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Welcome Don! I picked up a subsee +10 from you on Facebook a while ago, nice to see you here 😁

Thanks. I certainly should revisit that topic I had read a long time ago before getting more into blackwater but I won't derail the L10 thread here with the frustrating and exciting world of blackwater which adds another load of problems when shooting fast moving macro subjects :)

Hi, I first dived Tulamben and the Liberty in 1992. Tulamben did not really exist. There were only few huts and a "parking area". Last time time I dived there in 2024. In between, I visited and dived Tulamben various times. Things have changed significantly. But nowadays, that is not just a problem in Tulamben. Dived this spring Philippines for 5 weeks. Malapascua/Kimud Shoal and the treasures are a nightmare. We had 25 boats anchoring. Big party underwater and Gopro show with a lot of "nice models". I have never seen before so many divers on such a small place underwater. Guides told me they have up to 50 boats at high season in may. Sabang/Puerto Galera same. Bohol/Alona beach 600+ cylinder early morning on the beach waiting for divers. But I still know some places.......but they are becoming rare. Br Markus

Thank you :) !

The multi-use housing and trigger-power bank makes an interesting solution. Given other housing prices, $3,400 is reasonable as well. Thanks for sharing, @Phil Rudin

Unfortunately this is a case of prevention being better than cure. This happens when salty water is allowed to dry on the surface. The salts concentrate and the pH increases and eventually it etches the glass. Some people have reported success using optical grade cerium oxide to polish. This risks damage to anti reflective coatings, so use at your own risk, but there are reports of it cleaning the surface up reasonable well. To prevent keep the glass wet till you can soak it in freshwater. When you remove it it blow it dry and wipe with a microfibre cloth to prevent the droplets evaporating on the surface. Even the rinse water drying repeatedly will eventually etch the glass surface.

I concur - and amazing subjects! 🤩 if you want to share some tips on BW video, we have a thread open here btw: https://waterpixels.net/forums/topic/638-blackwater-video-shooting-techniques cheers

A critical problem, in my opinion, is the minimal focus distance with Mission 1. It is way longer than in the case of the black series due to the larger sensor. It will be OK for reef scapes but CFWA pictures will be not sharp. As moving as close as possible, especially in case of lower visibility, it is important for underwater videography to use an additional correction lens. I'm not sure if existing lenses (non or AOI) were compatible or not.

Hi Can anyone help me how to clean these Nauticam Wet lenses ? We have 4 lenses from our friends with same issue. I have sent few emails to Nauticam but did not get any reply. Thanks

eocean-eu - the blackwater footage in your Cosmogonie video is fantastic!

I first dived the USAT Liberty wreck way back in 1999 and developed somewhat of a fascination with the site itself - which was and can still be an incredible dive - together with how much Tulamben and the overall experience has changed. These days it would be very easy to take one look at the divers kitting up around mid-morning and simply get back in the car and go to a different site. On a busy day at Tulamben there can easily be more than 100 divers on the wreck and it's pretty easy to see that many of them don't have a lot of experience - hoods with white rabbit ears are a key indicator... Underwater that lack of experience becomes even more obvious! And yet, despite the damage that traffic around the wreck has done, it's still a great dive if you understand the site and know when to dive it. In my early experiences on the wreck I used to get lost all the time and basically just meandered around photographing interesting stuff as I stumbled on it. Then back in 2012 I decided to get serious and booked a week of diving with Tulamben Wreck Divers (TWD) who enjoy a very solid reputation. I dived the wreck five times a day for that week and really got to know it and its moods (It does have them). I repeated that experience again in early 2020, just before the pandemic, and in March this year I went back for another week with TWD. Which means I have digital images of the wreck going back to 2005 (plus some earlier film ones...) and, combined with my understanding of the wreck paints a very interesting story. That story has just been published in X-Ray magazine and can be read on this link:

Welcome onboard Don, good to see you here.

Yes absolutely - 60fps is totally fine for macro unless you're capturing a super fast subject (blackwater critter for instance) or hunting sequence and want to decompose the action - 120fps also requires more light in general. 5.6K 60p should be fantastic for this kind of work. the L10 really ticks many boxes!

Hi, this is Don Silcock and I am an Australian underwater photographer, SEACAM ambassador and photojournalist based from Bali. Looking forward to being part of and contributing to WaterPixels! Don

I wondered that.

Filming using the 5.6k 60p recording, could help with the post editing to gaming some zoom, instead of recording in 4k? I would lose the 120p available in 4k, but even now, with the GoPro, almost never film in more than 60p, since a lot of video does not need more than 1/2 slow

Keep in mind that the LX100 above has a small crop in 4K as well, though not as marked as the LX10 examples I'd posted - On the LX100 I the lens became 26-81 mm equivalent in 4K, and a 30-94 mm in 4K the LX100 II (vs. 36-108mm on a 1" sensor on the LX10, which is what made it so great macro video). 4K on the L10 is uncropped, which is great for wide angle, but will mean smaller subjects in the frame for macro. On paper, it's closer to the LX100 mI than mII. And as the LX100 mI example above shows, you can always export to 1080p from 4K and crop in for extra magnification. If you're posting on social media you should be exporting to 1080p anyway, so even on an uncropped sensor like the L10, you still have plenty of room to play with.

