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I have my Sony set up for BBF and it locks. My Canon does not seem to have that capability but I do have BBF without focus lock. I find BBF more useful for macro than WA. But BBF can be a game changer. Just do not forget to focus!

I used to be a half press guy, but now I've joined the dark side with BBF, since Nauticam ergs are very good for BBF. But I haven't disabled AF with shutter, so it's there if I need it.

If that 8-15 can take a TC that would be amazing. Unless it's $3k

Top to Bottom: Backscatter Atom, Backscatter HF-1, Retra Maxi. The Maxi is the biggest, but also the by far the lightest in the water - nearly neutrally buoyant.

In the beginning, God said, let there be light. And Retra complied, and there was. And it was good!

I was talking to another diver/photographer friend a few weeks ago before we were to meet on Grand Cayman, and I mentioned that I was going to bring a MFT setup as a reduced size and weight experiment. He asked me what strobes I was using and I told him I planned on bringing the Retra Maxis. He laughed and I realized that two strobes that were each about the size of the housing and weighing over 1kg each did sort of undermine my small and light concept.

I start to get shakes and twitches if I haven't been diving in more than 7 days. They say a cold plunge is good to promote longevity, so I'm going to roll with that advice.

Ha! Been there, done it, sold the dry suit. It’s diving the tropics for me!

I never had a problem with half-press shutter (Nauticam housings) even with heavy dry gloves and liners. I've done it for so long that it is entirely natural. When I dive warm water with no gloves I don't notice a difference or need to make a conscious adjustment. It just works.

Says a UK diver. Are you missing out on all the great local diving in your neck of the woods? :) Got to say, diving without flying is the best thing ever. Bring as much camera gear as you can stuff into your car! And some extra gloves for good measure! Cheers, Dave

12-40 Pro f2.8, some of the dark days due to weather didn’t help either and the fact we were below 25 metres often😂 Meant to add a couple of short clips from the divers with Insta IMG_3085-1.mov b4579e07-da95-4b37-b4fe-86e422ee0f47.mp4

BBF on my housing is not easy to use so it strains my hands. Unless I'l shooting in the dark, I avoid using it.

Ooooh, gloves!!! That's what it's all about! Yeah, well, good luck guys. If you need gloves, the water is too cold 😜

Which lens did you use? Ciao

I can recommend Fiji for sure (watch for my trip report soon). Tonga, the Solomons, PNG are easy from Fiji. There is no longer a flight to French Polynesia, you’d have to go back to Australia or New Zealand.

Always! It’s so much easier with the dedicated thumb lever on a Nauticam housing than half press on the shutter and the regular misfires that causes. I don’t think I could feel a half press with gloves.

Malpelo July 20 - Aug 2nd, 10 dive day special Our 3rd trip and the best to date, sea conditions pretty calm, viz the usual mix - the plankton here does drop it but that is why there is so much life. El Niño clearly kicking in with water temps 26-28 degrees but this certainly does not seem to have affected the diversity of marine life to see, top side certainly playing out in what should be the dry season with some cloudy days & sharp showers Vivax this time, pretty much the twin of the Ferox and would happily go on either, the Pangas are easier/better as the seating is down the middle of them but no deal breaker The fact your gear stays on the rib all week makes it so much easier than climbing up the ladder with all your gear on. Marine life, all the usual and then some Jacks at D’Artagnan are still a world class dive, to be surrounded by over 1,000 is simply incredible Whale sharks up to 12 metres Oceanic Mantas with one dive where they stayed with us for 40 minutes The odd Tiger Shark Usual Galapagos and Silky, both are simply huge here Hammerheads were simply stunning, often over 50 and the best 2-3 dives maybe 200. Numerous large schools of fish everywhere Some of the small stuff is pretty cool too You simply don’t know what will turn up on any dive, or which one during the day with no apparent pattern to whether dives 1,2 or 3 are the best, you can have 30 minutes of not much and then boom huge schools of Hammerheads or some Mantas Don’t be afraid to dive into the blue for a good part at the end of the dive - sometimes it doesn’t pay off but in the 3 trips this is always how we have seen the larger schools of Hammerheads (save some NDL and air so you can drop back down if need be) My Olympus OM5 struggled with the light at times (though likely the user😂) and a camera more focused on low light conditions would certainly help but those using the Insta 360 got some incredible footage 5mm semi dry with a light hood was fine, 2mm gloves a must for holding on in some dives in surge or current when required, strong power fins such as Jet seem best. 15 litre tanks are such a boon, air consumption here is typically higher then tropical dives Diving here is best described as “Gnarly”, but don’t let that put you off as the rewards are potentially amazing and the experience of Malpelo’s conditions certainly improves your diving Malpelo is simply about the marine life in abundance and max size; Colombia Dive Adventures delivers this superbly - would I go back in the future, for sure

By the way one consideration on housing is if there is any thought to adding a monitor as I think only aluminum housings accommodate the HDMI needed.

These plan view comparisons are really helpful for a sanity check! I handled/shot the Sony A7RVI in the Singapore airport and gave it a thought as it was a joy to hold and shoot (and FAST AF!), but the cost, weight, and bulk of lenses, ports, and housing sobered me right up!

I shot the 30 mm on two daylight dives by mistake (the hazards of assembling camera gear before coffee when jetlagged!) inside the 60mm port. Shots turned out amazingly well, although I wondered why my CMC 2 was so easy to shoot and seemingly lower mag than expected!🤯 I did not notice any creature spooking issues, but again I was unaware I was shooting the 30 until after the two morning dives when I pulled the camera for a battery swap so I wasn’t really looking for any difference. The 30 worked great on blackwater.

I am posting it here because at the moment it is only a rumor. A piece of news however that if confirmed would make many underwater photographers happy. The source on X is considered very very reliable. There are no dates. We will see.

Davide, That is consistent with my findings—no complaints about image quality when it focused. I suspect it would be better on an OM-1 body, but not sure. The 45 on land seems decent for me—maybe a little slower than the 30 and 60–and even daytime dives the 45 wasn’t awful. On a blackwater dive it sucked. The 45 uses the same AOI port as the 30, but without manual focus capability. Evan

Hi Igor, To answer question, the Canon EF 8-15 + Fringer II + Kenko 1.4 DGX should work in continuous autofocus and 3d tracking, same as the Sigma 15 with Canon EF mount that I have used on my Nikon Z8. I am pretty certain the Canon EF 15mm full frame fisheye will do the same as the autofocus motor is built in. Its Canon’s RF mount lenses for the mirrorless camera that cannot be used on Nikon Z bodies, as nobody has produced a RF to Z adapter. While the going price for a secondhand Nikon 8-15 is quite higher than the Canon EF version, remember that this lens requires Nikon’s F to Z lens adapter to work. As for the ports required, Nauticam’s port charts for Nikon DSLR camera can be applied the same way when using Nikon F mount lens via the F to Z adapter on Nikon Z mount cameras.

I disable shutter focus and only use bbf underwater. Only decent way to focus, then frame the shot. Look into focus peaking too for macro to get the eyeball just right. Im not sure if all cameras can do it hut OM1 could do focus peaking even in auto focus so you can focus with bbf, then use peaking to move the cameras thin depth of field forward and back to get the eyeballs in focus. Then press shutter and not have the focus change on you.