All Activity

This is clearly something else, on minimum power they should allow for rapid firing, something is preventing this. The suggestions I posted above are test for potential issues. My first inclination is a problem with the trigger, online I see various issues reported with the Z8 and trying to sync with manual flashes.

Hi, welcome to our new den. I am sure you will find many familiar names again. Ciao

I'll try this out later with my Retra Pro Max strobes. I seem to remember struggling with burst shooting above 1/2 power but under that it was okay.

Hi, was previously a member before the recent drama and move to this new site. Glad to see this site is "back"!

I just recalled that Henley Spiers has shown the RETRA fast recycle time performance in his review: https://www.divephotoguide.com/underwater-photography-special-features/article/first-impressions-marelux-apollo-iii-2-0-strobe It‘s showing a lot of struggle at 7fps. The Marelux strobe smokes the oneUW and RETRA in this discipline.

It's been discussed here and also I think on old Wetpixel forum, here's one link I found: There are probably other posts as well.

10fps are done at easy with Marelux strobes at full power in their ultra-fast MTL mode. But you have to use them in MTL and with fibre optic cable (not Lumilink) to squeeze out the maximum repetitive performance. They are currently leading the fast recycle time without blackout frame technology in underwater strobes. Here on the forum is a pretty dismal measurement of mx strobe strength by dreifish though - something I could not agree to when comparing it 1to1 to my Backscatter HF-1. I can only assume the Apollo tested by Dreifish must have been a monday model or malfunctioning pre-production unit. On any AA eneloop powered strobe you will struggle to get fast recycle times near 8 - 12fps. You need a strobe which utilizes 18650 or 21700 high current discharge cells. Otherwise the capacitors cannot fill back up at the speed you desire.

Sold on Gumtree

You should be able to look at the meta data in an image file to see the shutter speeds and other settings.

Funny about the tools. When I used to go to Cozumel often, airport security coming back to the USA would not allow ANY batteries other than those installed in things to be carried on...Lithium, Eneloops, Energizers...it did not mater. I learned this from having numerous eneloops and alkaline batteries taken away. Of course TSA in the U.S. did not allow lithiums in luggage and if I packed a bunch of eneloops in luggage, I had trouble staying under the allowed weight and my bags were frequently opened and inspected, which I worried about. So between myself and my wife and my son, I started taking about a dozen cheap flashlights or other battery-operated devices in carry-ons, all stuffed with batteries. Worked great and I still have the electronic Trojan horses around here somewhere. Then on one trip I asked my son to pack my tool kit for me, because I was close to the max weight. He put my tools in his carry-on. So much for my tool kit.... But I no longer go to Cozumel to dive due to the camera and lens scam. I just am not going to play that. Plenty of other locations where customs agents don't try to rob me. Frankly, the way airfare is now, I get to the Caymans, St. Maarten, Fiji, Tahiti or the Philippines for not much more than it costs to go to Cozumel, although it does take longer.

I dont remember what shutter speed I had. I was wondering if this was an issue after losing all my previous settings and knowing myself, I was probably "trying a bunch of different things to see if I could get rid of the black horizontal line", then the strobe cratered before I learned anything.

Great shots! While i'm familiar with Nikonos adapter for Nauticam, are there similar ones for the Sea&Sea lens?

What was your shutter speed? If you set the shutter faster than the sync speed of the camera, you get a partly black vertical band. A quick search says the max sync (shutter) speed for the Canon 7D is 1/250th of a second. Anything faster than that will create a black curtain.

Has anyone shot the basic Sony 28-70 behind WACP? I'm asking because I was doing some cleaning and found that I had it, but never used it. How does it compare with the 28-60 (which I own and love for its size/quality). Thank you Alex

Illustrated review of shooting the Sony 100mm in Lembeh is up on YouTube:

Hello, Way back in 2011 I bought a Canon 7D and ikelite housing (80mm lens for macro), and sea and sea strobe via TTL sync cord. Everything worked well. Fast forward to 2023, I dug everything out of the case as I booked a dive trip, and I updated the firmware on the camera, erasing all the settings I had previously (dumb move on my part). Problem I was having on the first couple of dives was getting a solid black, horizontal line in the bottom 1/3 of the photo. In conversation with another diver with a camera he suggested I needed to go from 1st to second curtain in my settings. Between the 1st and second dives I pulled the camera out of the housing to make the changes and neglected to turn off the strobe. When I was reinserting the camera into the housing I hit the shutter button and the strobe fired full blast as the protective cover was over the front port. This fried the strobe. So I was never able to test if this solved the issue. Has anyone experienced a similar issue? Do you think that was the issue? He described it as the mirror still being in the way (on 1st curtain). Thank you in advance! T

Good work @johnvila . Keep on going.

