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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.

With the 100mm macro you already get 1.4x magnification, double than the best you do with the 28-60 (0.7x) and with more working distance. The question I would be asking is are you able to find subjects that need that sort of magnification? If you dive exclusively with expert guides in macro rich destinations you might get some use out it. Me - I'd be tempted to just crop a little if needed for extra small subjects as I don't find them that often, plus the depth of field won't be quite so diabolically thin. I recall Alex Mustard saying on one his videos that his most used diopter was a +3 or a +5 diopter which gave just a little more than life sized which you already have with the 1.4x available natively, compared to a traditional macro lens with 1:1 magnification

Welcome James, hope you enjoy the forums and sorry to hear you were on that liveaboard, but great that everyone got off!

I noticed a significant reduction in Backscatter first dive with my new Retras fitted with reduction rings. It's not a magic cure all and I can still manage to take a frame filled with Backscatter if I'm not concentrating but it's so much easier now to produce a frame without excessive backscatter.

I only do video, not stills, but use the 100mm and MFO3 for blackwater-like shooting (bonfire dives, hovering in the water column at night). My go-to setup on the A7SIII is the 100mm, MFO1 and MFO3 - I actually have a triple-flip, which I like for having the option to add a diopter for super macro for regular macro dives, but actually only use two lenses for blackwater-type shooting, as it's very difficult to find subjects static enough to go beyond the magnification given by the 100mm + MFO1 combo, and 80% of the footage is shot with the MFO3. As Dave mentioned, the 90mm is fine (I chose the 100mm as it does have some advantages for video AF) - however, a double-flip could be handy with these lenses, so you have more options than MFO3 or the bare lens (diopters for super macro or MFO1)

Thanks for the comments. I am glad you liked the review and found it inforative! Retra states in their product page for the Maxi that it is 4500k with the wide angle diffuser. And it looks like they updated the page to state the native color temp as well. The Retra Maxi delivers GN46 and a color temperature of ~6200K. With the optional Wide Angle diffuser, it provides 160º coverage at ~4500K. Optimized for GN performance, this powerful strobe captures distant subjects with exceptional light output.

Hello all. I'm James from the US. I'm friends with Tim and was on the Maldives liveaboard that burned. I lost my TG-6 in the fire and moved up to a Sony a1 II so I will have plenty of questions. Thank you.

New hobby on a rainy day 🤓

@Dave_Hicks What an excelent review. You covered more than I could ever think of, evidenced with great pictures. And I learned something new, never thought reduction rings would benefit wide angle photography in particle rich water. Sounsds logical, I often get lightened spots in the corners. It will try that out as soon as I can. Ok, one comment. You noted that thant the Maxis are 5500-6000K and you have 4500K diffusers. On Retras website I only could find a -500K one (Wide Angle Diffuser).

Thanks Chris

If you are thinking about saving money, buy one of the many used 90mm lens and port combos that people upgrading are selling off. The 100mm is no doubt better, but by how much really? By all accounts the 90mm setup works great with the A1, focusing fast and very sharp. The Tamron 90mm is also a quality option.

After enjoying macro a ton with my 28-60 + CMC2, I'm planning to upgrade my macro setup and get the 100mm macro lens to pair with my A1 body. I've seen lots of people love the MFO-3 especially for black water photography so I was going to add that to my setup with a flip adapter. My unknown is whether it's worth it to add an SMC to the setup as well? It's relevant now because I'd buy a double-flip instead of a single if I would want the SMC. But, if I'll be happy without the SMC then I'll save the $$ and weight of buying a double flip. Any thoughts or advice is appreciated!

Good to know. The review Maxi's didn't come in original packaging. Sure, take them off if it saves space. I've never actually done that in about 20 years of traveling with strobes. I take mounts off of my camera housings very often as they significantly increases their space requirements.