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While I don't think that you will go wrong with the OM-1, I am using a Panasonic Lumix GH7 with an external monitor and love it. I mostly shoot the Olympus 60 mm macro lens that was mentioned and it is my favorite lens. However, I shoot video exclusively so my use case will be a little different than yours.

CCRphoto: I am currently using a full frame Nikon underwater but have begun experimenting with going back to micro four thirds (MFT) for travel weight and size reasons. I previously used MFT for several years and would add the following for consideration: I use nauticam housings, so the choices are based on that. For macro, the Oly 60mm and Panasonic 45mm are excellent. I have not used the 90mm lens and doubt I will do so. For extreme wide angle and CFWA, I like the the Oly 8mm fisheye in a 100mm Zen or 140 Nauticam dome port, or second choice, Panasonic 8mm in the same ports. The 12mm Oly is also good for a rectilinear choice Alternatively, a 14-42 or 12-32 lens behind a WWL or WWL-C works well. I found the Panasonic 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 II ASPH MEGA OIS LUMIX G Vario to be the best 14-42 with the WWL, compared to the other 14-42 options from Panasonic and Olympus. I don’t care for the zoom operation of the EZ and PZ lenses. You may feel different about that. The 12-32 lens works well behind the WWL-C and many above water tests suggest it is a sharper lens than the 14-42 lenses. While none of those kit lenses are what I would choose on land, they work well in the water with the WWL and WWL-C. The other lens I enjoyed was the 12-40 behind a 180mm dome, but decided the weight and size of that option defeated the purpose of using micro four thirds stuff. At various times I experimented with the 12-50, 7-14, and some other lenses, but finally settled on those I list above as all I really needed and the 8mm with dome port or WWL are alternatives on any dive trip, depending on destination and goal. I would not take both of those. I supplement with various wet lenses like the CMC, MFO, etc. I am unsure whether I will go back to MFT, as I am happier with the results of APS-C and full frame, but that is probably a personal skill issue, not a hardware issue. Generally, I feel APS-C is the sweet spot, and if Nikon does decide to produce a D500 replacement Z camera, that is something I would be very interested in. So far, it seems that camera companies have been withholding some of the best tech from their crop sensor cameras and offering limited lens choices. I hope that whatever you choose, it brings you many hours of enjoyment. Oh, I also recommend the Retra strobes or if you want something smaller, look at the Atom.

Mission 1 Pro close-up picture Sea horse captured with Inon G165 II and some cropping in post production (thanks to the 50Mb).

Expectedly, you will need a lot of shares of the coppermine... 😄 Seriously talking, I would go second hand in your case (it will need monthes until the new models will become available, if this will ever happen). It is just important to decide now into which system to go (Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Sony; MFT, APS-C, FF), then later you can upgrade with intermediate expense (just 10% of a coppermine (estimated))...

Last year I went from an EM1ii (m43) to an A7RIII (FF) and looking back I regret it somewhat. Although it was fairly cost neutral being both somewhat older systems the money would have been better spent on getting a Canon 8-15 and required accessories, since I'm now spending that anyway but likely with the Sony 2x TC and required extension on top.

Thanks. I find HLG3 with a Rec.709 colour gamut (instead of Rec.2020, since I don't deliver in HDR) works great so far. No colour space conversion is needed other than the automatic HDR-to-SDR mapping, and there's plenty of headroom for grading. I have set a custom WB to 4900K, which is what is required with my mixed light setups after testing. This is a recent HLG-3 Rec709 clip, shot on a murky bonfire dive, on the Sony 100mm macro with the MFO-3: I'm definitely saving S-LOG 3 for ambient light work, or more precisely mixed lighting.

If you are looking at HF-1s then the comparable Retra strobe is the Maxi, not the Pro Max II. I just went through all of this and the winner was the Maxi. Powerful, tremendous range from lowest to highest power, useful video lights if into that and a great focus light. Can shoot a week, hardly an exaggeration, fast recycle and despite being on the larger side are neutral or even positive in the water. I am keeping my Inon S220 strobes for backup. I have used quite a few different types of strobes. I had, I thought an issue with one of my new Retra Maxi. I sent an email to Retra, they answered within an hour with a solution. Turns out the newest software was corrupted on some loads and they set it up for me to revert both strobes back to an earlier software. Problem solved, perfect! I do not think there is any other strobe company that gives you friendly and personal support. Same with Nauticam, while you may not get answers to emails often, there is just huge support, parts and service available for what has become the premium brand. One thing, for an OM based system, I might would go with the Backscatter Atom. A little smaller than the HF-1, still quite powerful, cheaper and supports OM Systems RC control for TTL. The Retras have standard, universal mimic TTL which works fine IMO. I was concerned about the size of the Retra Maxi when I first began looking at a new strobe. The HF-1 support only for OM Systems RC TTL turned me off to the Backscatter products pronto. It really turns out, in actual use, the Retra Maxi is just not that big. In fact, it maneuvers well in the water due to being neutral, the lithium batteries shoot and shoot and shoot, and my systems still fit into my Sam's Club Members Mark insulated bag ($8) like it was made for them. Nothing I have encountered with my Maxi strobes thus far changes my opinion of them, they are quite amazing. For the HF-1 or Atom, you may need 3D printed float collars or an additional float arm. With the Maxi strobes I was able to remove my outer float arms and use bare arms instead due to their buoyant nature. This, even compared to the diminutive S220 strobes.

