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TTL works amost perfect on my Canon R5 and HF-1 with e-TURTLE 3 SMART TTL trigger for Canon MILC systems.

I too have spent most of my career far from photo and scuba retail options whether in person or delivery. Many a business trip or holiday involve stopovers for gear acquisition. I feel the pain. As for Olympus autofocus it’s pretty good. I can’t compare to other brands, but I can say that my EM1 with 60mm locks on targets fast and reliably for me. It will even do continuous AF and follow anemone fish pretty well. As for super macro, before you assume you need the 90mm with its size and weight, look into wet diopters like the Nauticam CMC series. This shot was taken with the 60mm and an older +5 diopter that provides very close working distance and about 2x magnification:

Sorry but I can’t yet offer a sensible comment on the AF underwater. Mine hasn’t got wet yet. Chris is The Man though - longtime M43 user.

I was about to add that the Backscatter's HF series is small, great battery life, and that you may use high speed sync with the right flash triggers. Great for macro, and some have used it pretty successfully on larger subjects (see Phil Rudin and Dave Hicks forays into using these flashes). The OM-1 ii I believe already has an x-sync speed of 1/250th, which puts it right up there with most. A couple of other things to note - again, lens size! Many APS-c lenses are sized right for their systems, but oftentimes the lenses are large which happens with Canons and Nikons. It’s like hauling around full frame cameras with their added size and weight. Also, I was thinking about your desire to have a monitor. They are nice to look at, and I like having one to shoot video topside, but have you considered just composing on the standard screen? I have also tried using 45 and 90 degree viewfinders - great in some instances - but again, these add bulk and, in my view, are a throwback to film and DSLR days when live view was horrible.

The 240s/330s are outstanding at being a tight package with a good light punch. Both the HF-1 and Maxi will be noticeably larger, but they both still fit in my same photo backpack, just with a little more snug fit. HF-1 is slightly less of an investment, but very negative. Works fine, will just need a bit more floatation. **Requires Backscatter trigger for true HSS. Maxi has a circular flash tube for more even coverage and is almost neutrally buoyant. HSS works with UWT and Turtle, with a slightly more premium investment required. Marelux is also making some good strobe products, but I do not have personal experience with them. I just noticed Dave Hicks shared that same comment. He does have personal experience using them.

Just to follow up for anyone who encounters this in the future: I got brand new, quality 613 fibre cables (Thanks, Dave!), but they did not solve the problem. In trying to further diagnose, I can get the strobes to fire using the Nauticam triger, either with the strobe placed directly over the trigger (camera out of case) or directly over the window (camera in case), but the strobe is incredibly directionally sensitive when doing so. Only a slight tilt on any axis, and the strobe will not fire. No matter the orientation of the cable ends when using a cable, I cannot get the strobe to fire. So, I think it's likely a combo of the weak(ish) signal of the nauticam trigger and the poor pickup of the YS-D2 strobe that is the issue. For now, I'll just switch back to using sync cables. I'm debating whether to disassemble the nauticam trigger and attempt to replace the LED elements with brighter ones, try a compact flash from amazon with a reflector to direct it through the trigger windows in the case, or just let this project die. I'm no so eager to use fiber optics that I want to invest $$$ on a new trigger. Thanks, everyone, for the advice and help troubleshooting. Looks like just a bad combo of gear that may be unfixable. :(

Look into the Backscatter Atom https://www.backscatter.com/Backscatter-Atom-Flash-Underwater-Strobe-AF-1 Smaller, lighter, HSS support, good battery life. It is a mini HF-1 without the video light.

