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A lot of great information in this thread. I would only suggest that between the A7cII and the A7r, the extra mpix will be very welcome for the task you propose and the a7r will be less limiting. It has been mentioned numerous times that TTL is important, but I would point out that the most expensive part of this is the TTL adapter that will work with whatever strobe you want. The simplicity of just having the correct exposure across those different fish is pretty key. And having bought a non-TTL and then a TTL... I went the most expensive route possible. With a strobe, you light it up for such a short period of time it freezes the action even if there is movement. Not so with a video light so that also means greater success with a strobe compared to a video light if the fish decide to move at all. My other thought, is a 180 dome floating around while you are trying to catch fish is a great way to get it beat up quick and a PITA. A flat port will be less likely to get scratched and that maybe of importance when deciding on your rig.

According to the Nauticam portcharts, the Sony 28-60mm behind Nauticam N100 45 flat port gives up to 0,9x magnification and working distances between 55-80mm with CMC-1, while CMC-2 gives up to 0,7x and distances of 83-135mm (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1caMOa2cyCxucdcAiI8q9UsUu1YEg9ImC/view) In addition, 28mm is probably the widest what one would want behind a flat port. (I use Sony 28-60mm behind WACP-C, but never used it behind a flat port and/or with diopters, so what I say is theoretical)...

Meet the upcoming QRS-02-MB7, designed for the GoPro Mission 1 and Mission 1 Pro Protective Housings. The hugely popular QRS-02 quick-release mount, will soon be available for GoPro Mission users. Compatible AOI lenses: UWL-03 | UWL-03 MKii | UCL-03

Something might be coming

As UW photographers, we shoot a whole system. And we shoot in water. Singeling out one part like the sensor, a lens, the camera model, port/dome, etc will not always be productive. I think this episode of the UWP show gives some perspective and food for thought. Many images shot with equipment way inferior to what we have today. My fav of the lot is shot on a 12 mp aps-c sensor, noisy as hell. It’s fun to measurbate, but it won’t produce anything. YMMV.

I would not recommend the Sony 20-70mm behind a flat port because other choices are so much better. I have tested the Sony FE 28-60 with the flat port using CMC-1 and two CMC-1's stacked. Remember the 28-60 only focuses to 30cm with 1:6.25 magnification so the added closeup lenses only get you to about 1:2.5. If you are looking for more magnification than the 20-70 or Sigma 20-200mm give you the macro range of lenses are a better choice with the Sony FE 100mm F/2.8 being the best followed by the Tamron 90 and Sony 90mm's. Regarding the Sony FE 50mm macro now well over a decade old my recommendation would be the Marelux MV-60 or if you want everything Nauticam the MFO-3 on a flip adapter for both super macro and wider on the same dive. The MFO-3 works from 0-150cm while the MV-60 works from 0-infinity, the reason Tom Kline got his for the added distance.

This lens is now available in the online store for $449.00USD. Christopher Frost has posted a Youtube review and states the corners are better from around F/2.8 to F/11 than the manual FF version he tested. No way to mount filters but overall not bad for the price.

Oh yeah! They can be pretty amazing subjects.

Test results: Shooting a target at about 30 cm on my bench. Z8 f25 iso64 to get a good exposure at Maxi power 2. Shooting at 5fps at 2 or 2.5 the histogram slows walks to the left as subsequent images get darker. At power 1.5 on the Maxis the histograms are stable. Shooting at 4fps at power 2 the histogram slowly walks left and dims. Shooting at 3fps power 2 the histogram just barely walks left. It is basically stable at this speed and power. At power 2.5 is not much different, the histogram dims a tiny bit faster but not much. This is an area where I think the HF-1 is a bit better. It uses a different priority in rapid fire. It priorities exposure over fire-always. The Maxi always fires even as it becomes more and more dim. The HF-1 will skip frames and only fires at the expected power level. You get some blank frames but all of the ones you get are properly exposed. In this instance at power 2 or higher, with 10 frames the Maxi deliver a couple properly exposed frames then a run of increasingly dark images. The HF-1 delivers 7 properly exposed frames and 3 blank frames interspersed. Personally, i would rather have a sequence of properly exposed images even if a few get dropped. At least you get consistent images across a sequence that might span several seconds. * The Maxi at power 2 and HF-1 at 3/4 deliver the same exposure I hope that helps! I find 3fps is a good rate for me and delivers usable sequences at about half power on these strobes. You can always increase ISO and lower strobe power until find a frame rate that works for you.

