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This one is a bit spookier: Kraken and Ghost DiverNikon Z8 w/8-15mm Fisheye lens + 1.4TC, f9@1/25s iso500, Pair of Retra Maxi strobes with 4500k filters

Great photo Dave, kind of spooky. I like the fantastic combination of colours.

Looks great! I’ll keep that in mind I just bought the clamps with shackle so I ordered the shackle and have made my own lanyard etc but good back up plan if the shackle doesn’t work out

Have you had any instances with the bungee loops at the end of your arms presenting any sort of entanglement issues during the dive?

The gap that is added is very small. However, I did make a suggestion as to how to deal with the void in the OE knobs filled with water by drilling a 1/8 or #30 hole to allow blowing the water out. I am confident that the tiny gap of my new "blue" knobs will not cause any more likelihood of breaking a shaft. I did not mean to start a what if scenario as I have never heard of a broken Retra strobe shaft. It is just that I was somewhat miffed by their being plastic, I would have thought them to be stainless steel. If the shaft were to break it would be where the shaft tapers down and is then relieved for the set screw to insert. That is where the turning force is applied and if the shaft were to snap off there the knob would fall off in your hand or Davy Jone's Locker. I am not really worried about it. I have been using for several years a rechargeable electric blower. It worked great and dries all the water off and out of controls without the high pressure compressed air of a nozzle on a scuba tank. Recently I got a corded blower to reduce battery count that really gets the job done and can probably serve as a hair drier 😆 because it even gets very slightly warm due to compression.

I wonder if the tight base is to prevent breaking off the plastic shaft?

Great stuff @Muellema !

This Giant Pacific Octopus (Enteroctopus dolpheini) was one of about five GPO's we saw out in the open during four days of diving in Barkley Sound with Rendezvous Dive Adventures. Conditions were perfect deep on the reef, and our group found many GPO's hunting and resting on the rocky topology of Barkley Sound. A Giant Pacific Octopus (Enteroctopus dolpheini) strikes a pose on a colorful part of the reef surrounded by Giant Plumose Anemones (Metridium farcimen). Nikon Z8 w/8-15mm Fisheye lens + 1.4TC, f9@1/20s iso320, Pair of Retra Maxi strobes with 4500k filters

I only have the NA-A6000 housing left + Nauticam 16-70mm gear left. All else was SOLD.

Very slick! About those original knobs. I shared with Retra the feedback about salt constantly forming around the knobs even after an overnight soak. That hollow cavity and tight fitting to the base means they just can't be rinsed out. I designed the replacement knobs to eliminate the cavity and provide a slightly bigger gap at the bottom to allow for drainage. The mode switch gets a different shape to make it easy to distinguish with gloves on.

I got my bumpers and knobs! Super Nice!! About the standard Retra knobs. They have a cavity inside that could hold water and fit so close to the case that blowing out the water completely might be difficult. In replacing my knobs with the 3D printed Super Nice knobs, (1) I discovered that the shaft itself is Nylon, not stainless! Hmmm, I did not expect that on $XXXX strobes! (2) The cavity seems to serve no purpose and I took a 1/8 drill and put a hole in them into the cavity in exact alignment with the set screw hole such that it intersected the cavity at mid depth. (3) JFYI, the set screw goes deep into the plastic shaft and must be nearly completely backed out before the knobs will slip off the plastic shafts. I am quite certain that the added hole would allow complete rinsing and removal of any water and since all the parts are plastic I am not sure it matters. But who wants salt water left in their expensive gear, so add the "blow" hole or get some printed knobs that do not have the cavity and have a small gap at the interface to the back plate to properly drain. Hey, Retra, what is up with those plastic shafts, are those going to snap off? My Inons have plastic bodies and metal shafts, my Retras have metal bodies and plastic shafts, this is making my OCD hurt my head! On the first moon landing, Armstrong hit a CB switch accidentally and broke it off. If not for an ink pin inserted into the CB they might still be on the moon. The point being, if it is important and can break off, it will, exactly when you need it most. Plastic shafts? Are those going to break when I get that whale shark in my VF?

