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Because the batteries will be used in the HF-1, I was writing an email to Backscatter for a recommendation. Hope to get their answer soon. Someone here on the forum has mentioned that only the Nitecore work with the HF-1 but this was some time ago and I can't find it back. This has certainly changed by now, otherwise Backscatter wouldn't sell any other batteries for the HF-1. Indeed, very interesting.

If they are for the HF-1, Backscatter are quite specific on what models will work with that strobe as it has a very high current draw . Cheap batteries are always a risk. see this link, quite interesting, it's for 18650 batteries but same risks with the bigger cells: 18650 batteries flaws

Reduction rings are probably what you are looking for, they seem to make a big difference, My Retras have their reduction rings on for all my Sydney diving, it was night and day on backscatter compared to my old Z240s. Basically just an opaque ring that extends about 15-20mm beyond the strobe front lens. There's probably a few ways you could make some yourself.

I'd forgotten about that option, I only checked Backscatter's website and it appears they don't sell Marelux. For the OP it might be difficult to use with the Tokina lens as it appears it would need a 10mm extension (with their 140mm dome) that is not offered by Marelux. Adapting the 4.33" port is also a no go as the adapter Marelux sell has 20mm extension which is too much as the 4.33" dome which seems like it would need no extension. It could be used with the 8-15 with their 140mm dome and 30mm extension.

SOLD

SOLD

I could not select 6" or 8". Maybe out of stock currently? When looking at atus' beautiful job I was struck by the length between the center axis and the perimeter - the attendant leverage forces applied the the flange port structure if hit or by wave action. I wonder if this is a concern?

Hello everyone, I've now updated my lens caps for all SMC and CMC lens variants and uploaded them online. The same link now provides the caps for SMC-1, SMC-2, and SMC-3. The caps for the CMC lenses will follow in the next few days, and I'm also working on a cap for the MFO-3. https://makerworld.com/de/models/2463780-front-cover-for-nauticam-smc-lenses#profileId-2704602 Tino

Just noting that Marelux also makes an R7 housing. https://www.marelux.co/products/mx-r7-housing-for-canon-eos-r7-mirrorless-digital-camera?VariantsId=10042 and can be adapted to Nauticam ports (if you so wish). Just keeping you informed of options.

https://bluerobotics.com/store/watertight-enclosures/locking-series/wte-end-cap-vp/ Seems like a variety of domes?

I just hope Cozumel remains clear.

I guess I will read the VoiceOver once again and remix it with the music, but here is a first version of some changes in a part of the Norwegian coastline during the last 15 years.

Thanks this is helpful context for the lack of pre-flash cancel on the earlier Apollo strobes. I would have preferred a strobe with Li-ion batteries, although there was some benefit of reusing my strobe batteries in this case. I did look at beam angle, but was satisfied enough with the D3s for what I wanted. Today I got to test them in the water for the first time, but thus far only with the Sony 10-18mm so not yet a proper wide FOV. I did use the diffusers but my initial estimates were I wouldn't need the dome diffusers even for my Tokina 10-17mm, and therefore on the flip side the wider angle of the Apollos wouldn't be that helpful to me - but perhaps there's some enlightenment on my behalf to be had. Dumb question time though - how do you narrow the beam of a strobe outside of something like a snoot?

Thanks for your opinion! I've already ordered the Nitecore UMS4 charger, which of course can handle the size of the Nitecore batteries.

I got the NL2160HP for my MF-2's, they haven't run out on a dive yet, but they are also physically a bit longer than normal 21700's so they just don't fit in my liitokala charger, they fit in the nitecore Q2 without issue though (luckily the guy I bought my strobes from threw the charger in as a bonus!) I'd recommend them, but double check the dimensions vs your charger before buying 6!

