's no lenses listed working with the WWL-C from Canon apart from the little 24-50, if EF lenses nothing at all, the 28-70/80 kit lenses are said to not work with the WWL-1B, so seems unlikely this lens would work with either of the WWL. I expect it should do pretty well behind a 180mm dome though.

3:2 is the standard dimension for full frame stills so any lens OK for stills should be fine with video, after all we aren't viewing 100% crops of the corners when watching the video, our attention is on what the subject is doing.

Hello and welcome, hope you enjoy the forums. On the topic of compact, if you really want to be compact I'd suggest asking if you really need a full frame sensor. There are of course reasons for going full frame, which might be publication demands, low light performance for fast moving subjects or you want it and are prepared to deal with the downsides. Many people on here are advocates for smaller sensors as you can generally use them with smaller domes and particularly in m43 the lenses are smaller lighter and cheaper. I use m43 with an OM-1 and have an adapted Canon 8-15 which goes from a full 180° diagonal to the equivalent of a 28mm rectilinear lens, effectively a 15mm fisheye and a 14-28mm lens combined - in full frame equivalent terms. With the 8-15 and an APS-C or m43 system you could seriously look at using the Zen 4" dome which is tiny and very streamlined. Of course an 8-15 fisheye is neither cheap or light, it's a havy brick which contributes to bouyancy. Of course if a 180° diagonal fisheye is enough (and you were using that previously the tiny 8mm panasonic fisheye only weighs a few hundred grams and works perfectly with the 4"dome in m43. Now the downside of going compact is that buoyancy drops away and the housing can become quite negative. My OM-1 with the Canon 8-15 and 140mm dome is nearly 1.8kg negative and I use two really large float arms to get it closer to neutral which if course adds back drag. This of course is an extreme case as the Canon 8-15 is quite heavy. You could sit the housing on a foam block to get some buoyancy, it would be something like 30x20x3 cm so quite a good size. I'm assuming you would be shooting natural light and not dealing with strobe arms? This of course is an extreme case as the Canon 8-15 is quite heavy. The upside is that in aluminium housings, depending on which model you compare you could save enough $ on hardware costs to pay for a good portion of a dive trip to warmer waters. It's all a trade off.

Since we're discussing extension rings: could we do integrated floatation on them? I've wondered about using N120 ports with N100 to N120 adapter plus custom extensions rather than the N100 ports usually used on my Sony as a means of adding floation.

Even with the detect turned off at least on my Sony they won't let you run both the screen showing settings along with the EVF showing picture, unless you manually toggle between them. It's too bad to not have a way to use that feature since I would like it I think.

First of all: All underwater scooters are subject to torque effect. According to the law of action and reaction, as the propeller spins in a certain direction, an equal and opposite force is generated that causes the vehicle body to rotate on its axis in the opposite direction. In technical models like Suex, this rotation is compensated for by positioning internal weights asymmetrically or by using directional fins to straighten the water flow. This allows the scooter to remain stable during use, preventing strain on the diver's arms. When the motor is running the strategically placed internal weights counteract the torque and naturally stabilize the scooter with the control handle at the 12 o'clock position. So, if you mount your neutrally buoyant camera aligned with the handle the DPV will automatically rotate to keep the camera at the top as soon as you engage the motor. While stationary the camera mass might cause it to roll to the bottom but during motion the torque compensation does the balancing work for you and requires zero effort to keep the setup upright. TL;DR Just make the camera rig neutrally buoyant and put it aligned with the scooter handle. You will see that even when stationary the effort to keep it at 12 o'clock is basically zero. Ciao

You see a dog bone, I am seeing something a little different! 🙄

The WWL-C is actually great, but would not work well for salmon as you are never deep enough to flood and remove all the bubbles from the wet mate optics. And 8-15mm in the 140mm dome is my choice for snorkeling or shallow work. I've been shooting it with a TC recently and it is very good.

I'd get the DPV to stop rolling on its own. Possibly look at buoyancy up top and some weight on the bottom.