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Hey Tim I always setup for only one type of photo dive: macro or wide-angle. I never try to do both on one dive. If macro, I’d have the snoot on my left-hand strobe and usually the Retra macro rings on the right. I usually only light the subject with one strobe. Typically I’ll use the snoot for most of the dive. It’s not often that I’d take it off. But if I do, I either clip it on to a d-ring on my BCD via a shackle I added to the Retra lanyard; or occasionally, I’ll put the snoot into a Zeagle tech pocket attached to my BCD. The Retra LSD just about squeezes in. Cheers Tim

Nice overview. Thanks Tim. Rookie question for you: I obtained a snoot packaged with a new strobe and wonder how to 'not use' it. When shooting with a snoot, are you typically devoting the entire dive to shooting with a snoot or do you attach and remove as desired? Assuming the latter, what do you personally do with the snoot when not actively using it? Do you let is 'flop' hanging from a D-ring or have a more elegant solution? Thanks Tim H

I've used all three of the editing packages mentioned, and at this point, DaVinci Resolve is by far my preferred choice. Adobe Premiere has become far too buggy and unreliable for my liking, and I feel Apple really dropped the ball after Final Cut Studio 7. As David mentioned, YouTube is an excellent resource for DaVinci Resolve tutorials. There’s a huge amount of information available covering everything from colour grading and compositing to masking, tracking, effects, and more. Resolve has become an incredibly powerful all-in-one platform, particularly when it comes to colour and finishing. @Davide DB — In your previous post, you mentioned using a red filter. If you're shooting with a camera that doesn't give you much control over colour temperature or white balance, then yes, I would definitely recommend using one. It can make a significant difference underwater and give you a much better starting point in post. I shoot on a RED Helium, which gives me extensive control over the camera settings and produces excellent results underwater. Pairing that with the flexibility of shooting RAW is where it really shines. In post, you have tremendous control over colour temperature, tint, exposure, and the overall colour balance of the image, allowing you to recover and bring out colours that would otherwise be difficult to work with. This is also where DaVinci Resolve really excels. Its RAW workflow and colour-grading tools give you an incredible amount of control over underwater footage, particularly when you're dealing with the colour loss and shifts that naturally occur as you go deeper.

As a lefty, we have two choices to get our hands reoriented. Swim inverted or take selifes. 😃

Thanks Dave, I will take a look!

FYI - The Turtle Manual trigger is about $150 less if you don't need TTL and I and I confirm it works. Support HSS / Rear Curtain / Rapid Fire. It's also a bit more portable and not a fixed design for a specific housing. https://www.backscatter.com/TRT-i-Turtle-SMART-3-MANUAL-Trigger-for-Nikon-Mirrorless-DSLR-Cameras?custcol32=2

The PCB layout looks exactly the same as mine, but apparently my trigger still doesn’t work properly at 1/200s. I’m planning to get a UWTechnics 11032-HSS as a replacement trigger, and I’ll report back once I’ve had a chance to test it.

This is the "good" version of the Nauticam trigger. It's seemingly the same as yours by the numbers. However I am not sure the hardware tells the full tale, there may be a firmware component as well. There seems to be only one IC on this circuit board, and I have no idea if it is programable.

Hi Dave, Thanks for your reply. The black band always appears on the first shot. I also tested continuous shooting at 3 fps for about 10 frames at low strobe power. The first frame showed the black band, while the following frames were normal. When I started another sequence, the black band appeared again on the 11th frame. So it seems like the trigger may not actually be “learning” the pattern, but rather that something different happens on the first trigger after a pause. I only noticed this issue recently. I normally shoot at 1/200s when using a snoot, while for colored-background shots I usually use shutter speeds slower than 1/200s. I only came across this problem when I started experimenting with a new shooting style. And now I am looking for a better trigger

I’ve been shooting video underwater professionally for the past 20 years, and I’m still a firm believer in manual focus underwater. There are simply too many variables between the camera and the subject that can interfere with autofocus—suspended particles, bubbles, low contrast, changing light, foreground objects, and poor visibility. Even with the latest cameras and their incredibly fast autofocus systems, I’ve tested them underwater and still find they can hunt for the subject, particularly when conditions deteriorate. Underwater is a very different environment from shooting topside, and autofocus that performs flawlessly on land doesn’t necessarily translate beneath the surface. When you’re filming a moving subject in limited visibility, the last thing you want is the camera suddenly grabbing a particle or object in the foreground and losing focus on your subject. Shooting at a higher f-stop can certainly help by increasing depth of field and giving you a larger margin for maintaining focus. But ultimately, that depends on the visual style you’re trying to achieve. If you’re shooting wide open for a shallow, cinematic depth of field, your focus tolerance becomes extremely narrow—and manual focusing underwater becomes considerably more challenging. For me, it comes down to control and predictability. I’d rather anticipate the subject, understand my working distance, and control the focus myself than rely entirely on the camera to decide what in a complex underwater scene should be sharp.

