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Thanks for the spec sheet analysis. You are wrong however. My vac sensor started eating 2032s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It became unusable as it ate the battery after every dive day. I tend to set it up and draw vacuum the night before diving and then open it at the end of the day or next morning. So after 24-48 hours i had a dead cell. The rechargeable cells lasted at least that long and were not throw away. I since replaced my vac circuit but continue to use the rechargeable cells. They run much longer now and i just recharge them after they die or after a several dive days . I have a six or ten pack of them so its easy to rotate between them and recharge in a batch. In short they are fine in real world use and much less wasteful. The vacuum circuit are real battery hogs even when they work properly and I always prefer a rechargeable cell whenever they are available.

Have you tried a LiON battery? On a trip to Okinawa, I had my vacuum sensor light on for 5-6 days straight without a problem and downloaded photos and charged the camera through the Nauticam port. Brett

Drop to $50 for the pair

I'd be fine charging every 5th dive if it means I can't kill a fresh set through leaving it on for a day by accident.

Hi Dave, thanks for hint. I have also checked after reading your message and must agree with Chris. The capacity of rechargeable button cells are very low. Nothing compared with the lithium battery one. You won't be happy using them. Br Markus

Did you notice the evolution of Chinese lens brands? They are releasing more autofocus versions recently. Their expansion seems to follow a two phase industrial strategy. First, companies like TTArtisan, 7Artisans and Meike entered the market with low cost manual lenses. These lenses were made of metal and glass and used standard optical designs. This move helped them become known, reduce buyer hesitation and build a customer base. Later, they reinvested their profits in electronics development. The shift to autofocus was helped by the availability of cheap Asian STM motors and the opening of communication protocols by companies like Sony and Fujifilm. In closed systems, they improved their reverse engineering techniques. Another key element was adding USB C ports directly on the lenses. This system allows them to improve tracking algorithms with firmware updates after the launch. Today the market position of these brands is rising. Advanced lines like the Viltrox Pro series or the new Sirui AF lenses offer performance and sharpness that compete with historical third party makers like Sigma and Tamron, but at a lower cost. The simultaneous evolution of Chinese brands depends on the organization in industrial districts and a shared supply chain. Companies concentrated in the same geographical areas buy standardized components, such as STM motors, from the same third party manufacturers. Physical closeness and the continuous movement of engineers between different factories help a fast circulation of skills and mechanical solutions. Since hardware is now accessible to all brands, the real competition has moved to software development to optimize autofocus algorithms.

Looks like their capacity is only 45 mAhr while a CR2032 is 235 mAhr - though that is to 2V so effectively about half of that to just under 3v where Nauticam vacuum alarms signal low battery. I like the idea of a rechargable bettery though- one solution might be to find a rechargable Li battery that you could wire in place of the coin cell holder., something with a small enough cross section.

I just did some compatibility tests which confused me: The knobs from my long Nauticam clamps (https://www.nauticam.com/products/long-standard-clamp) fit on my H2O Tools clamps and vice versa. The screws are M6 50 mm (metric)!

Rechargeable 2032 batteries: https://a.co/d/07wLBk3T So you don't need to care if the battery runs down.

Even the cheap colored Ali express clamps are 1/4 20, not metric Bill

My use case is more to disable the sensor so I can do an overnight soak without first opening the housing and not run the battery down.

Dave I believe that is their existing MF fisheye, although likely the optics will be the same. Whether it can outperform an adapted Canon on Sony will be interesting to see. The MF version isn't considered quite as good but perhaps having a more compact lens will be worth it. Unless it's based on some sort of DSLR focal distance with built in adapters which apparently they've done with other lenses.

Looks like this is available on all the major FF lens mounts. Minimum focal distance is the same as Nikon's 8-15 at 16cm. Behind a dome the Nikon is effectively zero cm. Mount: Sony E / Nikon Z / Canon RF / L Mount / Fujifilm GFX / Hasselblad XCD Laowa 8-15mm f/2.8 FF Zoom Fisheye$699.00 In stock Laowa 8-15mm f/2.8 FF Zoom Fisheye is a full-frame lens designed for photographers and content creators seeking bold, creative perspectives. It delivers a dual fisheye effect with a versatile zoom range and an ultra-fast f/2.8 aperture, guaranteeing a jaw-dropping visual style for stunning imagery. An unparalleled flexibility is provided to vloggers, content creators, and photographers for capturing expansive landscapes, compact cities, action sports, and 360° panoramas. Mount: Sony E / Nikon Z / Canon RF / L Mount / Fujifilm GFX / Hasselblad XCD

A mirrorless native 8-15 fisheye is very exciting indeed, especially if they do a Sony FE mount.

