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I'm using Helicon Focus since a few years, but Zerene Stacker is supposed to produce even better results.

First we must wait for the duels to the death to finish 😁

We need an article that classifies and sorts the different products into categories, with link to serious reviews (In case I would have to acquire a strobe now, I would not even know what, exactly, is at present on the market)...🙂 The adjustable beam diameter of the AOI snoot looks phantastic...

It seems that in these last years there are more strobes than cameras. And many snoots too!!! https://www.facebook.com/reel/856799257136321

That looks great! I'd been trying to design it with the ball mount parallel to the base.....but your design made me realise it can just stick up and still fit in the drawer, and that means it's a smaller footprint for the grids too! And the buttons having their own holes will stop it rotating in the holder. What do you use for the modelling? I need to learn how to do the basics and get my drawer tidied up 😁

Selfish enquiry for the nearby future - has anyone worked on focus gear for the Sony FE 100mm F2.8 GM in its Nauticam N100 Macro Port 125 by any chance?

I was one time at Dive Into Lembeh.. it's ok... 3 times at the Black Sand Dive Retreat (500m south of the DIL) also good and cheaper In a short time I'll try the Solitude it will be probably better (I hope) as the BSDR. All this resort are prefectly organised for the photographe and the guides are realy good for macro.

Agree fully with Chris's first paragraph. For some ports it should be a relatively simple engineering solution to fit the bayone adapter and for others it would me 'Mission Impossible'. For me the biggest challenge was minimising the distance between the front of the lens and the port glass and then the port glass and the rear element of the WWL-C. Every fraction of a mm counted. There realy is very little distance to play with in order to avoid vigneting at the 24mm end. I even removed the filter threads from the lens to gain about 2mm and switched to a 5mm thick port glass from 8mm. I was lucky to be able to visit a Camera shop in Switzerland (3.5 hr drive from home in Innsbruck) to play with the WWL-C and get the required measurements. Was it worth the time and effort? . . . Yes but then I am a retired engineer with nothing better to do with my time. Based on reading many of his posts over the years, Chris obviously has a detailed into what ports and systems could be useable in different scenarios. Sea & Sea have a budget friendly sytem that might allow you to experiment without breaking the bank. However at some point you will probably require a competent machinist to knock up the requred adapter. There are many lurking around in their garages and garden sheds eager to take on the next engineering challenge. How you find them . . . is a different matter. Good Luck with your endeavours.

Tulamben in Bali has a lot of (freelance or inhouse) guides that cater to specialized macro photographers. Some of them are very good at lighting or snooting assistance in particular, you'll see many contest winning photos that were taken in Tulamben. Most of them are proposing one to one private guiding. PM if you want names or more specific details.

I was just thinking of that this morning as I was struggling to film a hairy shrimp swinging on a leaf at 6m depth... I did get shots when it hopped on a piece of dead coral, but yes, a protector could be very handy in the shallows in certain circumstances. Wonder how functional it is for surge - the dynamics seem complex. Very interesting idea, I'd also love to hear if anyone has something that actually works

Most operators in Lembeh support photographers quite well, the guides are very good at finding critters and will go off and find the next one while you are shooting . I stayed at Divers Lodge Lembeh recently, the boats all had rinse tanks, no camera room but did have a table in each room with good lighting to work on your camera. They were quite used to working with photograhers. Other locations have dedicated camera rooms and other features. In Raja Ampat, the Sorido Bay resort recently announced the establishment of a Seacam center on site to support photographers.

At Lembeh pretty much all are (macro)photography oriented. I have stayed numerous times at NAD Lembeh and can recommend.

Hi All, I am planning a couple of dive trips to Indonesia (Raja Ampat, Lembeh, Wakatobi areas). I was hoping to get some leads on dive packages or centers who cater to underwater photographers. I am not sure how to go about it because most of dive packages and centers I have found online don’t seem to have that focus — and cater mostly to the typical divers who dive for diving. Thanks, P

If I am reading things correctly Killiii's test shows some interesting points. First he tests at 8 FPS on the Apollo III in MTL at 12 = (max power) and it illuminates every frame and drops one stop in power by frame 8. It stabilises with constant brightness when power is reduced to 9 . The important thing to note that full power in MTL mode is about 1/2 the max output of the strobe. So it is one stop down from max power in regular manual mode. The Retra Maxi goes close to the this when set to -4 power- it starts brighter and drops to lower than the the output from the Apollo after a few frames. I'm wondering if the test would be more informative if you set the Retra Maxi at a power to achieve the same light level as the Apollo III at the 9 setting? It should give a few more frames at that setting compared to what was achieved in the test. The test then goes on to compare the Apollo III and Maxi at 6 FPS with a diffuser on the Apollo as it really needs one to get close on light quality. Settings are 12 and -6 respectively and the light output is the same by the light meter reading. To me it seems any comparison should be at a setting where light output is constant and equal. If you want high speed shooting then only getting the strobe output for the first frame or two kind of defeats the purpose. Whether one strobe is at half power and the other at 1/4 is somewhat irrelevant, to get a true comparison you want the same amount of light falling on your subject.

