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Hi Stephen, Welcome. I’m in E. Bay. Been diving for 40 years, but are new to underwater photography and even newer to CA diving. Look forward to running into you one of these days. Evan

Hello all I shore dive 3 to 4 times a week with my "compact" rig, and I'm currently upgrading to a full-frame rig. It's had me thinking about maintenance routines, especially for those of us who dive quite frequently. My current rig routine is fairly simple: I make sure to keep the glass wet after the dive, give everything a quick rinse at the car before loading. When I get home, I soak the housing, lights and dive computer / electronics in fresh water for at least an hour (overnight if it's a late night dive) while pressing all the buttons and working all the knobs and levers. I try to loosen my arm clamps regularly, but I don't completely disassemble them every time. I used to, but with a heavy dive schedule it's just too labour-intensive. These days I simply loosen them while rinsing. If one starts to stiffen up, I'll take it apart, give it a white vinegar rinse to remove any salt build-up, then finish by a wipe using a WD-40 coated towel on the screw thread. I try to give the rig a quick run under the shower after soaking (freeflowing water). When soak is finished and the rig is drying, I blow on all the glass surfaces (port and diopters), then finish with two microfibre cloths. I've had some etching on my current port despite being careful. It could have been from the time I was living in East Bali, where the rinse water wasn't great, but because of that, I'm even considering a final rinse with purified water on the glass for the new rig. Not a great fan of the idea, but would really like to avoid this. For the housing O-ring, my current housing is a Nauticam clamshell (NA-LX10) with a small main O-ring. Before each diving day I remove it, clean it, and clean the grooves, and re-lubricate the o-ring while checking it running it through my fingers to check for sand, hair or anything unusual (I'm more of a feeler for this). My new housing (NA-A1) has a larger main O-ring and isn't a clamshell design, which I understand is a little more forgiving. I'm wondering whether it's worth continuing to remove, inspect and relubricate it before every diving day, or whether a careful visual inspection is sufficient if everything looks clean and there was no major sand exposure, with full removal at regular intervals instead. I'm also curious about port maintenance. I'll primarily be using the 100mm port on the new set up. If I'm using the same port for several days, removing and reinstalling it every day doesn't seem particularly practical, or even desirable. For those of you who dive multiple times a week, what's your routine for keeping the port O-ring healthy? One thing I'm also curious about is flip holders. I currently have an AOI double flip on my compact rig, but the full-frame rig will have a Nauticam triple flip that will stay on the 100mm port. I haven't removed the AOI flip since I installed it, but I'm not sure what to do with the new rig. Do people here remove flip holders regularly, or just leave them on? I'm particularly interested in hearing from those of you who dive frequently. Four dives a week, every week is a bit different from a 10-day liveaboard or diving trip, where you can simply do the best you can on site and then give everything a thorough service once you're home. It's also a little different from weekend diving where the rig will sit for 5 days before the next session. Look forward to your thoughts and insights!

I have been using S-OVF, also, but have been surprised/disappointed with lighting when reviewing shots post-dive, despite using the histogram. One option I considered is leaving it in S-OVF for shooting and switching to Standard LV when reviewing shots underwater. That may be overkill and too many button pushes, however.

Hi Tom, Sorry for the late reply, and thank you very much for taking the time to write such a detailed answer. I really appreciate it. I had a look through your photos. What an impressive body of work! It’s fascinating to see how you’ve refined your remote setups over so many years, and your explanation of the autofocus timing was especially interesting. My question actually came from thinking about something a bit different. I’m wondering whether a wireless remote trigger could be made reliable underwater. There are a few situations where I’d love to place a camera on the bottom or close to shy animals without having to stay connected by a 10 m cable. I know radio doesn’t travel well underwater, so I’m exploring other possibilities and trying to figure out whether it’s technically feasible or just an idea that sounds better than it is. In any case, your reply gave me a lot of useful background on the existing wired solutions, so thanks again for sharing your experience. Jim

At the bottom: https://bluerobotics.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/WTE-DATASHEET-RevC.5-MAY2026.pdf

The AOI housing has no provision for a viewfinder eyepiece, it's just a plain window to look into the camera viewfinder you can see the image but as Adrian notes you can't see all of it. So effectively the back screen is the only game in town for this housing.

If you are shooting with strobes - typical macro shooting where the exposure is 100% from the strobes and the background is dark to black, then S-OVF is a must as you can't see your subject otherwise take your pick. I tend to leave mine in S-OVF, underwater it is easy to misjudge image brightness on the screen or the viewfinder I find so if you want to judge exposure looking at a histogram is probably better.