He bought my Inon Z-330 v2 strobes. They work well, but not HSS. Not a need for him. I am using the Backscatter HF-1 for wide and MF-2 (now MF-3) for macro. Both are great. The Retras are always a very solid choice due to the circular flash tube. If I did not already have the HF-1s I would grab a pair of the new Retra Maxis and add a warming diffuser as needed. The high capacity batteries, overall power and built in video lights are attractive, especially considering they are not super negative.

Europe's 22% VAT is insane - makes everything so crazy expensive when visiting there. I will take a look at Retra's, the Retra Pro Max II and Backscatter HF-1 each have their own pluses and minuses, I will have to spend a bit of time researching each and then making a decision.

At this stage the OM-1 is still favourite for the smaller size and portability, I will take a look at the Nikon Z5 II etc, but the OM-1 + 90mm macro has some appeal to this old supermacro nerd. What strobes did your buddy set his rig up with?

OK will take a look at that too...

The Nikon could be an interesting option - a lot will depend on timing, at the moment I'm not sure whether it is going to take another two weeks for the shares that I am going to be selling to hit their peak - or is it going to take another 3-4 months until after the next set of quarterly financials are released... very hard to tell but they jumped 19% on Friday after the April-June quarterly report was released on Friday morning, and should go up another 100-125% from here now that they have proven that they can mine and process the copper consistently and successfully. Its a very good time to be owning shares in a copper miner.

Europe and Australia recently struck a trade deal making almost all import/export tarrif free. Especially strobes and accessories (tarrif codes 9006.61 and 9006.99) are now free of any tarrif charges except local GST which currently sits at 10% making the final price even more affordable than in Europe where average VAT rate is around 22%. Shipping is fast too, 2-3 working days to most locations from EU to AU. Repairs are rarely required but in case something brakes the turnaround would be 2 weeks from pickup to delivery. The same team that designs and produces the strobe will also service/repair it to guarantee the highest quality.

So I think that quote below sums it up perfectly Options are not a must, they are to be selected from based on needs. Slog3 has the largest color space from profiles offered on Sony cameras and so it is indispensable if: shooting ambient light with CWB and/or planning on HDR delivery Because it has the largest color space it offers largest room for color correction and unifying color look of multiple clips. It is advisable to shoot not fixed ETTR (+1.7 etc.) but to shoot based on waveforms as high as you can. Noise lives in shadows they say and with this approach it will become a non issue even at ISO32000 (max for my A1) which in Slog3 corresponds to like ISO 8000 in standard profile. But if you shoot with artificial lights with AWB then above mentioned doesn't mean that much except of it protects your highlights a bit more. But you could also expose for the highlights (think of reflections) and see what shadows will do. I must say after I switched to Davinci from FCPX my slog footage started to look much better. Now only figure out bullet proof HDR delivery for social networks. What you see on my instagram is often not what I see on my monitor as I try to deliver in Dolby Vision (insta doesn't take HDR10+ as YT does) and often it (i) fails :-) But when it doesn't it is awesome.

Hey @CCRphoto - I'm a long time Nauticam user with several Sony FF models over the years. I just helped a buddy set up a OM-1 in a Nauticam rig and I have to say it is pretty incredible. First, the size. While I enjoy using mine in the water, the smaller size of his rig is much more manageable on and off the boat. Yes, adding the strobes brings on additional bulk, but it feels more comfortable in use. My buddy is interested in an all purpose zoom solution so we opted for the 12-50 and the WWL-C. Again, very small overall. The WWL adds nice corner-to-corner sharpness, even at more open apertures with a 130 degree FoV at the wide end. I compare his images to mine using the Sony and WACP and they are very similar in quality. Nauticam has become the more premium priced housing, but the durability and support warrant the investment. In all, I agree with those above in saying the OM-1 would be a solid option. Enjoy! chip

If I where buying today and wanted something small and high-level w/o ”breaking” the bank, I’d take a serious look at Nikons new little fullframe z5ii. Throw it in a Nauticam with the 24-50 and put a wwl-c on it and you have a very tiny package with a serious punch. For macro there’s the ”new” z105 lens. Smaller than a lot of cropped sensor alternatives.

In case you intend to buy new and wait for the OM1-III to appear: There are wild rumors that Nikon will offer an APS-C model based on Z8/Z9 technology this year - in case this turns out to be drue, this is certainly very worth a consideration for a small sensor UW-camera system... mirrorlessrumorsThe APS-C Camera Wars Are Here: Fujifilm X-T6, Canon R10...Nikon Canon and Fujifilm are about to unleash three new High End APS-C cameras! Fujifilm X-T6 is coming on September 3 Nikon “mini Z9” is coming in autumn with 45MP stacked sensor Canon R10II with newIn case you go second hand, anything starting from Olympus EM1II and upwards is a very good way to get started with an MFT system (upgrade Nauticam housing and camera at a later stage)... Wolfgang

I think that I am fairly sold on the OM-1 now, will take a look at Nauticam & Isotta housings if I get to the GoDiving show in Sydney in a month or so. Good to know that battery life of the OM-1 will meet my needs! I've got to do some research on Strobes. What are you using and how have you found them to be?

Interesting - will be interesting to see what the OM-1 Mark III is like.

Definitely will need an external monitor. I can see that digital will certainly have some advantages over a roll of 36! I don't think that GenZ would cope very well with film! I haven't looked too far into wet lenses yet, I think that will come later after I have learnt to use the system.

I think that the OM + Nauticam housing will have monitor capability but I will check!