Video lens test + Mission 1 pro AOI UWL-03 Wide Angle conversion lens Divevolk Macro Pro +18 Nauticam MFO (Midrange Focus Optimiser) lens Nauticam SMC3 (Super Macro Converter 3) lens

Yes you need gt-tune transform for ACES + free davinci version, grading is not so flexible if you have diferent cameras and shot with different settings.. Yes you need gt-tune transform to use DCTL + studio version (for ipad or computer ) ps: davinci Studio for ipad and davinci studio for computer are not the same .... On the M1pro i only use GP-LOG2 On the GP13 i use wide color gamut + flat.

If you have time to test the Maxis at power level 2 that would be awesome too. If the Maxis can sustain high fps at power levels 2 and 2.5 then that will help me immensely.

I have undertaken a lot of fish photography for scientific purposes. The problem is that a versatile set-up will work adequately but probably not as well as a more limited set-up, depending on subject. I find that I use a full frame camera and 60 or 100 lenses. IF type lenses are usually faster to focus, but again it depends. If you are wanting photos which are good enough to count fin rays and/or scales then your technique needs to be precise too and you are probably balancing depth of field with diffraction. I find on full frame f/11-16 probably offers the best compromise, and everything is starting to become a compromise when you are shooting fish which can move in any direction unpredictably, or are smaller than the dimensions of the format and the light and contrast are never as good as might be hoped. My fish 'system' of choice would probably be a decent MPixel camera (~25MPixels, maybe more) with a macro (90/100/105mm) and a flash with light which switches off during exposure. That said I've been successful with 60mm macro (I use a Nikon now as the 50mm Sony has not proven to be my favourite) lens too, and even an 18-35. It depends. This Jeffrey's Goby (~4cm long) was shot on a 60 macro in temperate seas off Scotland a couple of weeks ago - the elongated second fin ray confirms its identity and is the feature I needed to capture.

Many thanks - that would be hugely helpful. Jellyfish are always interesting subjects - do you get big Lion's Mane Jellyfish up there?

I will give it a try later this morning. Certainly 3 fps is no problem, which is my default setting. Last night I was shooting jellyfish much faster but only about 5 frames.

One other question - how many frames per second do you think that the Maxis could sustain at power level 2.5?

Thx - I think the same! Thx for explaining!!!

as a footnote, years ago I used to dive with a Nikon 35mm film body with a 60mm macro lens I now keep the lens at work in the drawer in clinic with an old d700 body to take pictures of patients - it still takes beautiful pictures every time I get it out I am staggered how heavy it is and equally staggered that I used to take it underwater in an Ikelite housing

My conclusion was that you should spend lots of money for some marginal improvement in some area of photography/videography.

Cheers - will do! I would have thought that they would have resolved the problem with newer cameras to avoid warranty claims and reputation damage but maybe not...

wow I though the original question was quite simple but this has turned into a technical pandora's box and I have been fascinated to read the replies I'm on a sony alpha 6xxx set up which is firstly portable and secondly cheap(ish) I have always presumed that if you are shooting with a dome, the dome becomes a part of the lens system and may well be the most important quality limiting step as most lenses, even cheap ones, are pretty good. The second thing, at my stage is that there are far more significant factors limiting image quality than sensor size (technique, experience and so on) but I posted the original question while I was wondering if going from alpha 6xxx to alpha 7 ff would make much difference. My guess is not... thanks for all the excellent replies

Consider me suitably warned!😀 I'm still researching tripods at the moment - not racing into a decision. I'm planning on using Helicon Focus for the software - is that one that you have used before?

Just a question about the sync speed of OM-1 with a simple flah trigger. Several users reported 1/400 flash sync speed on their Olympus camera combined with a Nauticam trigger. It appreared to me that with my Olympus-5iii and a Nauticam trigger, as well as with a Underwater Light an Magic trigger, 1/500 sync I also gives a full well lighted image. I'd like to know if the OM-1 (1/2) has comparable sync speeds. Did someone test this out?