They are working, yes. And what you don’t know you don’t know. But I want HSS—that I know. A bit more light, sure, but not if it costs me too much size and weight. Have 0 issues with dropping AA:s. Video light nice to have, but again not if it means too much extra weight and size compared to my z240:s. So…

Yes, both the Max II and the Maxi have sealed battery compartments. They are both a premium strobes. The Pro Max II is about light quality, the Maxi is about power and speed. With the booster pack on the Pro Max there really is no size difference between them. In fact, the Maxi is just not all that big, no more than the HF-1 or those gigantic Ikelite strobes. Being a Canon/Sony shooter the Backscatter strobes like the HF-1, MF-2 and the new Atom do not support compatible TTL for my cameras. The Retra does. For an OM system if you are trying to be as small as possible and still have power and speed the Atom might be the ticket. In the box with my Retra Maxi, there was a card that simply said, "let there be light" and trust me on this if nothing else, there is LIGHT! I am prepping for the Maldives, heading to the scuba pool to do some testing, trying to decide if I take this Sony or my other Canon. Sorry for the couch potato pic but I am about to pack it in the bag for the pool. Two Retra Maxi, WWL, Nauticam NA-6400. Warming diffusers. So you can see what two Maxi strobes look like on an APS-C Nauticam.

Hey @Christian K - former fellow Inon dinosaur here. I used both the 240s and 330s for more years than I care to admit to. I was a very solid pro-AA user and not thrilled about embracing lithium batteries. I finally bit the “battery”, if you will, and bought a pair of HF-1s. Have to say, I really like the extended battery life and ease of only charging 2 batteries for each strobe rather than 4. If I were buying new today, I would seriously at the Retra Maxis. Not only do they have the power, but also a circular flash tube for more even coverage. Built in HSS and a video light upgrade option are also nice. The HF-1s are very negative, although they work well. They do not have true HSS unless you use the Backscatter trigger. The Maxis were not available when I bought and there does not seem to be enough of a difference to warrant selling mine to switch at this point. Sadly, Inon has been out of the game for a number of years. Even if the Z-360 are to become reality, it feels like the company and brand have lost the industry leader thinking they once had. With that said, if your 240s are still working, what are you hoping to gain with an upgrade? That is the real question.

OK cheers - I really wouldn't consider strobes using a big bunch of AA's - I think that the world has moved on from there... The Retra website certainly needs a tidy up so that users find the information about the Maxis where you would normally expect it to be - having to find them in the Shop page and then work backwards to get to the information on them is a bit random... Is the battery compartment on the Maxis sealed?

Hi @SwiftFF5 and @ACHiPo How were your dives and, specifically, the photo opportunities in Roatan? I’m planning a trip to Coco View in Feb 2027 and hoping to get some current intel. What is the most productive photo type there? Wide? Macro? Or a mix of both? How was Coco View? I know it has a good history. Thanks in advance for any details you can share! Chip

Many thanks for that explanation, it helps me quite a bit. Sounds like I need to do a bit more reading on it all to get my head around it. Your comments about autofocus are interesting, unfortunately I live in a part of the world where there isn't a camera store of any sort - not a whole lot else such as a dive store either! Kind of have to do a lot of research on the internet for most things and then order them online - you get used to it, and become good at swearing too! I might throw this to @TimG for his thoughts on the OM-1 MkII's autofocus? My last camera was the mighty Nikon F4 - which if memory serves me right was Nikon's first ever autofocus camera! How times have changed! The cost of getting into scuba diving is a barrier to entry, and the cost of the gear is certainly a barrier to entry into underwater photography - unless someone goes the TG-7 route.

If he is using Eneloops he has a Pro Max of some flavor. The Pro Max uses four AA batteries and a battery booster holding another four AA batteries for a total of eight AA batteries per strobe. The Retra Maxi uses two lithium ion cells and does not require an add on booster. I agree the Retra website is a little weird, I guess they are too busy building strobes to fix the website. They certainly could use a little more information to distinguish between the two products, the Pro Max II and the Maxi. They also need to introduce a set of bumpers. But no worries there because @Dave_Hicks has us Maxi users covered for bumpers and even some accessory knobs.

@Adventurer could you show us which kind of photos are you getting with your system? I'm very curious about this Ivanoff system

Roughly about sensors, the bigger they are and the lesser the MP count is, you get cleaner (less noise) files in higher ISO:s. And the bigger sensor, the more dynamic range. As a rule of thumb. So for bigger lowlight scenes where you'd might want to bump your ISO up, a bigger sensor will deliver cleaner images. I would also, if I were you coming from the SLR days, pay some attention to autofocus performance, especially if you go mirrorless. Even some newer models lack a little and you'd might experience them as sluggish. Go to a camera store or some photo fair and try. Read tests and get a sense for how they stack up. Good luck. And it is expensive, but you already knew that.