San Carlos Beach in Monterey, CA is the most dove site in the area. This beach, also known as the "The Breakwater" as it is bounded by the Coast Guard Breakwater, is popular because it is the most sheltered spot from wind and waves, and has parking nearby. There is a kelp forest along the Breakwater wall. One reason for the kelp is that the purple urchins are kept at bay by the divers who cull them. Diving conditions here are highly variable. In the spring-summer when the sun shines strongly, the plankton can bloom resulting in green water with 1-2 meters of visibility. However, in the winter the combination of less sun with lots of water movement can have the visibility reach as high as 20 meters. This video was taken on such a day last winter. Mola molas are often seen in Monterey as they come in to feed on the jellyfish. Video was shot with a Sony ZV-E1 and 16 mm lens.

Hi Stephen A warm welcome to Waterpixels. Really great to have you with us. We hope you enjoy the forum. Best wishes

Send me a link to the dome you are looking at. Maybe it will start my creative juices. 😃🤞

Depends on the situation. With a fair amount of ambient light I use live view. If it's dark I use the other mode (Sony shooter).

Yeah, I know. I still can't get my head around which compromise is best. How do you handle it?

My old eyes 😃 I can use the Fantasea UMG-02 (AOI UMG-01) magnifier to make the image bigger and easier for me to compose. There are no similar magnifiers for the EVF, at least with the AOI housing. Moreover, I cannot see the full EVF display when viewing through the AOI housing.

Keep in mind the live view will only show the background exposure unless you are using video lights.

Hi Adrian I've just bought an OM-1 to replace my lost D500 but havn't yet got it underwater - not even into a housing! I'm intrigued though that you compose on the LCD screen rather than in the EVF. Is there a reason for this?

OM‑1 shooters — how are you handling live view underwater? I’m using the LCD exclusively (AOI housing with magnifier), and I’m curious what others are doing for composition. The OM‑1 gives two LV modes: Standard and S‑OVF. Standard LV Mode Gives proper exposure simulation, but at typical macro/CFWA settings, it can be very dark underwater unless the modeling lights are close. S‑OVF Brightens the display by removing exposure/WB simulation but doesn’t reflect actual ambient background or color. For those shooting macro, CFWA, or wide angle with the OM‑1: Are you staying with Standard LV, switching to S‑OVF, or using a different approach to keep the LCD usable underwater?

Fair enough. It seems to me that a port which allows you to use an easily available, fairly cheap and durable dome which is user replaceable would be pretty neat. I might just need to order one and see what would be involved.

Greetings Fellow Underwater Imagers: My name is Stephen Pacetti and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have been diving and taking underwater photos/video for over 30 years. I started out with an Ikelite Aquashot that used a disposable camera loaded with ISO 400 print film. Next was a Nikon N70 film camera in an Ikelite housing. As the digital photography era arrived, I started with an Olympus C-5050 (5 megapixels!), and progressed onto a Olympus C-8080 (Light and Motion Tetra), Nikon D100 (Subal), Nikon D200 (Subal) and Nikon D7100 (Nauticam). As I wanted to dabble in underwater video I shifted over to a Panasonic GH5 and then a GH5 II (Nauticam). Now, I am using a Sony A7IV for stills and a Sony ZV-E1 (both Nauticam) for video. For editing, I use Lightroom and DaVinci Resolve. Alas however, my age and medical status are beginning to slow down my diving. I hope to continue and look forward to this site for inspiration. My local diving is in Monterey, CA which is cold water, but can be very good depending on the conditions which are highly variable. And I have done warm water trips to many of the popular places. I was (am) a member of Wetpixel, but finally realized that site doesn't work anymore. If you have any questions about diving in Monterey please let me know! Cheers

Hi! I’m not even going to try to type your username! Great to have you with us. A warm welcome to Waterpixels. Best wishes

I am an amateur underwater from the PNW, although I really only dive in tropical reef places during vacations. I got into this hobby through iNaturalist and wanting to document what I see while diving, and I got into scuba diving itself from the saltwater aquarium hobby. The main places I have dived are in Hawaii and the Caribbean, though I have also dove in Fiji, and Indonesia (specifically Komodo). My current setup is an OM TG-7 with a Backscatter/AOI UWL-M52 wet lens and two Backscatter Hybrid Flashes, though I am in the process of upgrading to an Olympus EM10 Mk4. My main subject of interest is stony corals (especially larger-polyped and fleshier ones), which is what I like to photograph underwater.

Hi, no problem. I’ve replaced the batteries in my Solas units before, though it was a while ago. I couldn't remember the polarity, so I double-checked it. Best regards, Markus

@ all: Thanks for your answers! @ Dave: yes, but my charger is broken... and I needed to know where + and - are. @ Chris: There is a diode or something similar in the light, so that you do not short-circuit the beast when underwater. I could measure a very low voltage (< 0.1V), but was not sure if this measurement was "good enough)... @ Muellema: That was the info I was looking for. Vielen lieben Dank! Greetings, Jock

It's a fair amount of work, but doable now that i have a pattern. My issue is more about the motivation to spend the time. For passion projects I get caught up, but not sure I can invest the time for a commission. Reprints of existing designs I do all the time however.

Any interest in printing a port to accept the BluROV acrylic domes? They have a 130mm which seems like it could be suitable for a fisheye.