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For many years, I've used various floatings of different sizes and shapes on different strobes and strobe arms from a German manufacturer who started the production at my request. I find it very inconvenient to compensate the entire downforce using only floating arms, as I want to be able to quickly and easily reposition the strobes with minimal friction on the last clamp, without them tipping downwards due to gravity. Incidentally, the floatings have no negative impact on the heat sinks.

Wow Tim, I can’t begin to imagine how traumatic everything about that experience must have been. So glad you’re OK! Thank for writing up the cautionary tale. My wife and I will be on a liveaboard next month and we’re already planning our contingencies with heightened attention. I have learned during decades of travel in dozens of countries that automating up-to-date backups of critical data is so important. My phone is backed up to iCloud and everything else to OneDrive, daily when connected, so I can recover from any device and location.

The HF-1 strobes are 8 ounces negative in saltwater if I recall. The Retra Maxi are neutral to slightly buoyant. A half pound hanging off the arms is quite a lot IMO. Yes, my ball ends/O-rings are worn out but still, with the Maxi I do not need to clamp them down, with the HF-1 set I tried I did, otherwise soon they were dragging in the sand. Of course, if I am swimming hard into a current, the S220 strobes, which are slightly negative but so small they produce little drag do not swing back or down. I expect the Retras/HF-1 and other similar full size strobes to be noticeable in such condition and will need me to pull the arms inward and tighten the clamps when in transit from A critter to B critter. The Atoms AF-1 is nearly six ounces negative, that is still quite a bit negative. Adding floats to compensate bulks the rig up so the question to me becomes large neutral strobes or very negative nearly as large strobes with bulked up floats on the arms, pick the poison. My NA-6400 was about 4 ounces, maybe 6 ounces negative with the S220 strobes or slightly less and now with the Retras it is neutral in the same configuration. With the HF-1 strobes it was a brick and would plummet to the bottom.

Nope but worth a shot

Wet lenses are attached to the port, and increase magnification. Less magnification is easier to work with, and in my opinion, should be what manufacturers use to label their lenses (+6, +2, +12) rather than the names they give them: UCL-167 or SMC-1, which means little when you’re trying to compare lenses. Teleconverters do something different, which increases the focal length of the native lens, and allows for greater working distance and, ultimately, magnification. This is probably easier to use, though I’ve never done this, if you can get used to the increased focal length of the lens. A 100mm lens with a 1.4x converter will be 140mm, for instance. “High” f-stops? The higher the number, the smaller the aperture, e.g. f/16, and increased depth of field, which is desirable when you have razor thin zones of focus. f/2.8, for example is wide open with your lens. Hope this helps, and I’m sure others out there will help correct any of my misconceptions.

Aloha and welcome @Terri I'm a Sony user, but I have to say that the mad rush to full frame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Call it sensor envy. I have a full frame body and housing, but I’d prefer to use the smaller lenses that cropped sensors provide. My A6700s are thus far unhoused. I love the idea of large sensor compacts, too. There are a lot of cameras out there but we’re always looking for perfect, eh? Hauling them around is also a thing to consider.

You have tried positioning the monitor forward over the extension when in use?

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For sale used Nauticam Macro to Wideangle conversion Lens . 86201 The glass has no marks , there are a few marks on the fins From normal usage underwater and a few marks on the body. It come with everything in photograph . M67 to bayonet converter Neoprene port cover Rear lens cap Padded carrying bag Also included is the double flip adaptor ,which has a few wear and tear marks . Please read the Nauticam port charts to confirm it works with your set up. This is less than half price even with the flip included. £1000.00 UK based

You can contact Saga Dive, as they can mill one for either a Seacam or Subal type 4 to Nauticam N120. They did Seacam to N120 for me last year.

Looking for a Nauticam 120 system adaptor to subal type 4 or Seacam for my hybrid system. Please send me a PM if you have one you can part with.

Hi Terri! 👋🏻

TTL is the way to go so thanks for making TTL work thru more stobes

I'm in Bali for month shooting under water- (Tulmaben area)I'll keep a look out.

Hi, Anyone interested in 2 BigBlue 9" Jumbo Float Arms? Dia. 90 x 228mm weight above water: 349g each, buoancy lift: 697g each Asking for 120€+shipping from Europe

Thanks... So if I put a 1.4x/2x on. I can shoot something further away... Then... If I then add in a wet lens... I will have to get closer... I am thinking of faster moving object that I can't really get too close to use the 1.4x/2x. If I see a subject like a lovely calm nudi... I can still pop on a wet lens to get details....

This is interesting, My old housing had 2450 cells they seemed to last forever, but my OM_1 uses 2032 cells, not sure why they would reduce the size, not exactly short of space, maybe as it's the same cell used in air tags?? The 2032 cell seems to be fine for an extended trip, I left it on for 3 days before opening at on epoint and did about 20 dives over 6 days and continued using it for local diving afterwards. Sounds like your Z8 is worse? IF you are indeed getting that sort of life it seems like a good option and worth trying out.

why not using float arms? either dedicated float arms or the stix styled options

Welcome to the forum, good to have you here, feel free to post away with any questions.