I made some of the original post about this issue with the Nauticam trigger. I will check my trigger details shortly and share that info. However: Does it matter? I always take a few sanity shots when i turn on my rig to test strobe firing, lens cap test 😉, etc. This is when learning components do their learning. Your issue might well be considered by design. Get a better trigger. I recently got a manual i-Turtle3 trigger wlthat supports HSS and Rear Curtain, which the (frankly crap) Nauticam trigger does not support. The Underwater Light and Magic trigger would be another good option. I suggest testing shooting 3fps for about 10 frames at low power. This was the fatal issue that i had with the Nauticam trigger, no work arounds.

Hi everyone, I’m troubleshooting a repeatable sync issue with: Nikon Z8 Nauticam NA-Z8 Factory Nauticam optical trigger PCB marking: NA446-01-161-1-A / 2022-09 Retra Flash Pro Max in M mode At 1/160s, everything is normal. At 1/200s, the first shot can show a dark sync band, but the next shots are normal. For example, three consecutive NEF files at 1/200s, f/11, ISO 64: Shot 1: sync band Shot 2: normal Shot 3: normal The shots were about 0.8 seconds apart. I also did a few cross-tests: Replacing the Nauticam trigger batteries made no difference. The same Z8 + Nauticam trigger works normally at 1/200s with an MF-2(learning function disabled). The Retra Pro Max also works normally at 1/200s when triggered optically through the fiber by a Godox flash. So the issue seems specific to the Nauticam trigger + Retra combination, and the fact that only the first shot is affected makes me suspect some state-dependent trigger timing behavior. I previously had another compatibility issue with this same Nauticam trigger and an MF-2, where the MF-2 learning behavior interfered with Manual triggering. I also found the previous WaterPixels discussion mentioning a modified Nauticam trigger with PreFlash Learning disabled. Has anyone seen similar first-shot behavior with the Z8 / Nauticam trigger? And if anyone has the modified “PreFlash Learning disabled” trigger, could you check the PCB revision and see whether it is also NA446-01-161-1-A or a different version? Thanks.

Is it known whether the distance (front element (port or MFO-1, depending on usage) to object at 1.4x (both with and w/o) MFO-1 is the same?

Gets you from 1.4 to 1.5x magnification with the 100mm macro at maximum, but the max magnification is in close, min focus is at 69mm compared to about 90mm for the base lens but it only focuses out to just over 1m, which is how it improves the AF by using full focus range rather than the max magnification range when shooting at macro distances.

Look, right now a GH5 kit is an expensive doorstop. This is why I tell you that you can negotiate a great price on the ones for sale. Lenses and ports instead keep their price quite well. This is the reason why the dream of a universal housing attracts so many people. If I were you I would look for a used GH6/7 housing. There is a Spanish one for sale for a long time. Ah my budget!!! For Nauticam the 12-35mm and the cheaper Lumix 7-14mm both use the 6 inch 15cm polycarbonate port. I sold the 7-14 and I have the rest. I can assure you that edge quality is perfect even at F5.6 for the 12-35mm while for the 7mm at F8. I rarely used it at 7mm for moving shots. The perspective is too strange. The Olympus 7-14mm F2.8 is bulky and more expensive. IMHO it doesn't worth. So let us say that the 16 cm Easydive port is ok if placed correctly. My doubt is that from the photos they look like ports with an almost perfect portion of a hemisphere of the same diameter as the port while my 6" dome is a portion of a much larger sphere. Regarding the monitor. I repeat that SDI is a solution seen only on Easydive and cinema housings. But the whole world uses M16 and M24 bulkheads. Impossible to buy a normal monitor and mount it on that housing without modifying it. From the photos I also see that they use what looks like a Fisher connector similar to those used by rebreather monitors. A unique solution in the world. By the way one of the most problematic connectors for maintenance. The BlackMagic Assist 5 inch is the smallest of the series and seems to have only 300 Nits of brightness. Ok for deep dives but absolutely insufficient for shallow dives just a few meters deep even in the Mediterranean. For my old 500 nits old monitor, fora project in few metersof water I had to build a full sunshade 20 cm long. Now I have a Weefine WED-5 Pro that can be seen even without a sunshade. The new generation of displays starts from 1000 Nits. I think the housing for that monitor is also a custom Easydive. I am not aware of any commercial product for that monitor. Let alone with a Fisher connection.

Yes, exactly, it's the kit in Rome with the BlackMagic Video Assist. 😊 The kit has the 16cm dome port. At two-thirds of the asking price, do you think it's worth it? I'm still on the fence about committing to the bulky Easydive versus going with a second hand Nauticam. (Do you happen to know someone selling it perhaps? 😄) That actually ties into my other question: will a Nauticam housing for the GH5 family still be sellable in 5 years? For lenses I was looking at either the Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8 or the Olympus 7-14mm f2.8. Yes, it does seem odd that they claim basically every lens works with every dome, that was one of the things that made me a bit suspicious too. Thanks again for taking the time to break all this down.

