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Beautifull I've never made a black water dive.... I need to try that.

Very cool!

Here we go with an interim update: After a few test dives in cold Austria, I can say that for now, setting the converter to “6” (for Inon Z330) and approx. -1 flash compensation works acceptably, but is far from perfect. Compared to others, the converter is extremely sensitive to reflections and stray light, so you have to switch to manual mode relatively often. For example, if the flashes are not perfectly aligned in half-and-half shots, they always fire at 100%. More intensive testing in Tenerife will follow soon. Greetings, Jens

This was not a common problem with AA powered devices. It does appear to be an issue with higher powered lithium devices.

In the more than two decades I have owned a set of Inon D2000 strobes I have never cleaned them, flooded them or seen any sort of corrosion on them. My new S220 strobes are clean as can be, maybe in another twenty years I will give them a good cleaning. If I am still around to do so.

Really nice!

Interesting, however the sensor is only slightly larger than the current iphone pro it seems (11.4 x 8.6 vs ~10.2 x 77.5). The design of the lenses for these must be getting more challenging to keep them low profile as it gets more difficult as the sensor grows in size and also the depth of field steadily drops away as the sensor gets bigger. Have to wait for the reviews of the phone perhaps to see if it's an accounting feature (less sensors and lenses in the phone) or really does improve images ?

Not the first blackwater dive in Kona, but the first time using the new MFO-3/ Sony 90mm on A7C and MF-2 strobe. Seas were running 5-6' on the way off-shore, but diving was pretty calm. I always find it interesting that there's can be variation in the various critters from dive to dive.

I would add that the MWL doesn't seem to have a lot of users, I recall various people asking about it but the fact they recommend using at f16 seems to be an issue, I only ever remember one review by Jack Connick and he confirmed that f16 was best and probably f14 the lower limit. the 150° field sounds closer to a fisheye but just looking at diagonal field of view is a little misleading, all these wet lenses have barrel distortion and this means the corners stretch out more than the horizontal axis. The WWL gets 130 diagonal which is about the field of a 13-14mm rectilinear lens and the MWL would have a 121° horizontal field which is the same as a 10mm rectilnear. A Fisheye lens is about 140° wide horizontally (175 diagonal like the 8-15). As you zoom in on a WWL the barrel distortion is progressively less noticeable and approaches the proportions of a rectilinear lens.

Just to compare my strobes here's my Z240 cap contacts and a swab that just wiped them over, this is the first time I've cleaned them: I can only see the slightest trace of residue being picked up. I agree though if you are getting corrosion on contacts regular cleaning will help. My routine with these strobes is that every time I pull the batteries the o-rings are removed shaken dry checked and greased and the water left in the o-ring groove dried out and cleaned, then replaced and sealed up. Because I'm diving regularly, the batteries normally go back in the strobe. The strobe is 10 years old. Even after soaking the strobes for 2 hours the water trapped in the cap between the edge of the cap and the o-ring in still salty (I've checked by taste). If I don't pull the batteries I end up with salt crystals in there as the water slowly evaporates. The O-ring on these strobes is not a super tight fit in the groove and it seems to me there is a risk of traces of salt water making its way inside the strobe unless I dry out the o-ring as described.

Good points. Several years ago I ordered a set of "scratch brush" electrical contact cleaners and carry a couple of those with me on dive trips. I only had to use them once on another person's strobe, but they can clean contacts that suffer some corrosion or other issues. They are cheap, light and small and can be purchased on Amazon and at other places. May be worth sticking in your gear somewhere, in case Coke or contact cleaner or alcohol isn't available after a leak? As far as preventative maintenance goes, I know Sealife warns that: 1. IMPORTANT UPDATE – Clean battery contacts every time before charging Applies to all Sea Dragon lights with 1200+ lumens and Fluoro-Dual Beam models. Clean the gold-plated contacts on battery and inside battery compartment EVERY TIME before charging the battery. Use a clean cotton cloth moistened with isopropyl alcohol to thoroughly clean contacts. Not cleaning the contacts will permanently damage the gold plating and result in the device not powering on. DO NOT store the device with battery installed. Remove battery before storage. Left contact shows black spots resulting from not cleaning the contacts. Kind of boosts my appreciation of my old Inon lights with their AA batteries. But I know Lithium and massive lumens are the future.

No it doesn’t. Fav is a seaplane ride away to the south. There’s a ”new” site in Male that mimics Fav, just near the harbor. So I intend to explore it after the Sharktastic trip. But I figured it will be the same ”rules of conduct” as in Fav (haven’t been to Fav, hence asking the ones who have)

Here is a collection of cotton tip swaps sprayed with a bit of contact cleaner and 30 seconds of rubbing. None of these ever flooded or got even a little bit wet. My camera room humidity is typically about 40-45%. Inon 330: Backscatter HF-1: OrcaTorch v710v and Backscatter MF-1 (Rub/spin the battery housing contact surface on a towel): My suggestion it to do some preventative maintenance on all of your strobe and light electrical contact surfaces to avoid problem. Don't forget to clean the contact surface of the batteries too. I rub the batteries contacts on a scrap towel on occasion, when I happen to about it.

Maybe some day in a distant and alternative universe, OM Systems will get their head out of their wazoo and give us a TG Pro. Full manual controls, actual f stops, pancake 24-75 with macro zoom lens, 1.0+ inches sensor. Video capable for those who do such, not me, and then we will have a replacement at long last for the legendary Nikonos III. I will buy three and a nauticam housing to put it in. In yet another alternative world, Nauticam et al could take the guts out of a Canon R50 or similar and install it in a housing as an integrated, updatable platform, work with Canon, Nikon, whoever to provide the electronics. We are stuck since the passing of the Nikonos in this buy a box and then buy a camera and then stick the camera in the box thinking. What we need is an actual underwater camera, not a box with a land camera inside. And it does not need to be FF.

Afaik sharktastic doesn’t go to Fav. I did that itinerary a few years ago and it was strobes full power all along. Reflectors can be useful if you have them

And what about Fav and tigers? Strobes? I’m going mid March on a week S Male-Veevu-Meemu-Ari so called ”sharktastic” on Emperor Voyager, then a day in Male with local DC (not decides which yet) to do ”the tank”. Manta in Ari cleaning station Dec 2018.

I was in the Maldives for Mantas.. It's ok on the cleaning stations with strobe.... if you go at Hanifaru bay... No strobe no torch are allowed

From what I saw on the Dema clips on SN they are similar to Nauticam housings but, you know, devil is in the details...

I’m off to the Maldives next year and was mulling over strobes or no strobes for the classic manta dive. Waters are usually turbid, I guess, so backscatter would be an issue.

Florida!

Yep, the Nikkor 8-15 works really well on the Z bodies with the FTZ. I use it both with a Z6IiI and a Z9.

I am not clear here. Did Backscatter state the specific reason the strobes quit working was "stained" contacts and that there is no other malfunction involved?

Don't be afraid of F-mount lenses in your Z camera. They work great. The 8-15 is one you will want for sure. With the 60 you can use the KRL-09s from kraken. Much more approachable than the MWL. I use this when I want to combine true macro and wide angle on the same dive.

I was planning to go on a WS in April to Socorro but was put off by this scam tax, replacing it with Maldives ”Sharktastic” in March instrad.