All Activity

https://waterpixels.net/forums/topic/1731-essential-spares-for-underwater-photography/#findComment-10796

@Dave_Hicks how frustrating!! Mine is the older model on my 7dmkii housing and I've never had an issue. This is definitely not a battery thing, unfortunately! The only thing I can think of is there is something with the vacuum valve itself so I'm trying to find info on troubleshooting/fixing it - hopefully a local friend has the tool so i can get started.

I have a cursed Nauticam Vacuum circuit as well. The battery lasts just a few sessions. I was constantly replacing the batteries and actually bought some rechargeable 2032 cells. So at least I am not throwing them away constantly. I never had this with my D800 or D850 housings, but the vacuum in the newer Z8 is just plagued. I was on a trip recently and I just gave up turning the circuit on. I pumped it and made sure the back would not come off releasing the latches after a few hours to test the negativity. The idiot light was just not that necessary. I bought a replacement vacuum circuit, but I have not gotten around to installing it. The rechargeable batteries are doing the trick, but I have a replace them after just a few days of diving. And I dive 2 or 3 days a week.

Thanks for the suggestions on a new pump. I've borrowed one for now and will try one of the wine ones. @Grantmac yup, it does work - have had to do that before! Felt ridiculous 😄 Sadly, the new battery is not the issue. I can, with a lot more effort than usual, get the light to go green, but it will not stay green so I've got a leak somewhere/the vacuum valve is wonky. Any ideas how to fix it/trouble shoot it? I've never pulled one apart/off the housing - is there a trick to it or things I should know? My vacuum pump was installed by Reef when I bought it so I don't think I have the little tool I see on the video - what can I use? thanks!

Which strobes do they fit?

In my experience the internal touch points start perishing before the buttons have problems. But that is based on buying used housings.

I ordered my stuff!

I had my (older) nauticam housing serviced last year because the buttons were getting extremely gritty from all the dirt I have been diving in. Cost~$750 which was almost as much as I paid for the housing. They did a great job but didn't have a choice, it needed to be done. If you aren't having issues, personally I'd keep using it and watch your vacuum levels.

That's why it is important to dive a lot in fresh water beetween diving trip in salt water .... (cold water is also better for removing the salt .. 🤣 🤪)

🤣

yep working on it..

You can get a green light sucking by mouth in a pinch 😅

Yes, there is an old thread about using a Vacu Vin pump. Put the rubber part that you normally will insert in the bottle over the vacuum valve. I can't find the tread but the where some enthusiastic users.

I llearned from a Nauticam servicer that the most important is to push the buttons while in fresh water after the dive. And leave the housing in the fresh water for a while afterwards. Ass you press you see a bubble comming out from under the button indicating that fresh water flows in. Otherwise salt will accumulate under the button. Also turn the dials. As long as the buttons and dials work smoothly, there is no problem.

I cannot edit my post. It should have said that the AIO sits between the SMC-1 and SMC-2. I.e., it provides magnification between SMC-1 and SMC-2. Chip puts it well above. I haven't used the SMC-3 enough to come to a solid impression yet but I felt it focused faster than the SMC-1, but that could be a placebo effect because of the shorter length that "theoretically" results in faster focus because there is less disruption between the lens element and the sensor. I only upgraded because I wanted to reduce weight and because I felt that it will only be better than the SMC-1 from a quality perspective. I have an excellent condition SMC-1 going for a good price. Message me! :D

Thanks Davide, interesting thread! Haven't found it by search

<<<I just don't care if the AI model makers (or humans, even) download my images and use them for anything, but for people who made a living doing this, it's going to be tough.>>> If we don’t care about the origin of images, then we add to the morass of fake imagery. That’s of course if we care. I do.

apparently the vacuvin pumps for resealing wine work??

