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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.

It depends for me. I find BBF causes some hand fatigue unless I'm shooting right on the bottom.

Hi @Walt Stearns Just found this post and I am very interested in finding about more about how a Canon EF lens works on a Z8 camera with the Fringer II adapter and a TC. I am currently in the process of migrating from an OM-1 to a Z8. I use a zoom fisheye setup in my OM-1 with the Canon EF 8-15 and a metabones smart adapter which works great. I thought it was not possible to use a Canon lens in a Z camera but it looks like it is! So my question is, do you think the Canon EF 8-15 + Fringer II + Kenko 1.4 DGX would work in continuous autofocus and 3d tracking? In the second hand market the Nikon 8-15 appears to be almost double the price of the Canon. Also are the ports required the same as if you were mounting the nikon 8-15 as in the Nauticam port chart? I would not want to compromise on autofocus capabilities if that is the trade off. Thanks

Ok, so even more surprising size comparison. I’ll stop here or people think I’m some kind of Nikon rep… but just think it is worth looking into the z5ii.

Sorry, no. On WWL you would use a 14-42mm. I'm not expert about other wet lens. An Oly 9-18mm (not very good) or a Pana 8-18mm are wide already (16-35mm) and they use a 180mm dome.

Yes, @Architeuthis post explained it vwery well. it depends.

As a comparison with z24-50 and IDK about olympus but a 9-18!? Would that be what you’d use with wet optics?

Here I have found an article by two very serious UW photographers about this issue (also available as video): Inside ScubaMastering Underwater Autofocus with Alex Mustard and Matt...Expert tips from Alex Mustard and Matthew Sullivan on mastering autofocus for underwater photography. Learn the best settings for macro and wide-angle.It seems even these guys have different preferences regarding this aspect (but I think what they say regards modern, up-to-date cameras)...

Yes, HSS and occasionally some triggers may allow you to trick the camera to a higher sync speed. My UWT trigger allows me to get to 1/200 though the native sync is 1/160. But, it is fussy. There is simply no way I will ever purchase another high dollars underwater rig that does not have at least 1/250 sync speed. Unlike land photography, nearly every shot we make underwater is with strobes. And really, I would like headroom to 1/500 without resorting to HSS. Anything Matt and Alex say about compensating for 1/160 or 1/200 sync limit can be applied to a camera with a 1/250 sync speed for even better results. For macro shooters, okay, not a problem perhaps but for wide angle, that darn sun seems to hang out right where I want to take a shot.

I had to look up what back button focus meant! 😝

I have never gotten use to BB button focus. I am a half-press shutter man and it works well for me. With Nikon AF-C I rarely miss a shot. Out of focus images are very rare.

When I moved to M4/3 I could fit nearly everything for the camera system into a carry on and my hold baggage shrank by a bag. Camera system less vulnerable to baggage bashing. Camera system no longer susceptible to pilfering in dodgy airports. I save on hold baggage fees. First flight with M4/3 system I saved £70 each way. I have given up counting, but given enough dive trips it will pay for itself.

What’s very specific for the z5ii is the ability to use the z24-50 and the wwl-c. It is a very petite set-up that kind of throw the conventional wisdoms on FF out the window inme. The wwl-c was developed for 24 mm focal lengths according to Nauticam, not necessarily compact cameras and not for any sensortype. The wwl 1 for 28. IQ should be the same if set up correctly. But I haven’t used Sony or Canon and not the wwl 1. I suggest asking @MatthewSullivan if he can see any IQ variations between the two wwl:s, as I believe he has used both of them. It will be a little more expensive. It will be some more weight and bulk (lenses as TimG point out, how many will you need for a trip?) of course. But surprisingly little for the basic set-up, and the z5ii brings some heavy weight abilities into a lightweight fight. Worth considering inmo. YMMV.

I have a back-button focus even on my coffe machine BTW

OM-1 MK2 + PL 45mm F2.8 macro (90mm FF equiv.) Nikon Z5II + Nikkor 105mm F2.8 macro OM-1 MK2 + Olympus 60mm F2.8 macro (120mm FF equiv.) Nikon Z5II + Nikkor 105mm F2.8 macro Play your game: https://camerasize.com/compact/#918.930,946.991,ha,t