It seems like you might be reaching the natural limit for your batteries if this is the case, potentially it's not so much the exposures taken but the time the camera is on, presumably it doesn't go off to sleep at any point in the 4-6 hours. I also see Canon has a new battery out the LP-E6P, this video claims greater run time for a cinema camera using it: Totally Awesome - Canon - What Have You Done - LP-E6P vs...I just watched a great video on youtube by Josh Sattin. In it he compares video runtime performance between the new LP-E6P and the now older LP-E6NH. Since I shoot in 4K 24p most often, this was hug Might be worthwhile getting one of these to try it out and see if you get an improvement?

@Aliens From The Deep I was shooting using my Nikon Z8 in Anilao on blackwater dives ~4 weeks ago, 3-4 shots at a burst at times., with Retra strobes. After shooting blackwater on the Z8, I'm not sure I would ever shoot at f29 (at 1/200). I'm usually at 1/125 (at the fastest) and often even slower (1/80 if it's not fast moving, etc.) unless I'm shooting HSS. And for shooting anything that's partly translucent I'm usually down around at f10 or f11. Only shooting very reflective subjects (like silvery fish) would I be at a smaller aperture.

There's something going on there, at minimum power it should fire off a few bursts before needing to recharge, regardless of aperture you are using. The aperture is a separate problem as it won't burst on min power . A couple of things to try: Try progressively reducing frames/sec See if the camera will allow setting second curtain sync, then do a test shot in a darkened room with the shutter speed around 1 second. This is a handy way to check if a pre-flash is firing, the pre-flash fires first and the main flash at the end of the exposure. It just allows you to see both pulses. I know it "shouldn't" but worth checking. What batteries are you using - eneloop or eneloop pro is generally recommended. How old is your flash trigger - it may have some issues with the Z8 as it has no mechanical shutter?? Try triggering you strobes with a Nikon speedlight as trigger if you have one, test shooting into a mirror so you can see if the strobe fired easily If you still have your OM-1 see if burst shooting works there

I agree with Caolla - ease of use and less fiddling around is The Way. Your photo galleries are wonderful!

Aloha and welcome @Titanite !

This point is for me the key point. Only 1 adjustment --> less pictures to delete... etc etc... and a lot of more time under water for other subject or for the composition of the picture. I can't compare with other strobes...my first was the inon s2000 small but not powerfull. I had the retra Pro X and now the Pro Max II. The new one are better I'm still shooting some picture in Philippines... first impression "No regret" having invest again in Retra strobe. Honnestly I didn't shoot in full power.. but I like to have some reserve power ... just in case. But for the moment no need and with the particle in the water there is just impossible. But in all case thanks @jjmochi for your feedback

I think there is still a fair weight advantage to a dome with the 16-25 lens. Some weights (kitchen scales): Nauticam 180 dome 1183g. N 140 dome 668g. N100-120 35 adap 313g. N100-120 25 adap 183g. N120 35 ext II 267g. I have tested the lens with both domes: 140 + 25 adap + 35 ext = 1118g. 180 + 35 adap + 35 ext = 1763g. Surprisingly, there is no discernible difference in central IQ between both domes, with f11 giving good sharpness into the corners (sharp across a 30mm circle, viewed at 100%).

Yeah, I too have had allen wrenches and a tiny 4 inch crescent wrench confiscated when leaving Roatan, even after flying into Roatan from the US with them in my carry on. Lately, I just try to remember to move them to my checked bag. I decided to go on the Cozumel trip, and we are flying direct from Charlotte into Cozumel, so perhaps there is hope. Thanks all.