Hello, Does anyone here use screens to protect macro subjects from movement caused by currents and surges? I have heard that some videographers use them, but I am not sure if they prefer solid screens or a fine mesh. I tried using a dive slate, but it created turbulent eddies and vortices around the edges that made the movement worse. Logically, a folded mesh screen that covers the subject from three sides seems like the best approach. It would also need to be very easy to set up underwater. I would greatly appreciate it if you could share your experience or any DIY designs that work well. Thank you, Val

20 minutes to design. 3.5 hours to print it out! Will share it out after it's validated. I needed one of these anyways, will also be making cutouts for the HF-1 and Atom too, if they will fit in my drawer. The lens cutouts were a start on cleaning out a chaotic cabinet full of gear and getting things into the drawers currently full of random plumbing and electrical parts.

Thanks so far, Dave! I'm quite curious for your boost mode update. Do you know what happens to the Retra after 5 flashes at absolut max power? For how long after that can it not be used at max power?

Can you see if it's coated (anti-reflective)? May show as a tint on the glass.

I will update with the boost modes soon. I found all three of these strobes wanting in the cold-water ergonomics department. The HF-1 power level knob is horrible. Round, hard to turn with gloves, and impossible to tell what setting it is at by feel. The Maxi knobs are much better in that they are easy to turn with gloves and feel what position it is in. But unfortunately the two knobs are identically shaped and you can't tell by feel if you have the Mode switch or Power Level knob. The Atom has a decent power level knob, but it also has two buttons to control mode and the spotting light. Of course these are impossible to distinguish wearing gloves and it is hard to press the button to change the spotting light without screwing up the aim and position of the strobe. I came up with fixes for the HF-1 and Maxi but have not figured out the Atom yet.

I can make an MF-2 tray pretty quickly. I played with tooltrace and similar but they only created flat outlines and a sculpted round one is better for this application of lenses and strobes. These are easy as you just make a stack of appropriately sized cylinders to model the object. Then you save that model. Make a gridfinity tray of the needed size using a parametric modeler, fully filled to the brim. Import the object model as a negative modifier and position in the tray. Done!

Have you got any tips for making the trays? I've been trying to make one for an MF-2 for a while but I'm hopeless with the 3D models and designing 🤦🏻‍♂️ I measured up and drew the outline, ready to use https://www.tooltrace.ai/ but I can never quite get it right

First of all: thank you so much for the comparison test! 👍 Since I'm currently searching for the perfect strobe for my needs, I really appreciate tests like this and follow them with great interest. I have to agree with Adventurer: a comparison of the absolute(!) maximum brightness, with and without a diffuser (4500K), would be a top priority for me as well. The Retra Maxi seems to only allow 5 flashes at maximum power. How long does it have to pause before it can fire again? Furthermore, the falloff quality at maximum brightness and warm light, as well as the evenness of the illumination, are very important to me. A fast recycle time is important for other subjects, but in my case, at least for now, it's only a secondary consideration. I would also find good usability, even with cold-water gloves, very important. Anyway: thanks again for your work!

Yes of course. To give you some perspective, look at an 'old' Lumix GH5. Back in 2017, it was already recording 4K (8.3MP) at 400Mbps (H.264). Even if we account for H.265 GoPro being twice as efficient, that GH5 was effectively putting 200Mbps worth of detail into 8.3MP. A Sony A7SIII/FX3 @4K records at 280Mbps! By comparison, the GoPro 12 is trying to squeeze 24.7MP (8:7 mode) into 120Mbps. Mathematically, the GoPro is asking the encoder to do much more 'heavy lifting' per pixel than a 10-year-old pro camera. High resolution is great, but without a proportional increase in bitrate, you're just getting more pixels, not better pixels.

Gridfinity Storage for Nikon Underwater Photography Lenses I designed this set of gridfinity lens cutout storage trays for the full set of lenses that I use most often for underwater photography. Some of the trays will also be useful for any user of these lenses. I shoot a Nikon Z-mount camera (Z8) and the following lenses: Nikon Z 105mm Nikon Z 24-50mm with Nauticam Zoom Gear Nikon AF-S 60mm Nikon AF-S 8-15mm Fisheye with Hood, Nauticam Zoom Gear, and FTZ adapter Storage trays with cutouts that fit each of these lenses are provided in the set. Each is on its own plate with STL files available. The trays are 4x3x7 or 3x2x7 gridfinity units. https://makerworld.com/en/models/2316979-gridfinity-nikon-z-underwater-photo-lens-set#profileId-2530092

Thank you @Davide DB Very clear explanation as usual. In any case, I think I understand that a high bitrate like 190 Mbps will allow you to have a slightly higher slice of pizza. Right?