Have you had any experience with different 21700 batteries in strobes? I'm about to buy some and I'm currently searching the internet for the best batteries suitable for it. Initially, it was said that only Nitecore would be an option for the HF-1 Backscatter. Furthermore, there seem to be models with slightly different sizes, and I don't know if the HF-1 can cope with these size differences. Nitecore now offers several models of the 21700, which differ in capacity and ampere: Nitecore.de21700 Li-Ion Akkus I would definitely prefer a model with 6000 mAh, but there are already three different models within that range: Just 8A: https://www.nitecore.de/nitecore-li-ion-akku-21700-6000mah-nl2160/nc-nl2160 20A: https://www.nitecore.de/nitecore-li-ion-akku-21700-6000mah-nl2160hp/nc-nl2160hp 20A with a special feature of a positive and negative terminal on both sides: https://www.nitecore.de/nitecore-li-ion-akku-21700-6000mah-nl2160hpi/nc-nl2160hpi But does that mean the latter is a different size? I'll probably contact Nitecore and ask. Backscatter now has a recommendation for this battery type on its own website: https://www.backscatter.com/Xtar-Dual-21700-5000mAh-Rechargeable-Li-Ion-Batteries Low capacity, but very high ampere. I'm confused... Furthermore, my dealer recommended the following battery to me - of course, because he's selling it himself 😁: https://www.uwcamerastore.com/xtar-21700hp-5000mah-25a-battery Relatively cheap, low capacity and no information on the ampere. Ergo: do you have any recommendations, advice, or tips? Since I'll be buying at least six batteries, this is going to be quite expensive, and I'd rather invest a few more €s in good batteries than make a bad purchase. Thanks in advance!

I have tried to find it on their web, but I didn't. What I have found is different enclosures in 4", 5", 6" and 8", but when at the dome end of the enclosure looks like there is a flange which reduces from the 8" enclosure to the 4" dome. I also have found a flat "macro" port which is 8" wide. Looking at the Panasonic camera integration for cinema, when i read about that and looking to the pictures it looks like there is a finished dome port to fit the housing, but when I try to buy it I don't find it. I will have to ask to my dealer, he knows about bluerov way more than me. In fact my one is an integration with Poseidon Robotics which converts from battery powered to AC current, which gives me unlimited bottom time.

i don't think it's related at all, it's just that these are poorer countries and when they see someone with gears that cost $$$, they smell blood. I doubt you'll see Saudi taxing any photographers for their gear when they will go diving in the red sea!

Second hand Tokina came today, works perfectly and looks like new. for $100usd. I'll get a second as a spare. Ikelite here is listed but in reality stocks no things it seems. I leave Japan end of April for Malaysia then to Indonesia where my dive kit lives so trying to find a battery either here or Malaysia, or Singapore or Indonesia which complicates things (i spent roughly 50/50 time Asia v UK). The re-pack does look fiddly and id need to find a spot welder. Maybe OK as a last resort. I'll keep hunting. Its irritating Ikelite sell DS165 and 232 strobes with the same battery, new but seemingly not the batteries now. Last time i bought, admittedly 5 years ago, everyone stocked the packs and they were half the price. Switching to Z240s if any come up might be a better idea long term as i hate the things due to the bulk anyway.

The Canon R50 does not need the preflash cancel as most (all) Canon cameras, unlike most Sony cameras, does have the ability to set no preflash. Sony is most aggravating in that regard. That is really an important feature for surface photogs as well who like to do studio work. It is just aggravating all get out :<. The Canon R50/R100 work just fine with the excellent Marelux Apollo S strobes in both TTL and manual strobe settings.

I think BluRov have a 6" hemispherical dome. That might be worth building something around. A dome which is cheap and easy to replace would be a nice for CFWA.

Wanted to share something I recently tested out in the pool. I bought an inflatable travel pillow, hoping I could fix it below my housing. Still need to work on finding a better way to fix it (thinking of using Velcro tape instead some rubber bands) but the nice thing was that it stays pretty much level. It’s still a pain to see things when you’re swimming in the water so having some sort of support for yourself such as a body board, etc would definitely help I think.

