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The occasion to have two macro lenses with different focal lengths at the same dive looks very tempting (but what about the often quoted "dedicated mindset" of the UW photographer 😄?). I have some questions, especially to people who use MFO-3 with Sony 100mm GM. According to Nauticam, the empirically measured FOVs, for objects at macro distance, behind planport are 24° without (corresponding to approx. 100mm) and 40° with MFO-3 (corresponding to approx. 60mm focal length)... #1.: How is the IQ of the 100mm lens & MFO-3 compared to a pure macro lens with shorter focal length, e.g. the Sony 50mm macro lens? #2.: What about using the MFO-3 together with the lens, when 1.4x, or even 2x, TCs are attached (I guess since the TCs already by themselves degrade IQ to some extend, MFO-3 makes it even worse?)? Thanks, Wolfgang

I borrowed Mike’s “MFO-2” prototype from the first post this week in Anilao, and took it for ~5 day and 3 black water dives. I really liked the flexibility for day/reef dives of switching from the 100 to 60 with the flip adapter. Although I couldn’t open the flip without unscrewing it a bit, maybe something has changed since that prototype. It’s been a long time since I’ve shot with anything besides 100mm and fisheye so that was really nice. The first two BW dives, I wasn’t sure if I liked it. First, it’s very long so I had to move my focus light to the port ball mount where my snoot usually goes. (Over a black water abyss but luckily I didn’t drop anything.) The first night my strobes were pointed straight out like I normally do, but this left a dark area right in front of the lens. I also saw more backscatter than I normally do, maybe because the lens is simply seeing more? Second night, I had the strobes on either side of the port pointed in. I didn’t like the look of those photos, and I also saw some lens flare. On night three I kept the inward lighting but spaced them out further and angled them slightly forward. This had the best results. I was able to get a larval lionfish full frame almost touching the glass and it was still well-lit. I’ll post some examples later if folks are interested. I’m definitely picking one up before our next trip. And I might need that 3D-printed hood as well.

Weekend Price Drop!!! WACP-1 (NA #85201) N120 version NOW - $2895 (40% off new!!!) N120 Extension Ring 35 (NA #21135) NOW - $295

Im selling a pair of Ikelite DS160 strobes. They have worked flawlessly since I got them. They come with two new battery packs that I purchased in 2022 but were only used on one dive trip. Price: $350 each or $650 as a pair Im also selling my ikelite Dual sync cord. Its Y-shaped sync cord that has ikelite style plugs on all ends and supports TTL functions. Price: $40 Free shipping to CONUS Payment options: Paypal F&F or Paypal Goods and Services (+3%) or Venmo

And further reduced to $500 plus shipping.

Wow! Based on that, I’m certain this film will be fantastic! Thanks Davide.

Aloha and welcome @Joel Sharks

There are a ton of cutters on MakerWorld that would work just fine for fiber. They are common as cutting filament and PTFE tubes is a staple of printer maintenance. This one uses a common box cutter razor blade: https://makerworld.com/en/models/870732-filament-and-ptfe-tube-cutter-v2?from=search#profileId-1709412

It’s not looking good for this vessel: Fiji Times: Salvage expert leads recovery for Fiji Princess

I clicked the link. £36.80, €46. Is that a regular razor blade in the image of the cutter? I am guessing that a 1-off use of a fresh razor blade will give an even cleaner cut than a stanley blade. Maybe one of our 3-d print experts could come up with design for printing such a block. I don't have a printer, but expect I could machine similar from aluminium or delrin. For individual use, it wouldn't need to last for 1000s of cuts. Edit - seems there are plenty in the £10+/- range on ebay

Our lab uses lots of fiber optics for a variety of medical applications. The cutting tool that I showed costs about $12 and gets you a very nice square cut. Modern strobes for the most part are pretty sensitive, but bad cuts often meant that the older S&S strobes were iffy. Bill

Looking for any feedback and experience on using the MFO-3 with a Nikon Z ff. You don’t happen to be shooting Nikon Paul?

This it really useful feedback, thank you Mike. This was exactly what I was looking for, it was mostly built around the way I dive (mostly trips abroad) and I have only been able to test with my own equipment. So next steps I will look at the numbering, and make trips optional hopefully this should solve the first issue. I’ve not been able to fully test the iNaturalist integration as they have a minimum requirement for setting up api integrations which I have not yet met the criteria for. Dont feel you have to but would it be possible to share one of your uddf files? This would massively help when testing new import scenarios and data mapping. Thanks again. Wyvern

Hi Wyvern New version loads and works on my Mac and the UDDF import ostensibly works bringing dives over from Mac Dive. A few things: The TRIPS thing is odd for me. I dive every week locally. My dives are not part of 'trips' so it essentially forces my dives into arbitrary groups which dont mean anything. Be good to be able to just disable this. The dive numbering is a bit whack - when I view in Timeline it groups by years and months but the dives all have the same, similar, or repeated number (see image below) Much of the dive data isn't correct - ie Gas mix is AIR for everything but I mostly dive Nitrox mixes (so perhaps not reading the UDDF correctly) Its also is listing the wrong dive computer. GPS location data is good and I like the map and icons. The iNaturalist integration would be the best part for me but can't seem to get this to work. The CONNECT ACCT button is greyed out. But great work so far. I like where you're going with this.

Success! Decided to just dive into the deep end with an empty (backup) housing. Mounted a 40mm ASA printed port extension with a dome port and dove it to 106 feet. Nothing imploded and trigger the leak sensor. Using standard Nauticam orings.

Hey Joel Great to have you with us. A warm welcome to Waterpixels. Best wishes

Just wanted to follow up with anyone who's downloaded and tested if they had any feedback, have you found it useful? anything that bugs you about it etc? open to all feedback.

Hi everyone, Happy to be here! I'm an avid diver from Zurich Switzerland and enjoy Macro/Muck Diving just as much as big wildlife or incredible corals. I started out with a lumix S1H which I still love dearly for topside work, but switched to a Sony A1 a year ago, mainly for its smaller size and impressive specs. I love Indonesia and often dive in Amed for Macro stuff, might see some of you there one day! Cheers and happy bubbles & good light, Joel

Strange indeed. I hope they will upload English subs asap

Yes, I understand that, and tried to work with it for about three or four hours and gave up because I could never get it to work as well as the simple check boxes that do it automatically for me. I am not saying that Resolve isn't great, but simply that I can't seem to get it to work for me. That's just me, and I may have to learn it someday, but I just got too frustrated and went back to something that works well for me.

@Davide DB When I checked, Autotranslate didn't have English as a choice. I will try again. Nope, still not there.

Sold.

Deal reached! Sale Pending.

iMovie also works to set white balance.

A friend once built a pressure pot by cutting in half an aluminium scuba cylinder that had failed test and making a perspex lid for the bottom half, then tapping in a pressure feed. It was only for a few bar, so a cylinder that had failed a 200 bar + test pressure was not a bad risk. It was part of an undergraduate engineering project. The trick on safe use is to completely fill with water, then only use a little air to pressurise - just like they do when cylinder testing, but only to a few bar. Unfortunately it wouldn't be big enough for a real camera housing, but could probably have worked for a compact. He used it to test and calibrate old analogue depth gauges against a lab quality guage.