Mainly 4cm less minimal focus distance, which is nice to have when critters move in close to the lens - it also acts like a limiter (which is interesting because it's best to turn of the lens focus limiter for the MFO3 as well )- it's basically my default rather than the bare 100mm lens - I haven't actually done tests comparing the 100mm with and without, but I did test the MFO1 before I changed to the A7SIII rig, on a 1" sensor LX10 compact and it was really impressive for blackwater: Better image quality (crisper footage), snappier AF (I was shooting in manual with back button focus, but focus acquisition was really faster) and the number of focus points visible in focus peaking increased a lot. It was like an AF update pretty much, and the footage was really improved. So I just kept using it on the 100mm when I switched, trusting that it would probably do good things (though the 100mm is already great by itself) Yes, I also use it for standard macro dives. There is a slight increase in magnification, but otherwise you don't really notice it as much. This is what I had measured on land in terms of working distance when it arrived: https://waterpixels.net/forums/topic/1810-nauticam-newest-mfo-1/page/4/#findComment-26197

I try to reply below. No. A Nauticam housing is guaranteed for 100 m and upon request there is a spring kit for 150 meters. I took all my housings well beyond 100 meters without any problems. Only with the GH5 I had some issues with the BB focus lever which no longer worked below 80 meters. Curiously, two friends with the same housing had the same problem as well. We noticed that Nauticam designs housings for 100 meters, but then they do not test them individually, and every now and then some spring does not work. Nauticam wanted us to send the housings to HK for service and possibly install the 150 meter kit for a significant cost. We got very angry because if the housing is guaranteed for 100 meters it must work full stop. Holy Pietro Cremone intervened and replaced under warranty the springs of the BBFocus lever and other buttons. However, we are talking about rare problems, and the Italian distributor is really reliable and very kind. Regarding the kit for sale. Are you talking about a kit in Rome with the BlackMagic video assist monitor? 😇 A 16 inch port does not exist I think. Maybe 16 cm/160 mm. I see that they have ports of 9/12/16/24 cm. Most of them look like domes. I doubt they work well with rectilinear wide angle lenses, and if you shoot video, I do not think you will use an 8mm fisheye. It might be fine for a static frontal shot with the subject in the center, but panning or side tracking shots cause seasickness. Which lens do you plan to use? We are spending a lot of money so the combination lens/port must give you the best results. Curious about these ports, I played a bit with their automatic lens/port combination choice feature, and based on my experience and the knowledge base here on the forum, there are several things that do not add up for me. Too many combinations are accepted as good. According to them, a 7-14mm or an 8-18mm extreme rectilinear lenses can be used interchangeably with 160 and 125mm ports using the same extension ring. Even if not recommended, they also suggest 95mm ports 🤔 In FF terms, we are talking about a 14-28 and a 16-35mm. Nauticam recommends a 6"/150mm acrylic port for the 7-14mm and a 180mm glass port for the 8-18mm. Our FF friends are forced to use a 230mm or hold their nose with a 180mm. Yet if I change housing and choose FF Sony A1 and the 16-35mm, it suggests 160mm and 125mm ports to me. There is something I am missing. Maybe @Chris Ross can help me. https://www.easydive.it/en/accessories/ports/cristal-glass Regarding the monitor, a SDI monitor is perhaps perfect for a professional perhaps, but with an SDI output it has no way to mount any of the most common monitors currently on the market. In short, a housing like this is difficult to resell except to another lover of the brand and only in Italy.

What does the MFO-1 get you in this setup? Is it mainly the better working distance for black water, or does it improve clarity too? Do you use it on macro daylight dives?

Grazie mille for the detailed reply. Unfortunately I can't access the WetPixel threads. To answer your question: I shoot in the Mediterranean, mostly Liguria and Tuscany, from the surface to around 60 meters. My main interest is wide angle video, but I will also need to get close-up stills for some conservation projects. On the Easydive, the reason I was considering it is that I found an appealing package deal: housing, 16" dome, external monitor, SDI converter, float arms, and two 15k lights, all together for what seemed like a fair price. On top of that I would just need to service it (as with any second hand housing, I think) and buy the GH5 II adapter. In all the Easydive reviews (I know, a bit biased) they say all major functionalities are mapped, including the focus ones. The bulk out of the water, and underwater too, definitely gives me pause though. As for the neutral buoyancy issue with the lights, I don't see it as a major issue for now. A few of my diving friends use Easydive, all with Sony bodies, all the Leo3 WI (the smaller housing). Some of them mentioned that past 85-90 meters their Nauticam housings started giving them trouble, have you ever experienced something similar, like stuck or unresponsive buttons? Surely I have a lot to think about, upgrading my kit will not be cheap, neither with Easydive nor with Nauticam 😄

Yes i have.... sometimes the simplest solution is right in front of you. :-)

Do you have a diffusor?

Hey James! Great to have you with us. A warm welcome to Waterpixels. You’ve come to the right place to help you kit out that Sony. And spend a ton of cash. Very best wishes Tim

Does anyone have a protective front cover for a Retra Pro Max to protect the lens during transport?

The lack of a battery to replace sounds ideal to me, though for my system I'm quite happy using the little mini flash.