Which Retra's have you got?

I think that I will run both the 60 macro and the 90 as well - for two very different purposes. Agree that the 90 is somewhat offsetting the benefits of a M43 system a little, but it will be much nicer to use than the 180mm macro that I had years ago! The local waters really suit macro more than fisheye or wide angle, and I think that I may skip the fisheye altogether and probably go for the 12mm rectlinier as that would probably be preferable to a fisheye for underwater archaeology work. I'm really not into video, years ago when I was working on liveaboards I was basically forced to make a video of the trip to sell to the punters at the end of the trip - company policy, and of course you had to get a short piece of every person on the trip diving and after 18 months of punters giving me a cheesy wave and then having to create a video out of it I was done with video! It was back in the VHS tape days and there were no real editing facilities - just two tape machines. That is a very interesting comparison for the various cameras - cheers! It certainly looks like the Oly 60mm makes a nice small package to use! I guess if guys like TimG and Chris have been happy to come down to the OM-1 MkII then it should be plenty good enough for me given that I have never used digital before.

Another dinosaur here still using z240:s--they just keep on pumping. Might be replacing them this fall before I head to Indonesia, but they work and I know how to use them. Perhaps Inon again... if they release the z360 anytime soon. But won't shy away from other choices either. I like that they give plenty of light for their very little size. Have the infrastructure for AA:s already, so that could be steering me towards Inon or Retra, but not a deal breaker. Already have standard 21700 lithiums in a few lights too so... could easily restructure for that too. Don't care for TTL. Must have HSS capability in the next ones. Then--travel friendly. Can do a little bit bigger than z240:s but not a lot. And not a lot heavier either. Hybrid nice to have. Not a must.

I think that a monitor is definitely the way to go. BTW I saw your signature - have you heard anything about that training fatality in S.C.?

Many thanks for that very comprehensive post - I have made a lot of updates to my lens spreadsheet according! Agree that a 180mm dome kind of defeats the purpose of M43 - and I used to find that domes that were considerably bigger than the housing had a tendency to pick up scratches or otherwise get damaged far more often. Coming straight from 35mm slides 30 years ago I really don't know much about the sensors yet, the 7D that I was originally looking at was APS-C about 18mp, the OM-1 MkII is 20mp, I really don't know if there are APS-C cameras now that have more megapixels. Apparently 20mp is roughly equivalent to the slide films I used years ago - but without the chemicals smells when you process it. Cheers for another recommendation for the Retra's - seems like the way to go!

Can you post some examples of what type of images you take with this system you have put together? What kind of FoV are you getting?

LOL!! I'm a top 20 shareholder, it has taken longer than expected for this project to produce the fruit as the filter press that they installed when building the processing plant turned out to be a complete piece of crap, they spent a lot of money to get a good one from a well known & reputable Italian manufacturer and the problems only became apparent when commissioning the process plant, so they were only operating at about 45% capacity for more than a year while a new one was made by a Chinese manufacturer - that one is operating reliably and doing so at a rate that is higher than its rated capacity - China for the win - wasn't expecting that compared to a long established Italian manufacturer but anyway... I don't want to spend all of my winnings on underwater photography gear, so If I could obtain a secondhand Nauticam OM-1 housing I would happily go that route, however secondhand ones seem rarer than rocking horse dung at the moment - it seems that everyone is quite happy with their setup.

Thank you Phil. I just got the Marelux 140 dome and tested it with a 40mm extension ring. It has distinct black edges, I guse 35mm will be ok. You mentioned that 20mm is the most suitable, I'd like to know the reason for this setting. Because I obtained that 32-36mm is the best optical distance through the theoretical calculation method in the forum (the entrance pupil distance of rf7-14 comes from the Internet, and other parameters are actually measured by me)

I do a fair bit of shore diving and so I'm not sure that I want to go to a FF-sized system for that reason if an m43 will do the job perfectly well.