I have a much more basic carry handle setup that has served me well. Paracord, mini bolt-snap, little D-ring, 1/2 inch tubing. About $10. Attached to the top of the ULCS arm. Zip tied a big oring at the bottom of the arm to stow it while diving.

That's a great set! Thanks for sharing.

Hi, I’ve been using the Nikon 8-15mm lens in combination with a Kenko 1.4 teleconverter for several years now. I’m actually quite satisfied with the image quality. I mostly work within the 11–15mm range, shooting through a Seacam fisheye port. I’ve quickly picked a few sample images attached here. If you’re interested, I’d be happy to provide you with detailed metadata for the images. Best regards, Markus

Great thank you for the info- yes the screw unloosened and luckily I was able to save the other shackle from falling off

I primarily use a Nauticam water contact lens, normally the WACP-C or WWL-1B for a smaller rig. With that said, I find the 8-15 +1.4x behind the 140 dome a perfect solution for specific wider needs. Yes, I do miss the longer zoom capabilities of the water contact options with the Sony 28-60, but image quality is never a concern with either. Great images @Dave_Hicks and nice comparison!

EVF plusses generally outweigh the minuses, but it’s an adjustment. Dynamic range for one, auto-adjusting so you can’t ballpark how bright it actually is without taking your face off the camera for another. On the 5d4 I could see that it was dark through the viewfinder but could usually still see the thing I was focusing in, and make a judgement of how much to crank the exposure. I hear the R5ii is better, but I have the original flavor. But on balance it’s better and having instant playback in the VF is worth the adjustment.

I understand, that is why I too have the clamps with a shackle. And lock my arms at the center pivots with bolt snaps and at the outer to inner pivots with a bungee loop, tight or loose, my strobes cannot flail about like I see so often and with damaging results. I also beach dive often enough and need to be able to walk and enter and exit hands free.

I used them for a while, and they're nice because they're cheap and can "upgrade" an existing clamp. However, I ended up buying new clamps with an integral shackle due to a few issues. First, the lanyard metal would frequently bind with the screw so adjusting the clamp meant wiggling the lanyard holder to move things. This was most noticeable when loosening because the spring wasn't strong enough to push the metal out. Second, when I was getting out of the water and had the clamps tightened, any swaying of the lanyard would work the clamps loose enough that the (heavy) strobes could swing around and hit the housing or flop out and get much wider.

ULCS makes these or anyone handy in the shop could do something similar to convert a double or triple clamp to allow lanyard attachment to the center pivot. https://ulcs.com/product/ac-lhc2-camera-lanyard-holder/

After a current-heavy trip to Galapagos about a dozen years ago I came home with super floppy arms. I had cranked them down hard so many times in the current the o-rings were shot. Fresh o-rings made a word of difference. Then I ended up selling all of my ULCS clamps and bought all new ones for good measure. The old ones were still in good shape, but I cleaned them up and sold them for about half the cost of new ones. They were well over 10 years old. Sometimes it's just good to start fresh.

The canon is the sharper of the two, but both are sharp lenses. The 10mm lockout is based on using on APS-C. I imagine designing a custom lockout would be quite a feat.

Agree, makes life a lot easier this way, new o-rings do make a difference. Putting the short arm on attached to the handles and the long arm attached to the strobe generally allows the strobe to sit on the ground when folded into an "M", seems like that should be neater and more stable. The ikelites are good strobes but there's other more compact lighter options available these days.

Huh? Which 8-15 is sharper than the other 8-15? With the Nauticam 140mm dome setup, 10mm is too far back already. The vignette is at 11 or lower. I was thinking about modifying the zoom ring to disallow it from going back any further than where it clips. It should just take some specific alignment to make it work.

You mean this shackle: NauticamLong Multi-purpose (MP) Clamp ~with ShackleIn addition to being a clamp for attaching two 1" standard ball mounts together, the MP Clamp also features an additional socket equipped with a removable shackle for attachment of lanyards or other aThe shaft is about 4.5mm diameter. If it fell off I assume it unscrewed? If so get your self a shackle key to tighten the screw: https://www.whitworths.com.au/riley-mini-shackle-key-screwdriver the slot on the end slides over the tab on eh shackle allowing you tighten it up, once you do that it won't go anywhere. Should be able to buy something similar from a ship's chandler.