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This is a new product, still in development. Technical delays are possible. However, it will be available soon.

Hi and welcome to Waterpixels. Great to have you with us. We hope you really enjoy the forum. Uk Diving eh? Brrrrrr…… Best wishes

Hey Scott! A warm welcome to Waterpixels, we hope you really enjoy the forum. What an exciting time with your project. Very best of luck with it. Best wishes

Nice photos, and glad you had a good experience. Richelieu brings back some memories from almost 25 years ago, when Kitty and I were total rookies. We jumped in (near the open-end of the horseshoe) with a rookie DM, immediately got pulled away by the currents, and couldn't find where the site was - what with the viz and general rookie-ness. We floated around for 5 min in the murky blue water, and then called it a dive. Later that day, the more experienced DM on the boat (Rhapsody) took us down and we had a good dive. It wasn't so crowded back then. I was sorry to hear a few years later that Rhapsody caught fire and burnt down during a Similar trip. Kind regards, Ajay

I suspect you'll find the smaller range challenging with the 30mm macro lens, the field at 0.5x is 34mm wide which is about right for a 20mm nudi and you need to be 25mm from the port to do this. The 60mm will let you capture 10mm nudis with reasonable working distance and adding the MFO-3 will get you subjects about 500mm long at a maximum - it only focuses out to 1.5m, The post I linked above showed a shot of a trumpet fish about 500mm long and EXIF reported the lens was at infinity. The best option probably varies with whether you are mostly shooting small things or leaning towards mainly larger subjects. If you mostly shoot bigger something like a 12-40 in a 170mm dome would do well or a CFWA setup of some type. If by octopus you mean giant pacific octopus, the MFO combination won't get you there as you'll be too far away. But for subjects between 10mm and 400mm the optical quality with 60mm/MFO3 will be great and better than what you have with the 12-50. The 30mm macro will be slightly better for big stuff, but will suffer compared to the wider views from the 12-50.

Digging through the drawers of my workshop, I found a handful of fully functional, prototype printed parts. In the spirit of the holidays, I will offer them up to any takers for just the cost of shipping! (sorry, USA only) These are all parts that I completed, tested, and then made minor tweaks in the final versions. Speak up if you want any of these items! I will mail them to you at cost. Typically 5-10 dollars from USPS. The current versions for all of these designs and more are available to print out yourself at: https://makerworld.com/en/collections/16165730-uw-photography-by-dave-hicks https://makerworld.com/en/collections/16165676-scuba-designs-by-dave-hicks Item 1: Zoom Gear for Nikon 8-15mm lens for Nauticam Item 2: Reduction and Macro ring for HF-1 strobe, with Bumper (Quantity 2) Item3: Protective lens hood for Nauticam MFO-1 (Quantity 3)

Ouch, yes, unfortunately a rather poor choice. It was something of everyone’s nemesis, to be honest. At one point they even ran an IDC program, so freshly certified, newly arrived instructors could get a kind of work experience on the boat after passing their exams. If there is a next time, look into operators like Junk/Phinisi, Deep Andaman Queen, Smiling Seahorse (mostly for Myanmar) Sea Bees, or Big Blue. I have been away for a few years so things may have changed, but these operators were generally regarded as well organised and professionally run. Looking at the itinerary, that Surin site would have been Ao Packard i guess. Interesting to see elephant head pinnacle in there, as it's less common. Finishing on Hideaway Bay is a bit of a downer though. We would usually finish on Koh Bon (especially if mantas had been spotted), or the murky depths of the Boonsung wreck for macro - I think the Diverace is lying on the bottom close to it after it sunk. Makes me nostalgic - my favourites were Richelieu, Koh Tachai (dome, pinnacles...) Koh Bon (bay, west/north ridge, pinnacle...) and Three Trees and, to a certain point, Elephant's Head Rock. For amazing regional flashbacks of days gone by, do check out the great Nick Hope's Reef Life of the Andaman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ncUVddkK3Q cheers

Nudibranche longer than 2cm up to octopus. I'm currently using the 12-50 kit lens and use almost the full range often with a UCL-165 but not the built in "macro" mode. Unsure what I'll gain over than combo though.

Even things like my Atomos monitor has a single button that you need to hold for 5 seconds to turn off, then there's the lights that need endless combinations of short and long presses to change settings. Are they trying to save money on switches? very annoying.

