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I raised group limits a little.. you may want to reduce the size a bit on images you upload. Let me know.

You are right and that is what I could find on other posts about it here as well, sorry for doubling this. So « two lens options » are 60 mm +/- MFO3 but also 45 mm +/- diopter. The difference is that the 60 mm without wetlens gives a longer working distance than the 45 mm with a +5 diopter, right?

Just to have two focal lens on a flip in the same dive. Otherwise the Pana 30mm is perfect.

does it give you a error?

Wow, great work!

The auto off feature is important to me. Both my older Inons and my new Retra strobes have an auto off feature and my Kraken 1800 and former 1500 light that rides atop my housing often has an auto-off mode. I find it not required to hook an optical cable to the Kraken, it sees the strobes flash just fine. The purpose/use of the auto off is to prevent backscatter illumination. Most noticeable when I use the focus light mounted in the cold shoe on my Nauticam, especially at night. For integral strobe focus lights perhaps less useful since anything the focus light illuminates will be illuminated by the strobe light as well, not so with a focus light mounted over the lens port.

I suppose that was Olympus’ intention and it follows the theme of kit-lens + wet diopter for general purpose dives. The question has been raised before on this thread more or less - why should an MFT shooter buy the MFO3 rather than one of the 45 or 30 mm macro lenses? Any of those are cheaper than the MFO3, so there must be another reason than simple mathematics of focal length. Is it AF speed? Correction of flat port optical issues? [edit: the 45 mm is about the same price as the MFO3 when bought new, sorry.] The 12-50 in its macro setting is perhaps another option, with its own set of compromises (which we should not discuss in this post, I think). For the record and based on a quick test in air: @50 mm with a +5 diopter is about the same field of view as the macro mode, add the same diopter to that and it gives about twice the magnification. So it does make a difference whether you switch it to macro before the dive.

Not important. Mostly *. Unless shooting a very slow exposure or very high ISO. It would be very exceptional for the wide angle, low powered spotting beam to to show in an image. * A tight beam high intensity light might break through, but that would be a flashlight, not the configuration of a focus light.

I have shots taken at night, in wrecks and in caves where the focus light shows as a slight hot spot with a slightly red tinge from the difference in white balance. For macro photography its less of an issue. The key is the focus light acts over the entire exposure time. Hence, for example, a wide angle shot from beneath a dark overhang or inside a wreck with portholes would often use a slower shutter to get some of the blue, but that exposure time also increases the opportunity for a focus light to create a noticeable spot. Sometimes similar techniques are used to lighten the background for a macro shot. Without an auto cutout, a focus light needs to be as weak as usable with a diffuse beam (no hard edges). i.e. Buy cheap or expensive, but probably not in the middle ground.

I might have to do some testing sometime, and also see if white PVC increases (or has less of a decrease) than black reduction rings.

I suspect you’d need an extremely powerful focussing light to overcome the output of 1 or 2 strobes and show a hotspot.

I can't help with the question, but the Kraken Hydras have auto on-off and can be connected with an optical fiber cable or just use light from the strobes. I have the discontinued 1500, and it's powered by a standard 21700 battery. https://krakensports.ca/product/hydra-1800wsr/

For macro I use a simple Weefine 800 focusing light, but the battery is losing its capacity. Annoyingly its proprietary battery, with both poles on one side, is not for sale anymore. A possible choice (with red light) at my local shop would be the Weefine 2600 which has the same attachment to the camera house. What makes me hesitate is that it needs an extra sync cable to enable 'auto-off' during flash activity. This construction with a cable is said to give a more robust auto-off, but an extra sync cable does not seem attractive. This made me wonder: how important auto-off is in macro photography anyway? (In case of the Weefine 2600: the light is 1500 lumen but that can be reduced).

I just used a diopter on that lens rather than the "macro" mode, worked better for me.

I was toying around today (dry) with the Oly 12-50 EZ lens. Disappointed to find out that I can trigger the extreme zoom positions from a camera button but NOT the macro mode. Nauticam has a port for that, but none for the plastic housing I have. Why, Olympus…. ? But then… I wonder: If I manually push it into Macro mode and then place it in the housing, would it not be similar to the 60 mm + MFO3 combo discussed here? I know the image quality will not be the same, but in practical terms. On land the lens can focus out to something like 1.2 m in macro mode. And of course, the MFO 3 can be taken off for stronger macro, which would require a diopter with the 12-50. But considering the price… any opinions?

I’m no scientist but general observation leads me to think, no they don’t. I use reduction rings with Retra strobes and can’t recall ever thinking I need to turn them down. My own experience, when using a snoot which is not dissimilar, is that more light is needed because of the way the light is blocked by the constrictions of the funnel. The same could be true even of reduction rings. But like I say, I’m no scientist and perhaps my subjective view is wrong 😜

Just wondering if reduction rings will incease the light intensity that hits the reduced area? I guess theoretically it should, but reduction rings weren't a thing way back when I was last doing underwater photography - but I guess we could have bodgered up something from some plumbing fittings if we had thought to.

Hello, It really annoyed me that the little rubber control knob fell off my AOI UIS strobe, so I quickly designed a replacement. If anyone else needs one, I’ve attached the file. Printed with a 0.2 mm nozzle using Bambu PETG at 0.08 mm layer height, it comes out perfectly. AOI Rotary switch.STL

I just tried to post an image on an other topic... the same ☹️

Hi @RichN It still don't working

Sad times. Looks like Chinese competition out-innovated them.

Thought it might possibly be a little long, the batteries though could probably be adapted as they are about 68mm long and the termination with pins could make attaching a cord to them somewhat easier than a battery pack?

Backscatter Atom Strobe to HF-1 Accessory Adapterhttps://makerworld.com/en/models/3178015-atom-strobe-to-hf-1-accessory-adapter Use HF-1 filters and the OS-3 snoot on your Atom StrobeThis useful adapter connects to the bayonet mount on your Atom strobe and allows HF-1 accessories to be attached. Use your diffusors or even the fantastic OS-3 snoot on the Atom strobe. Leverage your investment in HF-1 accessories to the Atom. The OS-3 snoot in particular is very useful. The smaller OS-2 Atom snoot is a compact solution, but the OS-3 is much better with ability to work with larger subjects. The power of the Atom is very effective with the OS-3. Related Models: Snoot Adapter OS-1 to Atom StrobeRetra ←→ HF-1 AccessoryAdaptersUnderwater Photography ModelsScuba Models