Thanks - fingers crossed it's the battery! It wasn't red blinking or solid on the safety stop so at least it waited til I was up. My hand pump completely fell apart this afternoon, too! $53 for a new one is insanity. What a weird day 😄

Seacam updated their port chart, and they recommend the PVL65 extension for the 100mm macro. I can confirm that a 60mm would not work. By email, Harald also recommended the PVL65+20 for the TC1.4, and PVL65+30 for the TC2.0 combos. Given what I already had, I ended up using the PVLs 45+20 for the 100mm, 45+40 for the 100mm+1.4, and 40+35+20 for 100mm+2.0. Stacking 3 extensions isn't optimal, but it works. Now for the test - I had a chance to go to the pool and play with everything. My aim wasn't pixel peeping, but to get a feel for this new gear, confirm that everything works, and see approx what magnification level I can get. Gear: A1, Seacam housing, MIP80 with extensions as above, no strobe, SMC-1. Lighting was inconsistent due to clouds so I did what I could. Some editing to try to get a consistent look across photos. All pictures use the same settings for texture (0) clarity (+10) dehaze (0) sharpening (40) and noise reduction (L15 C50). All pictures uncropped, exported at 1920px. I'm hoping the pictures show up in order. For pictures 2-9 I aimed to achieve the maximum magnification I could. Picture 1: Subject is 10cm long and has 2 rhinophores (elephantophores?) and a snout (snoot?) which is about 3-4mm. Picture 2: 90mm, 1/160, f/10, ISO 3200 Picture 3: 90mm + SMC1, 1/160, f/10, ISO 3200 Picture 4: 100mm, 1/125, f/10, ISO 1600 (inadvertently used different settings) Picture 5: 100mm + SMC1, 1/160, f/10, ISO 3200 Picture 6: 100mm + 1.4x TC, 1/160, f/10, ISO 3200 Picture 7: 100mm + 1.4x TC + SMC1, 1/160, f/10, ISO 3200 Picture 8: 100mm + 2.0x TC, 1/160, f/10, ISO 3200 Picture 9: 100mm + 2.0x TC + SMC1, 1/250, f/10, ISO 6400 (had to use faster shutter speed and bump up the iso) My perspective: this lens is going to be very fun to shoot. It is definitely faster to focus than the 90mm macro. The 100mm is slightly bigger, unfortunately it makes it tricky to take both the camera+lens out of the housing in one go, it's better to unscrew the lens first through the housing front. A battery change on a boat is a riskier operation. I love that we can natively achieve 1.4 magnification without having to add the SMC1, while keeping a greater working distance than the 90+SMC1. I also love that I can still add the SMC-1 to get an even higher magnification, whether used just with the 100mm, or with the TCs as well. Adding the 1.4x TC gives a 140mm lens, which can achieve about the same magnification as 100mm+SMC1 but is much more comfortable to handle. The 1.4x TC is light and adds weight towards the center of the camera whereas the SMC1 is heavy and off balance (I'm aware the SMC3 helps with that). And adding the SMC-1 on top of it really expands the range to super super macro Adding the 2.0xTC gives a 200mm lens. Magnification is great but the 200mm seems really inconvenient underwater, to get the whole elephant in the frame I had to move back more than I wanted, and I can see this would be both harder to frame subjects, and to position strobes. Adding the SMC-1 gives an even higher magnification as well, but the working distance was very small and getting the shot was really hard - despite perfect conditions with static subject and photographer. I can't imagine this working too well underwater. With the TCs, the minimum aperture also increases from f/22 to f/31 or f/45 so that may occasionally be useful as well. So the 100mm + 1.4x TC + SMC-1 will be coming with me to Lembeh, 90mm will enjoy its retirement. I'll keep the 2.0 TC for specific targets on local dives, like Shaun the Sheep

Thank you @ChipBPhoto for your "real life return of experience" That help me a lot .... to save some money :)

I personally owned the SMC-1 for years and now own the SMC-3. Honestly, they are very similar in 'real life' usage. To me, the biggest improvement is the SMC-3 is smaller and lighter. As far as image quality, they are both exceptional, once you get the hang of the very short working distance. Yes, the SMC-3 has a slightly larger working distance, but nothing that is worthy of selling an existing SMC-1 and purchasing the SMC-3. It just makes it a little more usable in the everyday usage. The SMC-1 is discontinued and removed from the Nauticam charts because they are basically the same thing designed for the same task with similar specs. Think of the SMC-3 as a 'v2' of the original SMC-1. Hope this helps, chip

It should flash yellow first when it senses you are losing vacuum, flashing red is vacuum lost already. Funny enough, i had this today on 3rd dive, started flashing yellow at 20 meters, got up to 5 meter and it went to green again.