I've used the 30mm a little around Sydney, a couple of things to note with it. First it's sharp and AF is snappy, however the practical limit for magnification is about 0.5x, the working distance is very small, it's about 25mm from the port at 0.5x, which can make approach and lighting a challenge. I'm not sure what the subjects around Vancouver Island are like - are you thinking most of them are on the larger size?

Howdy all, Florida based underwater photographer (and land based too). I am working on my first uw art film in March 2026. The final piece will be shown on the side of of an art museum 140' wide! Thanks for the forum! Scott

Hi, I am an underwater photographer who loves macro, Blackwater and Fluorescence photography and can occasionally be persuaded to take a wide angle shot too. I dive in the UK and around the world. Wet Pixels looks a great place to share experience and ask questions.

Has these gone back to the drawing board? Status on website has gone to "The product is under development." Previously it had release date of September and later December.

That’s good thinking. Strobes and their accompanying arms and clamps are some of the few long-term investments in u/w camera gear that can transfer from one system to another. Definitely worth planning ahead.

Yes, this was with the Z8, so the 60mm stayed home this time. I rarely used a 105 on the D500, but on FF, the 105 with the MFO-3 is a nice combo, as it would be with the 60 on DX.

Thanks for the inputs so far. Leaning towards the Eckos but have another question would the new Atom flash be too much overkill for my setup or would it be good insurance if I felt like I wanted to advance beyond a compact system (not sure if I want to yet but I may)

The worst I saw there was a very big boat, with 80 divers capacity, plenty of chinese. When our guides saw that boat arriving to the same spot we where they changed the plan for the day because find them underwater was very disgusting, too crowded. I don't know what's the solution, but if I can give my thoughts I would avoid launching boats and diving cruises with more than 20 divers. We were diving with the Mantha Queen fleet aboard the Mantha Queen VI. To be honest I would not repeat with that boat, but I would do repeat with Mantha Queen. We were 9 friends and paid the whole boat for us, the boat is for 14 divers but even this the boat was too small, the chambers are small, it is not prepared for cameras as long there are no tables in the wet zone, and there are no plugs enough for the batteries. The bed is horribly hard and little more than a wooden board. But the Meals were amazing, the Crew was kind and nice, the captain never said no to anything and the dive guides, two spaniards and and english guy, know the spots really well. We finished the trip really happy. I let you here our diving itinerary

I find that the procase is usable for more than just Social, although it is hard to judge when it will have an artifact from the case or will be usable. In particular, in the shallows there seems to be some reflection/refraction that it can't always deal with. So after the fact, it can produce some nice footage. Here is a clip showing what it looks like in a darker situation (exported to 4k in non-360) - https://youtu.be/SPpYkaQvh1Y Not amazing but sooooo much better than with the regular case. That was with Pure mode on and for context - to similarly expose the ice with a still shot @ F/10 and 1/50th - I was shooting ISO 8000. So dark.

I'm currently debating my first M43 macro option. It seems like the 60mm will be too long for the local conditions (Vancouver Island BC) unless paired with the MFO-3, a significant cost. I do already have the port for the 60mm though. I'm considering the 30mm Panasonic to start. I'd need a port however.

I will add that if you do get the X5, the Pro case is a must have. It has more float but the images from it are not bad, unlike the normal case.

I would sell the DJI and buy an Insta360 X5 if you really needed a 360 degree camera underwater

Thanks for all your input, thoughts and links! It took a while until I felt sufficiently informed. I bought he Insta360 AcePro 2 now. I quick first try in a swimming pool looked good. I wil use it early next year where I plan to go (free) diving in the Philippines.

John, why not just dive with a 60mm? I use a 105 on a D500 and like it but, for sure,it’s not the easiest to use. Are you using it on a FF body?

Looks like only you can make that decision. But it always sucks that when you move in another direction what you wanted comes out. I’ve found that if you have older gear you can make it work even without the latest and greatest tech.

I just got back from a couple weeks in the Philippines. Using a 105 on a Nikon, I also took the MFO-1 and MFO-3. I have only done casual macro before and doing nothing but macro all day, every day, was an experience. Anyway, I used the MFO-3 on a flip and loved it. It is a bit heavy on land and fairly long when on the lens, but easy enough to carry around flipped off the lens. I loved the MFO-3 as I often found critters or scenes too large for the 105 and in an instant could cut the focal length in half. For something like blackwater, I would probably just take a shorter lens, assuming I wanted to travel with he extra lens and port, and a M43 30mm port are pretty small, but otherwise, I am having a hard time envisioning diving with the 105 and not having the MFO-3