Yes, totally agree with studying seafloor topography. Also, one way to prepare for BW it is to go during the day and look for current-lines on the surface - scout an area with interesting topography, and go check it out during the day, looking for areas that concentrate plankton - clear surface current lines and debris agglomerations can be a good indicator, even during the day. Always take GPS points (Navionics or similar app for instance) so you can return to points. Once you find a place that looks promising can then go in with a mask and snorkel and see how it looks, or even do a bluewater dive to scout it. There can be lots of interesting subjects during the day, just more difficult to spot and shoot. On the downline, read this article if you haven't: https://codelift-managed.xray-mag.com/content/getting-blackwater It has a clear illustration of Mike Bartick's downline assembly: I've recently returned from an assignement assisting a Japanese blackwater photographer in the Maldives. Technically, we scouted offshore locations during the day, and did bluewater dives to confirm, and dived the most promising ones at night. The downline didn't have a pumpkin, but a smaller fishing buoy, into which a 2m flagpole with a flag was inserted. It was well balanced so the flagpole stayed upright, and we had a small coloured flasher light on the the flag to help the boat follow it at night. This buoy + mast unit was attached to a secondary white fishing buoy about a little smaller than a football (volleyball size?) to which the downline was connected Be careful with the size of the buoy you use for the downline - a bigger buoy is more visible but can drift faster as it catches wind and acts like a sail - you don't want it to drift faster than the divers. The flagpole helped minimize buoy size while staying visible even if it's a little choppy. You also don't need a lot of weight on the line either, we used two kg or so and it was fine. Our line didn't use powerful lights, but they were setup as twin sets. We also had pairs of flashers (strong flashing lights, 3000 lm each) near the surface and on the line itself for visibility. On bluewater dives we ony used the pairs of 3000 lm flashers on the line (be careful, it's more easy to lose sight of the line on a bluewater dive than blackwater). We also tied small flasher lights on the tank valves at night for visibility, and used our strong narrow beam spotting lights to shoot a line signal in the sky on surface for pickups. At the end of the dive, it's nice to mark the GPS location so you can check how much you've drifted and in what general direction (can be complex) - for us it ranged from a 300m to 8km drift on a single dive. hope this helps! cheers

Depth is a relative and non-essential factor; instead, you need to study the seafloor topography of the area where you plan to dive. The 75 cm arm is unnecessary. Dive lights must be securely fastened to the buoy line, using one of the many available solutions. Furthermore, for your safety, it is crucial to check the currents at the dive site: it is easy to get lost if there is a current, especially when you are focused on taking photos after finding a subject. The buoy must be highly visible, even if a skipper is following you. Always carry backup lights with you. Overly powerful lights are not necessarily important: 5000-7000 lumens are more than enough. Finally, make sure the battery life is sufficient to last the entire dive.

Someone forgot to clear the lint trap filter? This is a very common cause of fires!

Thanks! They were very safety and fire conscious on Explorer too. My understanding was that the fire was caused by a 3-month old dryer. It was made by a well-known European appliance maker. In fact our apartment has several appliances of that brand. But no dryer…..

Hi all, I want to start doing blackwater diving in my hometown, we have the proper boat and the lights, but I'm not sure how to organize the lights line. We are planning to go to a site almost 100 metres depth and place a line with a big buoy on top, 25 meters long line with weights on the other end, and with an arm 75 cm long with a powerful light on each end every 5 meters. Our plan is to leave the line in the sea for a while and dive with the boat skipper following us close enough to take care of ourselves. Do you think is the right way ? or am I missing something ? It's our first time doing blackwater diving

Regarding housings for the new Sony A7R VI Marelux has developed a user installable (one) part change that will allow the A7R VI to be fully usable in the new Sony A7 V housing. This new housing ships with the latest updates which allow you to install the FlashFuel2100 which is both a manual flash trigger and battery bank which connects to the camera via USB-C greatly extending battery life. The FF2100 allows manual flash triggering up to 20FPS. The remote shutter module can also be added for remote camera triggering up to about 10 meters away. This housing retails for $3398.00 in the US. The upside to this housing is that with one part change you can have a 66.8MP primary camera with the excellent 33mp A7 V as a backup for extended travel.

My latest update on Marelux optics is that Aquista 135D will begin shipping in July, MacroView 60 will ship in June and the new 180 degree optical viewfinder has not yet been given a release date.

I make some pictures from the little scratch.