Regarding Marelux strobes, the third strobe in the line is Apollo Y which has the ability to cancel pre-flash. When Marelux first arrived on the U/W photo scene five years ago they introduced housings only designed for full frame mirrorless cameras. Along with those housings they offered manual flash triggers for around $200.00 which use two 2032 batteries that last for around 10,000 flashes. These triggers were designed only for Marelux housings. Later came FlashFuel 2100 capable of 140,000 flashes and a separate battery connected by USB to the camera extend camera battery life by around double. The FF2100 required a redesign of housings to accommodate the battery. Turtle and UWT also began to design both manual and TTL flash triggers for Marelux housings. The first housings for APS-C cameras were designed around cameras like EOS R7 that have hotshots for MX-triggers and use the native 125mm port system also used for FF. Now that housings are coming for cameras like EOS R50, OM1 II and more the Apollo Y was introduced to include the PRE-FLASH cancelation. Marelux first two strobes Apollo III and Apollo S were designed to allow use of the Lumilink for wireless flash triggering and to focus on speed and battery life. Many folks looking for a new strobe focus first on GN or Watt-seconds without paying any attention to the strobes beam angle. Apollo III, S and Y all have a native 120 degree beam angle expandable to 140 with a diffuser. The GN can easily be increased by simply narrowing the beam angle so while strobes like the Sea & Sea YS-D3 have a GN33 it is at a beam angle of 80X105 degrees. With the included white diffuser the angle becomes 100 X 110 and GN drops to 28. This is not a bad thing but just know that by the time you get to the native 120 angle of Apollo Y the GN's are the same +/- a point or two. Backscatter does the same thing, MF-3 has GN19 and angle of less than 100 degrees. Again the MF-3 is designed mostly around macro so reducing the beam angle to raise GN makes sense. You may also want to consider power source. Nearly all of the newer strobes and video lights that don't have a proprietary battery pack have moved to 18650 or 21700 Li-ion cells. Why does this make a difference just compare specs for the new strobes. The S&S YS-D3 uses four AA Ni-MH cells, S&S spec sheet indicates 220 flashes at full power charge with recycle times of 1.7 sec. on full charge. Inon S2000 with Pro eneloop AA's 500 flashes at full power and recycle times of 2.0 secs. full power. By comparison Apollo Y with two 21700 at full power gives you around 1500 flashes and full power recycle times of 0.6 sec. We of course don't shoot all photos at full power but the specs clearly favor Li-ion batteries. Several talking heads have tried to discourage use of Li-ion cells because of fire risk. Marelux have proprietary cells with protection circularity and because these cells need to be carried in carry-on luggage that also sell completely fire proof bags for travel.

I didn't see this until now. Yes, they are perfect for the work. I also have a Bluerov and the dome ports are cheap, they are around 3 mm thick, I have go with the rov up to 100 meters depth with no issues. They are exactly the same that I ordered to the plastic manufacturer. If I knew about that domes before buying the bluerov I would used it. That said, I didn't found out a big lack of definition in the corners of the image when I used the 4" dome port with the DSLR, but once I bought the FF Mirrorless this lack of definition has become a lot worst. I have ask here in the forum and to two professional underwater photographers that I am friend of, the issue is the dome diameter, 4" is to small, so now I'm using a glass 5,5" and it's not perfect but is good enough. I'm always talking using it with the Canon 8-15 fisheye, with and with no teleconverter.

Sorry guys my question actually doesn’t make sense at all. Just comes to show I still have lots to learn… I somehow assumed that you could mount a dx lens on a full frame and use in fx mode which is either not possible or would vignette heavily. Ryan from Nauticam (really appreciated how quickly he replied which I didn’t expect, especially on a weekend) wrote back with this : There have been some cases where DX lenses will cover a bit more than the APS-C "DX" sensor size, but quite full frame, or will cover full frame over part of their zoom range, but I haven't been able to find any examples documenting this on 16-50 f/2.8. On Nikon full frame Z bodies: When you mount a DX lens on a Z5, Z6, Z7, Zf, etc., the camera automatically switches to DX crop mode and there's no way to override it Digital Photography Review. This makes it difficult to even capture a full-sensor image showing the image circle falloff, since Nikon locks you into the crop. Some users have worked around this with "dumb" adapters that break the electronic communication Photography Life, but I couldn't find anyone who did this specifically with the new 16-50mm f/2.8. Third party cameras can give us some clues about coverage beyond DX, because they don't force the switch to DX when mounted. I searched the RED user groups for some examples as well, but I couldn't find any. On RED V-Raptor: The V-Raptor with the VV (Vista Vision) sensor is larger than full frame, so a DX lens would show significant vignetting. The S35 version of the V-Raptor has coverage for Super 35mm lenses ProVideo Coalition, and Super 35 is roughly similar to APS-C/DX, so the 16-50mm f/2.8 should cover S35 mode cleanly. But I couldn't find anyone who has tested or posted images of this specific combo. What we know about the image circle behavior:Some DX lenses are known to cover more than their rated image circle, especially at longer focal lengths. The older Nikon 35mm f/1.8G DX, for example, nearly covers full frame. With zoom lenses, some DX zooms "zoom" the image circle as they get longer, covering more of the full frame area at the telephoto end Digital Photography Review. There's a good chance the 16-50mm f/2.8 would show heavy dark corners at 16mm on a full frame sensor but might be usable (with vignetting) at 50mm.