Oyyyyy, I’m so very sorry to read this, maka0n. I can guess how much care and thought you’d put into the system. Especially upsetting when people take advantage of an emergency. I hope you can get some insurance back. But even then the sense of loss is huge. Sorry, mate. 😔

Hey Klaus Yeah, the temptation to go and grab is huge. But the more I see of the blaze, especially seeing various videos after taken from different angles, the more I realised DONT DO IT. I stopped beating myself up that I didn’t try to at least grab passports and phones Gear replacement: have to say I’m agonising. I loved my setup, built over 19 years. It was pure muscle memory to use. Yes, mirrorless. Maybe M43. The cost to start from scratch is huge of course (yep, some insurance refund) and at my stage in life, I do question whether it’s worth it. Early days though. I’m not sure I appreciated quite the shock such events create and decision making becomes a bit hazy. One other thing I learned: life without a mobile phone is very difficult to say the least. Rebuilding a mobile phone is a not easy even with a backup when the SIM etc is gone and you’re not in your own country. I’d suggest making sure you have log in details for eg Google or Apple accounts committed to memory so you can at least get the numbers of your friends and family. Who remembers peoples phone numbers now? They’re all in your phone…..

I'm using a Nauticam 5Dmiii housing setup with a 180mm dome, dual strobes, and a Kraken 7" UltraBright monitor. I can get the rig close to neutral buoyancy overall, but the trim is pretty far off. The dome is highly positively buoyant and wants to rotate upward, while the monitor is about 560 g negative and pulls the back of the rig downward. I’m thinking the best approach may be to remove floats from the arms, add buoyancy underneath or around the monitor to lift in the back which will push the front dome down, and possibly add a small amount of weight (wheel weights) under the dome to help balance the rotation. Since the system will eventually be used on a scooter, I’m also considering a buoyancy collar around the extension ring both for trim and potentially improved hydrodynamics. Does anyone have recommendations for: -The best foam/material to add buoyancy under or around the monitor -Suggestions on attachment methods to the monitor -Any experience balancing similar large-monitor DSLR rigs for DPV use, or if anything I mentioned is a bad idea One option is to epoxy strix floats to the back/bottom of the monitor but figured there must be a more elegant and less perminant way. I typically use the monitor in this position. Perhaps moving the monitor over the dome would help, not sure on how that would effect hydronamics or viewing the screen while on the scooter. I am setup for photos not video and enjoy using a monitor even if it's for photos.

Bummer! Sorry for your loss!

Dave, Thanks. The balance on my whole rig is fine, but I would like to leave my clamps a little looser to more easily reposition them and have them stay. My thought is that if I could make the strobes a little more neutral I could could reduce the clamping force. I looked at the HF-1s today and am rethinking--instead of foam all the way around which might make positioning the strobe close to the port, maybe a block of foam bolted to the HF-1 using the mounting screws for the ball mount? I need to do some calculations, but I'm thinking 3/4" thick by 3" x 6" should be close to a 1/2 pound positive. Evan

In case you see or are approached with a an offer for a Nauticam OM1 rig: About 2 months ago I have lost a whole OM1 rig during an underwater emergency while diving East Bali (Tulamben). Setup was slightly positive hence it was drifting in the water. Despite my and my friends efforts here, we have been met with a wall of silence from the local community, nobody had seen or found anything. Or so it had appeared. As it turns out, camera was very quickly found (or possibly fished out straight away, while we were still in the water, as it has disappeared suddenly while we were being bombarded with fishing lines from the shore). I was only able to recover the strobes + a couple of 70mm arms just yesterday, and that is only due to these being sold by a local who kept part of the "loot" (and urgently needed money for a religious ceremony) to another local who in turn brought it to a resident photographer here in Amed to help him clean and sell it (claiming it was a "gift from a guest"). Unfortunately according to him, the rest has been long smuggled to/via Jakarta for sale via extended family of some locals. Hence If you hear about any Nauticam OM1 being sold in the general APAC region (or could be beyond), the chances are it is this one... What is still missing: Nauticam: OM1 housing with M14 Vacuum Valve II Port 45 Extension ring 20 Diopter Holder Carbon Arms 90mm x2 Bayonet holders for 90mm arms x2 OM SYSTEM: OM1 body Olympus 60mm Macro lens with 3d printed zoom gear Turtle: o-TURTLE 2 SMART TTL trigger for Olympus / Panasonic ULCS: 4 short clamps 3 long clamps Mares: EOS 4rz torch with ball mount Inon UCL-165M67 diopter Misc: 2 black neoprene covers for the strobes Handmade bright orange strap with two xDeep snapbolts SABRENT Rocket V60 256GB UHS-II SD Card x2 1st picture of the whole rig below (from the fatal dive, taken by my teammate GoPro). 2nd picture from another dive with a 14-42/WWL configuration. It had a very distinctive orange strap on top (or what I now think of a perfect hooking up point for a fishing hook....). Naturally I do have serial numbers of most of the parts as well as invoices for those.