Artisanal Warming Gel Filters I first made some custom warming filters last year to pair with my Retra strobe reduction rings. The Retra 4500k diffuser cannot be combined with their reduction ring, and in my PNW diving environment I really need both at the same time. My first take at this project was successful, but pretty crude and ugly. First, I found gel sheets and 3-inch acrylic disks on Amazon. I cut out a 3-inch round disk of the gel filter and then smeared one side of the acrylic with Superglue and stuck on the filter. It was quite messy, removing the bubbles was never fully successful, and I ruined at least 50% of the samples in the process. And I stuck my fingers together multiple time despite wearing gloves. I printed a TPU ring to enclose the filters and stuck them in the Retra reduction ring. I added a ridge in the reduction ring to hold the filter in place and made some vent holes to drain the bubble created. I've been using this solution for months now with good success. The bubbles and scratches didn't impact the strobe quality as best I could tell. Amazingly the superglue-acrylic sandwich survived the better part of 100 dives. Recently I decided to take another stab at a better and cleaner process to create the filter disks. I laid out a single sheet of gel filter and taped it down to a slab of cardboard. I set aside 8 acrylic disks and peeled the protective film from one side and put a bit of tape on the other, still protected side, so I didn't flip them accidentally. Then I painted the entire gel sheet with a 2-part clear epoxy resin. I placed 8 of the disks on the epoxy-gel surface and pressed hard to get out most of the bubbles. 24 hours later, they are fully set and dry. Using an X-Acto knife I cut out each disk and then had to "shave" the dried epoxy from the edge of the disk. This is more tedious part of the operation. Finally, I peel off the top layer's protective film and slip on the TPU ring. The filter can then be popped into the reduction rings as seen here: The disks are very durable, and this version is much cleaner that what I managed to make with superglue back in December. My custom Retra and Backscatter Atom reduction rings fully support the filters. My Backscatter HF-1 reduction rings were designed to sit on top of the Backscatter filters, but now I can redesign them to use the bayonet mount rather than the bulkier slip over design I currently have. That will be my next project in the next few days. Here is a close-up image of the HF-1 filter, the clear disks, and the final Artisanal filter. Many other filter gels are available if other color casts are desired, even Blue Floro gels. Links for the materials I used from Amazon: 3-inch acrylic disks: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097D7Z51M?th=1 4500k gel filter sheets: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08814S8KM Two-part epoxy resin: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083SRX7TJ?th=1

I actually did that mod on the NA-GH5 with a reed switch (magnetic) but there is a big trick behind as you are right: the circuit needs to sense the vacuum forming when one to go from yellow to green. That implies removing the vacuum during "rest time", turning off the circuit then turning it back on and restoring vacuum. The pushbutton Nauticam puts on their housing that allows to rearm the alarm when switching ports is not a "normally open" pushbutton but a "normally close" model. Contact is broken with the pushbutton is pushed which meaning it just turn off momentarily the circuit when you press it. So you need to solder in parallel to that switch a "normally close" reed switch which are hard to find unless you use a reed switch with 3 pins (the common one, a Normally close and a Normally open pin). By locating the reed capsule close to a wall of the housing and placing externally a strong magnet, you can then arm and disarm vacuum. You then don't have to open the housing, just release and redo vacuum before diving. With a usb-c bulkhead, I did a 10 days cruise like that without ever opening the back of the housing. The bulkhead was used to charge battery and download files. Every morning I just had to remove the external magnet so the circuit was ready and then start to pump.

I got mine from Diveinn for 55 euros last month but now both models are about 80-85 euros.

Received in great condition! Good trade with SH Jeong.

thanks for the comments, much appreciated Hi Luko, according to the boss we were in chops and hops on the 28th. Pity you didn't say hello - I'm sure my 5 words of Italian would have come in useful 🤣 Ajiex said similar to you, but said Batu Niti and Baturinggit were productive so we mainly went there Hope to see some of your shots Mike

NIce ones, I love shooting gobies on tunicates too, especially with the help of our mutual guide and friend Ajiex. btw I think I saw you dining at Chops & Hops when I was in T'ben 2 weeks ago with some friends (around april 28th). Did you have a good trip? I thought Tulamben was pretty deceiving this time, water was much too warm (30C!) and many critters AWOL.

Still up for me. I signed in and all that.

@Pooley lovely photos!

Does someone know a reseller for Kraken bulkhead in Europe ? If not I can order directly from Kraken... But 30$ postage for a 60$ product :(

Here we go https://www.l-rumors.com/first-images-of-three-new-laowa-lenses-including-their-first-autofocus-zoom/

Great photos, thanks